BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
AS HIT BBC DRAMA THE SPLIT ENTERS ITS THIRD AND FINAL SERIES, DANIELLE DE WOLFE DISCOVERS MORE FROM STAR NICOLA WALKER AND SERIES CREATOR ABI MORGAN
NOBODY is perfect. Even those who appear on the surface to have amazing lives, a great family and a fulfilling job could be struggling behind the scenes.
One such person is Hannah Stern, the central character in The Split, Abi Morgan’s excellent hit drama about a family of divorce lawyers, which is returning to our screens for its third and final series.
“What Abi has created is this woman who, if you could imagine for example, seeing a profile of Hannah Stern in a legal magazine or something, her life would look brilliant,” says Nicola Walker, who plays her.
“She would look totally in control, hugely successful, edging on perfection, to someone leafing through a magazine.
“And then Abi just peels that back. She’s a great leveller of her characters.
“We all know the truth is always far more complicated and we never know what goes on behind closed doors in real life, but in Abi’s world you do get to find out what’s really going on.”
The last time we saw Hannah, her marriage to the solid and dependable Nathan (Stephen Mangan) was on the rocks following her affair with her old flame and colleague Christie.
When we catch up with her, she and her estranged husband are looking to the future, albeit apart. After 20 years together, Hannah begins to realise what she is going to lose, but matters are further complicated by the arrival of Nathan’s new love interest, Kate, played by Sherlock star Lara Pulver.
Hannah hadn’t realised Nathan was seeing anybody and meets Kate at a dinner party. The scene is uncomfortable, entirely relatable and “utterly humiliating” according to 51-year-old Nicola.
The Split centres around the three Defoe sisters, Hannah (Nicola), Nina (Annabel Scholey) and Rose (Fiona Button), with the family of esteemed divorce lawyers led by the matriarchal figure of Ruth Defoe (Deborah Findlay).
Set against the backdrop of London’s high-end divorce circuit, the witty – and at times heart-breaking – show is an examination of modern relationships and the realities and legacy of divorce.
The show has garnered something of a cult following since series one first aired in 2018, with series two of the drama averaging six million viewers upon its release.
“As with any kind of birth, you never know entirely what the mix of DNA is going to be,” says Abi, 54, of the final series’ influences.
The daughter of divorced parents herself, the creator says she has long been interested in the complex
nature of separation. It is a subject that became an “important watermark” on her own life, with the creator continuing to draw influence from her own female friendships. Inspired by “the marriages we admire, those marriages we saw fall apart, and the marriages that surprised us” according to the writer, she says much of her material comes from conversations that take place “over a glass of wine with a girlfriend”.
“It’s a great way to play detective,” says Abi with a smile.
On its surface a series about the fashionable, fast-paced lives of London lawyers, series three sees Nicola’s character navigating her own fraying marriage – all whilst handling the divorce proceedings of others. Describing The Split as like being part of “the best gang in town”, Nicola adds: “It’s a Trojan Horse to talk about love and the compromises we make – the big ones and the tiny daily ones. “For Hannah and Nathan, those have become incrementally damaging. Those tiny little compromises we make day to day with someone that you love.”
With the set being dismantled around them during the final days of shooting, Nicola recalls her character’s name plate being slowly peeled from her office door as she continued to film.
Series three also marks the lead directorial debut of Dee Koppang O’Leary.
Graduating from second unit director on the long-awaited second series of Bridgerton, as well as The Crown, Dee, who is married to TV presenter Dermot O’Leary, says the sheer number of women involved in the project cements it as something of a landmark in what is still a traditionally male-dominated industry.
“It’s two female directors, it’s allfemale producers and execs – and we have such a strong female crew. It’s very much a female project through the female lens,” says Dee, 43.
That being said, she is quick to note how universally relatable the series remains.
“I think people expect this to be quite a femalewatched show, but guys love it,” says Dee with enthusiasm.
“Damien Molony, who plays (legal consultant) Tyler, said that he’s never been stopped by more male white van drivers and lorry drivers.
“He’s always at service stations being asked ‘what’s happening with Nathan and Hannah then?”’
“Part of the exciting thing for me has always been the way an audience responds,” agrees Abi with a nod, describing the way in which the public can be “very nice but also very rude” in their feedback.
Noting she looks forward to more conversations with strangers that begin with, “I saw your show last night – I hated it”, Abi ends our conversation with a titbit of advice.
“One of the best things I heard from a divorce lawyer was ‘I don’t see divorce as failure, I just see some marriages as finite’,” recalls the creator.
“And I suppose, if anything, this is all about trying to take the sting out of failure in divorce.”
The Split returns to BBC1 tomorrow at 9pm, with all episodes available to stream on BBC iPlayer