They say you should never ask a woman her age, but if you tried to find out Amanda Abbington’s you might get two answers.

Official documents at Companies House reveal the actress is actually two years older than she is reported to be.

Her official Instagram profile was @AmandaAbbington74 before she closed it down earlier this year after getting trolled following her fallout with Giovanni Pernice. The ‘74’ was believed to be a nod to the year she was born, which would make her 50.

Official television industry website IMDB states that the Strictly star was born in February 1974, making her 50. This is reported widely across the media too. However, formal filings for her business Mavis Clementine Limited list her under her real name, Amanda Smith, and show she was born in February 1972.

The records of her bankruptcy 11 years ago, also under her real name, confirm the same – making her 52. It was over a £120,000 tax bill owed to a HMRC.

+3
View gallery

Amanda Abbington speaking to Newsnight. Official documents at Companies House reveal the actress is actually two years older than she is reported to be

Handout photo of Giovanni Pernice and Amanda Abbington. The BBC apologised to Ms Abbington following her claims that Mr Pernice, 34, was abusive towards her during their Strictly training sessions

Ms Abbington discussed the challenges of being in her forties during media interviews when she first joined Strictly – when she was reported to be 49.

A source said: ‘Amanda appears to have been very happy to go along with 1974 as being the year she was born – that would have made her 49 when she first signed up for Strictly, and 50 now.

‘But in reality she’s two years older than that and she hasn’t gone out of her way to set the record straight – perhaps she thought 49 sounded better.

‘And to put 74 on her Instagram page made it pretty clear she wanted that to stick.’

The BBC apologised to Ms Abbington following her claims that Mr Pernice, 34, was abusive towards her during their Strictly training sessions.

Investigators upheld six out of 17 of her accusations but a video of Ms Abbington emerged showing her praising her partner and laughing about how much they swore at each other in rehearsals.

+3
View gallery

Formal filings for her business Mavis Clementine Limited list her under her real name, Amanda Smith, and show she was born in February 1972

She said: ‘Me and Giovanni played some really funny games. We have to be very careful because we swear a lot.

‘We are really bad swearers, just all the time. We eff and blind and make each other laugh.

‘He’s an incredible choreographer, and he’s amazing and he’s created something really beautiful. It’s going to be so beautiful and wonderful and fun and I’m really excited.’

Last month Mr Pernice responded to her allegations saying: ‘I was painted as a person I am not. It seemed like the only point was to destroy me.’