Inside Mr Tumble’s age-gap romance: How love finally blossomed for ‘workaholic’ veteran CBeebies presenter Justin Fletcher, 55, with co-star 21 years his junior… as HER family break silence

Just days after Mr. Tumble actor Justin Fletcher confirmed his budding romance with co-star Samantha Dorrance, his father has broken his silence on the 21-year age difference between the pair.

The CBeebies icon, 55, revealed he is ‘madly in love’ with his co-star Samantha, 34, after the pair were spotted together over the weekend.

Samantha’s father Stuart Dorrance welcomed their relationship, saying the lovebirds were “blissfully happy”.

Speaking at the family home in Willenhall in the West Midlands, Mr Dorrance, 64, who is just nine years older than Justin, told the Daily Mail: ‘They are very happy. We are happy. And that’s all that really matters.’

The couple were photographed for the first time while visiting the four-star The Mount Country Manor Hotel & Golf in Wolverhampton.

Justin, who has played Mr Tumble since 2003, wore a green vest and sunglasses, while Samantha, who plays Tumble’s best friend Tootsie on the children’s show, was seen in a dress and jumper.

Showing their closeness, the duo wore matching New York Yankees baseball caps as they carried their overnight bags to the hotel during a break from the Justin Live: Justin Time to Rock tour, which they are both starring in.

Last week a source close to the pair told the Daily Mail how their romance had ‘blossomed’ over the past year, with Samantha moving into Justin’s £2.5million six-bedroom farmhouse in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

An insider gushed: ‘Even though there is an age difference, there is no problem between them. For Justin, Samantha is “the one”.

Samantha was cast as Mr. Tumble’s best friend Tootsie when she was just 23, and is currently co-writing songs for Justin’s new tour. (Picture taken on stage during the tour)

‘The farm is their sanctuary and where they both feel happiest. The friends know about the relationship as well as their tour co-stars.’

Samantha’s father, a writer and songwriter, spoke to the Daily Mail from the £210,000 three-bed family home where Samantha grew up and was home-schooled by her parents.

Mr. Dorrance and his wife, Karen, also have a 28-year-old son, Kurt. After finishing home schooling, Samantha trained at the Birmingham School of Acting and has a BTEC in Popular Music from Walsall College.

He won Disney Channel’s You’re the Star talent show in 2007 and went on to host his own talent show on the channel, My School Musical. Samantha later joined Disney’s Movie Surfers team, giving audiences a behind-the-scenes look at movie sets around the world.

At just 19, she won her first West End leading role as Laura in Dreamboats and Petticoats and enjoyed a two-year run at The Playhouse and Wyndham’s Theatre.

The actress has also toured as Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical the Musical, played Skye in the stage version of Paw Patrol, and made guest appearances on programs such as BBC’s Doctors.

And in 2015, at the age of 23, she took on the role of ditzy best friend Tootsie in The Tale of Mr Tumble.

Following in her father’s footsteps in songwriting, Samantha founded children’s band Sammy & The Sparks, a pop group designed to make children feel better through music, and toured Britain with her self-written stage show in 2023.

He has also co-written two songs for CBeebies House Party Live, which is currently touring nationally, and is currently co-writing songs for Justin Fletcher’s new tour, Justin Time To Rock.

The duo has worked together many times. Samantha posted a photo of Justin after performing with him as Cinderella in 2024 and wrote: “I couldn’t have asked for a better Button.”

The couple live together in Justin’s £2.5 million farmhouse in Oxfordshire. Samantha recently shared on Instagram that they raise their own chickens there.

Justin, who starred in CBeebies’ longest-running program Something Special, won a Baftas and an MBE for this work. But he says his biggest dream is to have a family one day

When Samantha hit the stage with Justin, playing Cinders in Cinderella in 2024, she shared a photo of herself starring alongside him and wrote: ‘I couldn’t have asked for a better Buttons.’

But since they started dating, Samantha has avoided tagging Justin in social media posts.

He often posts photos from the house where he lives and vaguely refers to her as just his ‘partner’.

For example, in March, she shared a slideshow of chicks and eggs, writing: ‘Last year my wife and I hatched our own chickens. I was eating breakfast one morning and noticed that all the eggs we bought from our neighborhood honesty box were fertilized. ‘My partner had an old incubator so we dug it out.’

Something Special, starring Mr Tumble, is BBC Children’s longest-running programme, and won Justin Baftas and an MBE.

Due to the character’s immense popularity, his net worth is estimated at more than £1.5 million.

Sales of the Something Special DVDs alone are said to have exceeded 100,000, bringing the star an estimated £1 million, while an accompanying magazine brought in a further £180,000 a month.

Despite his career success, Justin has always admitted that the one thing he still dreams of is having his own family.

He has been known to be single for years and has previously joked in interviews about receiving marriage proposals from mothers who are in love with him.

And in 2012, in a rare insight into his off-screen life, he said: ‘I’m not married, I live alone and I’ve been single for a while because I was a workaholic doing Something Special, Justin’s House and Gigglebiz.

‘But I want to spend some time for myself and my family. I would love to have children, so I need to find someone who loves children. ‘Some kids would be nice.’

As the pair continue to build their lives together and insiders say Samantha is ‘the one’ for Justin, only time will tell whether the CBeebies star’s dreams of settling down and having a family can withstand the couple’s 21-year age difference.