And yet despite facilitating several on-screen divorces as the iconic Hannah, it wasn\u2019t particularly easy for the BAFTA nominee to break up with the BBC One legal drama, which is heading into its third and final season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always difficult when you know it\u2019s the last time you\u2019re going to get to be somebody that you\u2019ve fallen in love with and I have completely fallen in love with Hannah and her family \u2013 so it\u2019s bittersweet,\u201d Walker tells RadioTimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Walker is the main focus of the Abi Morgan drama, The Split also revolves around the entangled professional and personal lives of the Defoe family: ambitious matriarch Ruch (Deborah Findlay) who runs the Defoes\u2019 boutique family law firm, her employee and daughter Nina (Annabel Scholey), the over-achieving Hannah and youngest child-minding sister Rose (Fiona Button).<\/p>\n Those who\u2019ve seen the BBC show\u2019s last two seasons will know that the Defoe sisters are a pretty complex yet extremely close bunch \u2013 and while the cast aren\u2019t nearly as argumentative as their characters, they\u2019re just as tight-knit, Walker says.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the last day of filming, we did some publicity \u2013 me, Deb, Annabelle and Fiona \u2013 and yeah, it\u2019s very, very sad because the most difficult thing is that you probably won\u2019t get to act together again,\u201d she continues. \u201cWe will all see each other outside of work because we\u2019re a family now, but it\u2019s the fact you don\u2019t get to actually work together and I love working with them.\u201d<\/p>\n The last time we checked in with the Defoes, Hannah\u2019s marriage to barrister Nathan (Stephen Mangan) was seemingly over after the latter was exposed in an Ashley Madison-style data breach in series 1, and Hannah\u2019s steamy affair with her Dutch co-worker and ex-boyfriend Christie (Barry Atsma) had become public knowledge.<\/p>\n Fans have waited over two years to find out whether the long-time couple will give their relationship another go and although we don\u2019t know the answer just yet, the story is set to end on a conclusive note.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a definite conclusion that Abi\u2019s taking you to in the story so things are dropping away episode after episode,\u201d Walker says. \u201cThere\u2019s a sense of letting go in the narrative\u2026 it\u2019s not a vague ending. It\u2019s very clear for all of the characters where they are by the end.\u201d<\/p>\n Season 3 picks up a year after we left off, with Hannah and Nathan\u2019s daughter returning from her gap year and the couple in the midst of their divorce proceedings.<\/p>\n \u201cHannah has always talked about the importance of the good divorce professionally and she has really strived to make that possible for her clients \u2013 the great irony being that when she is having to face her own divorce, the concept of the good divorce proves elusive,\u201d Walker says.<\/p>\n She adds that the first episode of the new season was \u201ca very painful episode to play\u201d, with Hannah clinging onto the chance that she and Nathan can reconcile. \u201cThe opening scenes are fantastic for setting the scene because she still really loves Nathan and he still loves her and she\u2019s hopeful that there\u2019s a way back. She doesn\u2019t really want to sign those divorce papers at all.\u201d<\/p>\n As for whether Hannah should give her marriage another go or turn back to Christie, Walker says that viewers have been very opinionated when it comes to the lawyer\u2019s love life.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all brilliant at shouting at the telly and you become public property, don\u2019t you? When your relationship breaks down, everyone has an opinion and that\u2019s what\u2019s been so brilliant about the series,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n \u201cI found that pre-COVID when I was in the supermarket at the checkout, people would say, \u2018I\u2019m Team Christie\u2019 or \u2018I love Nathan\u2019. And they would feel well within their rights to tell me who had behaved poorly.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s where she is at the moment, Hannah \u2013 everyone else seems to know what she should do. If she could step back and view her divorce impartially, I think she would know what she has to do. How can you? You can\u2019t. She\u2019s in the middle of it.\u201d<\/p>\n If you are in fact Team Christie, then you\u2019re in luck \u2013 the legal hunk from Holland will be back at Noble Hale Defoe to spice things up this season. \u201cIt gives a nice jolt to the narrative,\u201d Walker says. \u201cWhen that man steps onto UK soil, it comes at a point in the story. It\u2019s very unexpected and it just throws up quite a few issues. It\u2019s a great story. I love Abi for doing it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to be there, and as often when affairs happen, it causes such drama and she very much broke with him in season 2 but it\u2019s complicated. It\u2019s complicated because Christie has been in her head for as long as she\u2019s been married to Nathan. It\u2019s terribly, terribly complicated. It\u2019s fabulous. It\u2019s a fabulous story.\u201d<\/p>\n As entertaining as the love triangle is, what Walker will miss most about The Split is Hannah herself. \u201cWe often get to spend time inside a male character\u2019s head and to really get to know them. I\u2019ve been really grateful that this show set the camera on Hannah and saw the story through her eyes. It still doesn\u2019t happen enough as far as I\u2019m concerned, although it\u2019s happening so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n Season 3 may mean the end for The Split, but can we expect Hannah to return in a future spin-off? \u201cI think if you\u2019ve spoken to any of us, we\u2019d all give the same answer. We\u2019ll do whatever Abi Morgan wants us to do. We\u2019re there. We\u2019re absolutely there.