Jamie's marriage strain

Jamie Oliver's marriage is reportedly under strain because of his hectic work schedule.

14:49 27 February 2005

Jamie Oliver's marriage is reportedly under strain because of his hectic work schedule.

The TV chef's new series Jamie's School Dinners shows difficult scenes between Jamie and his wife Jools, filmed at the family's 1.7 million Hampstead home.

On Wednesday night, viewers will witness an argument filmed between the couple as they discuss reporters' claims that the celebrity chef had an alleged fling with a waitress in Amsterdam.

Jamie, father of Poppy, two, and Daisy, 20 months old, defended his decision to allow cameras to film the emotional scenes at his home.

"I'm not sure if anyone has seen the impact that tabloid b******t has on our lives, but they will," the Mail on Sunday reports Jamie as saying last week.

"It was an emotional scene and Jools was crying. But I thought, f*** it, they've got to see the effect of what they write."

But last night, an unnamed TV source told the Mail on Sunday that the strain of Jamie's packed work schedule was beginning to tell on the couple's marriage.

"It got so serious that Jamie promised Jools he would take a complete break and they would go to America for six months," the source told the paper.

"But he is up to his neck in commitments until 2008. He can't just break off. I'm not sure she or the kids can stand the strain and the exposure that long."

Jamie's latest TV project, which began on Channel Four last Wednesday, charts the efforts of the celebrity chef to overhaul school meals at a south London school.