Former Aussie soap star Bruce Roberts has packed his bags and left Oxfordshire to return Down Under - leaving his TV presenter wife Suzanne Dando behind.

The pair, who have been married for two years, announced the bizarre split in this week's edition of celebrity magazine Hello!, which interviewed them at their home in Church Enstone, near Chipping Norton.

Bruce, 30, who played policeman Nick Parrish in Home and Away, told the magazine that he was lonely and homesick in Britain. Suzanne, 37, plans to spend Christmas with Bruce in Australia but does not know when she will see him again after that.

The couple said they are not heading for divorce and insist the split is amicable. Suzanne refused to see Bruce's departure as a permanent rejection but she said she did not want to leave this country.

Bruce said: "I can't wait to get home and lie on the beach. It's unfair for Suzanne to keep me here being so unhappy. I've never felt accepted in England.

"Our marriage is perfect. I don't think marriage is about choosing a country. I think it's an international commitment."

Suzanne said: "We have a pretty solid relationship. Bruce has always been very vocal in his criticism of this country so it makes things a little bit difficult."

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