“More than any other show, The Split is the one that people come up to me in the supermarket to ask me about, and for a long time I had to say it was done,” actor Nicola Walker tells me over Zoom. The reaction? It tended to be a sad or gloomy conversation about how much people (and Walker herself) wanted the show to return. Happily for fans, The Split is indeed returning to our screens for a two-episode special. “As soon as I found out about the two new episodes, it meant I could safely go back to the supermarket and tell people it was coming back.”

The last season of The Split aired back in 2022, so it’s been a while since we caught up with Hannah Defoe and her family. At the end of season three, Hannah and her husband, Nathan (played by Stephen Mangan), were in the midst of what they hoped would be a ‘good divorce’. The new special, The Split: Barcelona, picks up the story two years later. Hannah and her family are in Catalonia for a wedding, where a sunny weekend of absolute mayhem is about to take place.

You can expect problematic prenups, surprising wedding crashers and low-flying marriage proposals over a chaotic few days – a heartwarming, witty, beautiful and intimate exploration of love and marriage in the modern age. The Spanish sunshine is delightful, too.

“I’ve never really filmed abroad so going to Barcelona, a place I’ve never visited, with the cast and crew was such a dream,” Walker says. Even though the story may be set in a completely new environment, Walker found returning to Hannah a relatively easy process. “She’s a very clear character in my head and because so much of the cast stays in touch, it’s not hard for us all to come together again and step back into our characters.” And yes, they do have a pretty active WhatsApp group.

But what about Hannah and Nathan’s ‘good divorce’? Well, they’re trying to make things work as co-parents and ex-partners, especially when seeing each other again for the first time at their daughter’s wedding. And Nathan’s life has changed with a new marriage and young child. “They’ll always be connected. They’ve known each other since they were babies at university. So, they’re basically having to learn to live as independent human beings when they have been, for better or worse, one entity,” Walker explains.

But the relationship between the two has changed in the sense that the niceties aren’t there anymore and the gloves are off. There’s one particular scene where Hannah points out and jokes about Nathan’s new earring, which is deeply relatable for anyone on relatively good terms with their ex. “They’re not cruel to each other, though; there’s no desire to hurt each other anymore. They know each other really well so, as a result, they’re in this new phase of their relationship.”

A new part of The Split, however, is that we get to see Hannah step into the world of dating and new romance. In the opening scene of the first episode, we see Hannah on a date in a bar and once the conversation starts to get more serious about their relationship, she panics and walks out. “She feels as a lot of us feel: can I do that again? Do I have that emotional strength? Do I want to be that vulnerable? And she panics. She’s frightened. I love her for getting up and walking out; it’s a real sign of her being honest with herself and putting herself first,” Walker says.

The two-episode special of The Split: Barcelona has all the best and juiciest parts of the original seasons but with an added vulnerability and complexity to the stories. It’s a brilliant depiction of love and relationships, particularly after a divorce, and where that leaves two people who once shared a life together. Walker believes that it can be rare to see these kinds of complexities in the later part of a person’s life represented on screen, especially when it comes to divorce.

“Love is complicated, but it’s worth it. As frightening as it is to be vulnerable, to become intimate with a new person, if you don’t jump in, you’ll never know.”

The Split: Barcelona will air on BBC One at 9pm on 29 and 30 December. Both episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from 29 December.

Images: BBC