Anna Friel looks chic in a fitted top and gothic tiered skirt at A Little Life press night

Anna Friel looked chic as she stepped out to the A Little Life press night at Harold Pinter Theatre in London on Thursday.  

The Marcella star, 45, wore a fitted turtleneck top and gothic tiered skirt for the event which came after her ex DJ Toby Anstis said he could have married her in the 90s. 

Walking the red carpet for the West End opening, she caught the eye in her all-black edgy ensemble. 

Anna boosted her height with a pair of chunky studded boots and accessorised with a concho style belt. 

She let her auburn hair tumble down in natural curls and added a pop of colour to her look with a slick of cherry red lipstick.  

Gothic: Anna Friel, 45, looked chic as she stepped out to the A Little Life press night at Harold Pinter Theatre in London on Thursday

Elegant: The Marcella star wore a fitted turtleneck top and gothic tiered skirt for the event which came after her ex DJ Toby Anstis said he could have married her in the 90s

Elegant: The Marcella star wore a fitted turtleneck top and gothic tiered skirt for the event which came after her ex DJ Toby Anstis said he could have married her in the 90s

The much-anticipated West End adaptation of cult novel A Little Life – starring Happy Valley’s James Norton – has left preview audiences traumatised by its graphic on-stage portrayals of suicide, self-harm and paedophilia.

One attendee at Richmond Theatre, where the stage re-telling of Hanya Yanagihara’s 2015 book opened last week, said they made the decision to leave at the interval after the ‘relentless misery’ became too much for them. 

Another audience member called the adaptation, brought to stage by director Ivo Van Hove, ‘possibly the most upsetting, unflinchingly brutal and explicit play I’ve ever seen.’

The performance, which lasts a whopping 3 hours and 40 minutes and will soon transfer to the Savoy Theatre, has a star-studded cast, including James Norton, It’s A Sin actor Omari Douglas and Bridgerton’s Luke Thompson. 

The book, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2015, became a word-of-mouth hit and won the author a following of dedicated fans. 

Anna’s outing comes after her ex Toby claimed he could now be married to her after she propositioned him in the 90s, but said he lost out to love rat Darren Day. 

The TV presenter, 51, has revealed that the Marcella star chatted him up during the 90’s while at a party and asked him to stay out that night – but when he went for a drink, Darren swooped in and went on to date her for three years. 

And the hapless radio DJ claims that while he dated Cassie Bancroft a year ago, he is still single because Tinder has banned his profile, believing it to be fake. 

Sophisticated: Walking the red carpet for the West End opening, she caught the eye in her all-black edgy ensemble, later layering over a fur coat

Sophisticated: Walking the red carpet for the West End opening, she caught the eye in her all-black edgy ensemble, later layering over a fur coat 

Stunning: She let her auburn hair tumble down in natural curls and added a pop of colour to her look with a slick of cherry red lipstick

Stunning: She let her auburn hair tumble down in natural curls and added a pop of colour to her look with a slick of cherry red lipstick

Stylish: Anna boosted her height with a pair of chunky studded boots and accessorised with a concho style belt

Stylish: Anna boosted her height with a pair of chunky studded boots and accessorised with a concho style belt

Toby said during the Diary of a Name Dropper podcast: ‘Even thinking about it I’m still bitter about this….Darren Day’

The Heart Dance host explained how he and Anna were having a few drinks and were ‘getting on really really well.’

He said: ‘I did feel there was a bit of chemistry and then she asked me, “you’re not going back to London tonight?” and I said “yeah I’m on tele tomorrow afternoon and she said “no stay up the night and go back in the morning.”‘

Shocked Toby continued: ‘I just went bl**dy hell all of me is thinking Jesus Christ I’ve been chatted up and asked to stay up here whether she meant stay at her place, one would hope, but I didn’t know what that meant, but I thought I’d stay up.’ 

As Toby went to get the pair a drink Darren moved in on Anna which the star is convinced his ‘management thought it would be a good publicity thing.’

As he returned he witness the pair getting on and ‘the next day they were all over the papers, but she asked me to stay the night before you Darren.’ 

Despite the couple being together for three years and becoming engaged Toby still seemed a little irked. 

Regrets? Anna's outing comes after her ex Toby Anstis claimed he could now be married to her after she propositioned him in the 90s, but said he lost out to love rat Darren Day

Regrets? Anna’s outing comes after her ex Toby Anstis claimed he could now be married to her after she propositioned him in the 90s, but said he lost out to love rat Darren Day

Relationship: The actress and Darren were together afterwards for three years and he even proposed before the pair eventually went their separate ways (pictured in the 90s)

Relationship: The actress and Darren were together afterwards for three years and he even proposed before the pair eventually went their separate ways (pictured in the 90s) 

He added: ‘I could have been married to Anna Friel and she could have had my children.’

Anna later married David Thewlis whom she shares a daughter with but separated in 2010. She also married Notting Hill star Rhys Ifans in 2011 but the pair went their separate ways in 2014.

Darren has also found love since with actress Stephanie Dooley who he wed in 2010.

But Toby is still having no luck with his love life after being banned from the dating app Tinder. 

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