Toby Stephens joins Spanish wedding special of The Split as cast returns
The Machine UK premiere – London
Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan will return for a Spain-set special of BBC comedy drama The Split.
The programme about divorce lawyers came to an end with a third series in 2022 with Walker as Hannah Defoe and Mangan as Nathan Stern ending their own marriage.
The two-part special is set two years later with Hannah and her family gathering for a wedding in Catalonia’s wine region while she considers looking for love again.
Black Sails and Jane Eyre star Toby Stephens will join as hot-shot family lawyer Archie Moore as Annabel Scholey, Fiona Button, Deborah Findlay, Ian McElhinney, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Elizabeth Roberts and Alex Guersman return.
Creator Abi Morgan, who wrote The Iron Lady, said: “In a world of brutal break-ups 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 rom com 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.”
The show also follows the lives of the other Defoe sisters Nina (Scholey) and Rose (Button) and their mother Ruth (Findlay) and is produced by the production company Sister.
Sister co-founder Jane Featherstone and executive producer Lucy Dyke said: “It is a joy to reunite with Abi and our wonderful Split team for this two-parter for the BBC One and iPlayer.
“We have missed the Defoe family and their messy, complex lives so we couldn’t be more excited to send them to beautiful Barcelona for a glorious, romantic weekend.
“In this chapter, Abi explores the often terrifying prospect of facing new romance after divorce and promises a rollercoaster of emotions along the way. And welcoming the brilliant Toby Stephens to our ensemble, as lawyer Archie Moore, it’s safe to say, sparks are going to fly.”
It is set to air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer later in the year and has already begun filming in Spain.
A spin-off series The Split Up is set to focus on Manchester’s divorce law circuit and be broadcast following the special.
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