BBC’s legal drama The Split returns for a 2-part special. And we have the first look

NINA (Annabel Scholey), HANNAH (Nicola Walker), ROSE (Fiona Button)

Credit: BBC

Entertainment


BBC’s legal drama The Split returns for a 2-part special. And we have the first look

By Meg Walters

4 months ago

3 min read

The Split returns after three seasons with a two-part special set in Barcelona – and we couldn’t be more excited.


Fans of The Split, we have excellent news: Hannah Defoe is officially returning to our screens. Two years after the devastating and dramatic finale, the BBC show is coming back for a two-part special. This comes after the news that a spin-off show, The Split Up, is in the works.

The Split, which ran for three seasons on the BBC from 2018 until 2022, followed Hannah, who works in divorce law alongside her sisters in a family firm. In addition to the drama of the cases the Defoes tackle, the hit show also followed the dramas within the family. 

While The Split ended on a decidedly melancholy note, it sounds like the two-part special will be much lighter fare – Hannah might even get her own happy ending (or at least a realistic version of it – this is The Split, after all).

ROSE (Fiona Button), HANNAH (Nicola Walker ), NINA (Annabel Scholey)

Credit: BBC

What will happen in The Split special?

The last season of The Split aired back in 2022, so it’s been a while since we caught up with Hannah and her family. At the end of season three, Hannah and her husband, Nathan, were in the midst of what they hoped would be a ‘good divorce’. 

The special is set to pick up two years later. Hannah and her family are in Catalonia for a wedding where, by the sounds of it, a sunny weekend of absolute mayhem takes place.

“As the sun rises over the glorious Spanish countryside, Hannah is compelled to banish the ghosts of her past and open herself up to the possibility of love again,” reads the BBC’s description. “Can she find the courage to take the leap into a new future?”

Nichola Walker and Stephen Mangan in The Split

Credit: BBC

Abi Morgan, the series writer, told the BBC a little more: “In a world of brutal breakups and tantalising make-ups, the Defoe family are invited to a destination wedding of their own, promising all that audiences have grown to love about The Split. Problematic prenups, scandalous wedding crashers, and low-flying marriage proposals, as romcom meets gone wrong, in a chaotic and riotous weekend that guarantees to crack open the heart, before the last of the guests have gone home.”

HANNAH (Nicola Walker ), ARCHIE (Toby Stephens)

Credit: BBC

Who will appear in The Split special?

So far, the BBC has announced that series regulars Nicola Walker, Stephen Mangan, Fiona Button, Annabel Scholey and Deborah Findlay will all be returning to reprise their roles.

Toby Stephens (who won our hearts as Mr Rochester in the 2006 adaptation of Jane Eyre) will also be joining the cast as a “hot-shot family lawyer” named Archie Moore. We will also meet the group’s glamorous hosts Alvaro (Manu Fullola) and Valentina (Romina Cocca).

Surely there has to be at least one ill-advised romance within all those. 

The Split Barcelona

Credit: BBC

When will The Split special be available to watch?

We don’t know exactly when the special is going to air, but we have been promised that The Split will be returning to our screens sometime this year. The special is set to air before the upcoming spin-off series, The Split Up – perhaps the special will bridge the gap between the two projects? We’ll have to tune in to find out.

Images: BBC

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