When we left off Abi Morgan’s hugely popular BBC drama – which follows the Defoes, a multi-generational family of divorce lawyers – Hannah (Nicola Walker) and Nathan (Stephen Mangan) had finally called it quits on their marriage following her affair with American solicitor Christie (Barry Atsma). The opening episode reintroduced them as friendly exes, unsure about this new phase of their lives, as the entire Defoe family rocked up to Barcelona for the wedding of Hannah and Nathan’s daughter Liv (Elizabeth Roberts) to handsome Spaniard Gael (Alex Guersman).
Annabel Scholey as Nina, Nicola Walker as Hannah and Fiona Button as Rose (Photo: BBC/Sister)
Where once The Split’s characters – which also includes matriarch Ruth (Deborah Findlay) and her other daughters Nina (Annabel Scholey) and Rose (Fiona Button), the only non-lawyer in the family – trod a fine line between entertaining if improbable wit and nuanced emotional truth-telling, in these two hour-long episodes they were constantly saying things designed purely for viewing pleasure with little to no feeling of authenticity.
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Read MoreMost of the drama surrounded the “will they won’t they?” of Gael and Liv’s wedding, and the events that set it off course. Nicola Walker continued to anchor the show, retaining an appealing combination of maternal concern and middle-aged curiosity.
Annabel Scholey as Nina and Dariam Coco as Lola (Photo: Daniel Scale/BBC/Sister Pictures)
Stephens was an excellent addition, a sturdy, likeable presence as Archie, the love interest and, of course, also a lawyer. There were stories too for Rose and Nina and their boyfriends, though they felt very much like afterthoughts.
Again, the script was absurdly trite on this point. Hannah even said: “If there’s anything more romantic than chicken in a basket and a karaoke machine then I don’t know what it is.” Really? At this time of year we want our TV shows to be warmer and cuddlier than usual – but not so much that they descend into telenovelas.
‘The Split: Barcelona’ continues tomorrow at 9pm on BBC One
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