Judge Rinder has been "amazingly supportive" to his pal Louisa Clein throughout her ‘Emmerdale’ grooming storyline.
The 40-year-old actress is good friends with the TV star – whose real name is Robert Rinder – and he has been her "style advisor" for her latest plot, which has seen her alter-ego Maya Stepney (Louisa Clein) groom her 15-year-old pupil Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant).
She said: "Oh god he loves it, and he’s been amazingly supportive.
"It’s great, because he’s working in Manchester at the moment, so when I’m not filming in Leeds, I’ll often go across there and we’ll hang out a bit.
"He gives me lots of good advice. It’s mostly about what to wear to certain events and how to wear my hair, and what I mustn’t do. He’s my total style advisor."
Louisa has been pals with Robert for years and he even introduced her to her now-husband, barrister Jeremy Brier, and the TV judge was best man at their wedding.
She said: "He introduced me to my husband Jeremy – they’d been old buddies from university time – and he was our best man.
"Did he do a speech – he was hilarious. My husband’s speech was also hilarious, so they out-speeched each other. And then my husband was best man at his wedding, so he got his own back."
Louisa has also seen the criminal barrister’s work first-hand, heading down to the cells to meet some of his "unsavory clients".
She added to Whats On TV magazine: "I shadowed Rob when he was a criminal barrister. I watched lots of his trials, and went down to the cells with him to meet some of his slightly unsavoury clients. It was absolutely fascinating."
But Louisa isn’t Robert’s only celebrity friend. He is also best mates with Benedict Cumberbatch, who ordained his marriage to Seth Cumming in 2013.
What’s more, Robert was one of the ‘Sherlock’ actor’s three best men when he married Sophie Hunter two years later.
Judge Rinder ‘amazingly supportive’ to Louisa Clein during Emmerdale plot
