Nicola Walker pays tribute to ‘brilliant’ BBC The Split creator over ‘genius’ hidden meaning in key scene

The Split star Nicola Walker has opened up on her admiration for show creator Abi Morgan and her “utterly brilliant” writing.

The 54-year-old was speaking ahead of the beloved series returning next week with The Split: Barcelona.

The new series will see the return of familiar faces beyond Walker’s Hannah Defoe. Stephen Mangan will be reprising his role as Nathan Stern, Defoe’s ex-husband.

They will reunite and meet new faces at a glamourous wedding in Spain’s wine country, Catalonia.

Walker explained she was more than excited to return to playing Hannah, glowing that the character speaks in a manner she has “not heard a woman speak like that on prime-time TV before.”

The credit for this she laid at the feet of The Split creator and writer Abi Morgan whom she called “utterly brilliant”.

Walker did not stop at praising Morgan for her past work, she referenced a key scene in the upcoming series that reflected the writer’s “genius”.

At the wedding, Hannah notices that Mangan’s character Nathan has taken to wearing an earring.

At first glance, Walker expected Hannah and the audience to chalk the new accessory as nothing more than evidence of a midlife crisis.

“What a late midlife crisis, utterly ridiculous, not even worth commenting (even though they are all commenting!) – I mean it’s fabulously ridiculous.,” Walker mused.

“It tells you everything you need to know about Nathan in the last two years in that moment,” she added to the BBC.

However, the earring and its eventual removal hold great symbolic significance for both Nathan and Hannah.

“There’s something deeper there, and Hannah knows it. And ultimately, he does too,” she explained.

Walked gushed that small details and moments like that are “little gifts” that “open up the whole character for you as an actor”.

Summarising her thoughts on Morgan, Walker added: “That’s why her writing is so great, and it’s so amazing to play her characters.”

The third series ended with a striking stare into the camera from Hannah following the unsentimental endings of two major relationships in her life.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

Matt Tebbutt brands guest ‘hard work’ during BBC Saturday Kitchen spat: ‘Awkward to watch’Vito Coppola makes feelings clear on axed BBC Strictly professional amid Zara McDermott scandalSir David Jason, 84, shares quirky lifestyle choice he became ‘addicted to’ during lockdown

Morgan herself found that ending a “very difficult moment to write” but was determined to create something that did not feel “artificial or improbable”.

While she had initially planned for that poignant stare to be the last the audience sees of Hannah, she explained the draw to return to the characters was too great.

“I really fall in love with casts and characters,” she admitted.

The Split’s creator characterised her new series as a “lovely last…potentially last… thank you and a kind of ‘last hurrah’ treat” for the audience.