Heartthrob Sean Bean was arrested on Friday on suspicion of domestic abuse.

The 'Lord of the Rings' star spent six hours in custody after his wife, Georgina, called the police following a dispute. She claimed the 49-year-old actor grabbed and assaulted her in an altercation at their £2-million townhouse.

This is not the first time the couple have gotten into a scuffle, as they were both left bloodied and bruised after a drunken hotel fight two years ago.

A source said of the scrap: "There was a lot of shouting and hollering and Mrs Bean rang 999 and told the operator she was being attacked."

"There were no punches or kicking and nothing really nasty. It was pushing and shoving but she clearly felt threatened."

"He was arrested and taken to the nearest custody suite at Holborn. He denied being a wife batterer and said it was a domestic row that got out of hand."

"He was released on bail and Mrs Bean later called up to say she was no longer prepared to continue the case."

"There was no other evidence to prove assault and there was no option but to drop it."

Bean was released just after 6am and once Georgina had dropped the charges, he was told he did not have to report on bail next month and no further action was being taken.

The couple put on a brave show at their North London home on Friday.

Georgina said: "Everything is OK. Sean and I are at home together enjoying the sunshine. He was arrested. Everything was blown out of proportion."

"The police held him quite a while, but Sean is fine and I'm fine. There's no problem between us."

A police spokesperson added: "Police were called to a residential address. A male was arrested. He was subsequently informed no further action was being taken against him."