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that our mother is the woman this year who\u2019s having the most successful relationship, I think is incredible. So maybe we could be revisited in years time and see what the different sisters are up to. Maybe they\u2019ll all be having the most amazing professional and personal lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, The Split isn\u2019t the only drama Walker has waved goodbye to over the past year \u2013 who can forget about Unforgotten<\/a>, which made headlines last February when the much-loved DCI Cassie Stuart was killed off at the end of season 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were always talking about the story arc of Cassie and I think if you watch the series, the seeds were being planted all the way through,\u201d Walker explains. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a decision I made or a decision that was thrust upon me, it was very much looking at how this woman would survive. She wasn\u2019t a superhero. This is what we kept saying. She\u2019s not a superhero. She\u2019s a real woman.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the course of the four seasons, Cassie had been through a lot \u2013 from dealing with the immense pressure of solving cold cases to coping with her father\u2019s dementia. \u201cShe had a terrible nervous breakdown in season 3. We were already planting the seeds of where that goes and I think it\u2019s beautiful. I always felt it was the most perfect, complete storyline. I thought it was great, great television.\u201d<\/p>\n As for how Cassie died, Walker says that creator Chris Lang suggested she shouldn\u2019t die on the job. \u201cI found it really sad, but I thought it was a really great storyline because she was brilliant at her job but that job was not brilliant for her anymore,\u201d she says. \u201cChris had the idea that when we lose her, we don\u2019t lose her because of her job directly. It\u2019s random, and I think that was incredible too.\u201d<\/p>\n While Walker is retiring two of her best-loved characters, she\u2019ll be back on terrestrial TV very soon in another family-themed show \u2013 BBC One\u2019s Marriage<\/a> \u2013 and if her past credits are anything to go by, then the public are sure to fall in love with her again. \u201cIf that\u2019s what they do, that\u2019s incredible,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the CV is that long because I\u2019m old and I\u2019m still working and that is incredible because I was told when I came into the business by a very brilliant older actress that if I hadn\u2019t made something of my career \u2013 I don\u2019t really know what that means \u2013 but if I hadn\u2019t sort of got anywhere by the time I was 35, back then 35, the parts go. So look how far we\u2019ve come.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd at the time I remember thinking, \u2018No, I\u2019m not having that. I don\u2019t believe that\u2019s true.\u2019 But that was naive of me really because it had been the case for actors in the \u201970s and \u201980s. We\u2019re moving forward, aren\u2019t we? Everything I watch has a far greater spread of age for actresses now, thankfully, because the stories are great.\u201d<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Abby Robinson.\u00a0<\/em><\/p> The Split season 3 airs Mondays at 9pm on BBC One, and all episodes are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer<\/a>. <\/strong>Take a look at what else is on with our\u00a0TV guide<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, l<\/strong>isten to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a> with Jane Garvey.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/body><\/html>\n By Lauren Morris Published: Tuesday, 05 April 2022 at 12:00 am Four years ago, Nicola Walker strutted onto our screens with a platinum blonde bob and a briefcase full of billable hours to play Hannah Stern \u2013 the hugely successful family lawyer at the heart of The Split with a complicated love life of her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":13349,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/nicola-walker-on-her-bittersweet-break-up-with-the-split-i-have-completely-fallen-in-love-with-hannah-and-her-family.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/nicola-walker-on-her-bittersweet-break-up-with-the-split-i-have-completely-fallen-in-love-with-hannah-and-her-family-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/nicola-walker-on-her-bittersweet-break-up-with-the-split-i-have-completely-fallen-in-love-with-hannah-and-her-family-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/nicola-walker-on-her-bittersweet-break-up-with-the-split-i-have-completely-fallen-in-love-with-hannah-and-her-family.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/nicola-walker-on-her-bittersweet-break-up-with-the-split-i-have-completely-fallen-in-love-with-hannah-and-her-family.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/nicola-walker-on-her-bittersweet-break-up-with-the-split-i-have-completely-fallen-in-love-with-hannah-and-her-family.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/nicola-walker-on-her-bittersweet-break-up-with-the-split-i-have-completely-fallen-in-love-with-hannah-and-her-family.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Lauren Morris Published: Tuesday, 05 April 2022 at 12:00 am Four years ago, Nicola Walker strutted onto our screens with a platinum blonde bob and a briefcase full of billable hours to play Hannah Stern \u2013 the hugely successful family lawyer at the heart of The Split with a complicated love life of her…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/13348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/04\/356924-d9882aa.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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