‘The Split Up’ is centred around Kishan Law - a British South Asian family law firm, known for their clientele and reputation. They are the ‘go to firm’ for a wide cross section of Manchester’s elite, who come to them for their excellence, integrity, and discretion. Poised to step up and take the mantle from her father Dhruv, is Aria Kishan, a fast-rising star in the Manchester family law scene. But the death of her mother, Raina, six months prior, has cast a new light over these plans for Dhruv, who has begun to wonder if his daughter can, or should, take on this responsibility single handedly.

Aria’s fiancé, Neal, emerges as the steadier and safer option to lead alongside Aria, but with their professional and personal lives so intertwined, it’s unclear if their wedding will even go ahead. A pressure further compounded when a former flame of Aria’s moves to Manchester, and a long-buried family secret threatens everything the firm and their family stand for. Alongside her siblings, Maya and Kav, Aria must grapple with modern relationships and legal battles. Her professional challenges collide with her personal complications as she struggles to answer the question: who should you live your life for?

Sir Lenny Henry and Jane Horrocks are among ther guests who appear in the series. 

‘The Split Up’ is coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC One this September.

Interview with the key cast and creatives

Ursula Rani Sarma (Writer/Creator/Executive Producer)

What is ‘The Split Up’ about?

The Split Up is a legal family drama set in Manchester, in the high net world of family law. It revolves around the Kishan family: Dhruv Kishan, the father, his daughter Aria, his son Kav, and then Maya, his other daughter who left the firm to become a stay-at-home mum ten years previously, but is about to make a return. The series is centred around this family and their private lives, their loves, their losses, their ups and downs, personally and then also professionally. We have a story of the week every episode, which brings us into another aspect of family law, introduces us to some exciting characters, and we get a contained story within each episode. It’s a legal family drama. That's how I would describe it.

How familiar were you with ‘The Split’ before being involved in ‘The Split Up’, and what new aspects did you want to introduce?

I was a big fan of The Split and also of Abi Morgan's writing. I had come across Abi’s plays when I was starting out as a playwright, and was always very much taken by her voice, and the warmth that she brought to the characters that she created. The Split was testament to that; all three series had such beautiful character development, and I think I had watched this with absolute admiration. I was absolutely delighted when I was approached with the idea of creating a follow-up.

It felt really important to me that we created a family that the audience could fall in love with, the same way that they fell in love with the Defoes in The Split. There’s obviously the legal aspect too - the fact that this was also set in a law firm and that it dealt with family law and divorce - but ultimately, it was the tone that I felt was the most important thing to carry across. I wanted to keep that accessibility, the warmth, the humour, and just this idea of spending an hour with a family who you would completely connect with emotionally and engage with.

In terms of new aspects, this is a British South Asian family, set in Manchester. The opportunity to put a British South Asian family on a mainstream series was really exciting to me. I feel very passionately about diversity and representation. It is contemporary. Our characters are younger, they’re at a slightly different stage in their lives, so there is a rawer energy, I think, to The Split Up. Also, I think the way that we have brought Manchester to the fore as a backdrop and as a landscape feels new and exciting. So it was important to hold on to the elements that felt familiar and that were so successful, such as the tone and the legal, situational aspect of it, but also introduce a brand-new family in a brand-new city with a brand-new, cultural backdrop.

Can you introduce the Kishan Family, and the Kishan Law firm?

The Kishan family is made up of Dhruv Kishan, who is the patriarch. He founded Kishan Law over 30 years ago, and has since been taking the firm from strength to strength. He's at a point in his life when he really should consider retiring, and the obvious heir to the throne is his daughter, Aria, our lead. Aria is brilliant and feisty and impetuous and compassionate, and she is the obvious person to take over. But Dhruv is concerned that perhaps it will be too much for her, and so he's beginning to hedge his bets a little bit. 

We also meet Maya Kishan, who is Aria's elder sister, a married mum of two gorgeous children. She was a lawyer and gave it up to become a stay-at-home mum, and when we meet her, we can see that she's been missing her career and is contemplating what else might be out there for her. And then there’s Kav, the youngest of the Kishan children, who has been struggling for some time to pass his exams. He has wanted to follow into the family line of work and become a lawyer, but he just doesn't seem to have quite the same affinity for it as his elder siblings and his father. When we meet them all, they're all in their own ways at different points of flux in their lives. 

Abi Morgan (Executive Producer)

As the creator of ‘The Split’, what has it been like seeing the world that you created evolve through new characters and new stories?

I've always loved this brilliant collision: this messy, beautiful, gorgeous, glamorous world of divorce law, but colliding with the personal internal politics of the family. 

I think what's been so great about it evolving into a new iteration is that we've been able to take all those elements that we loved about the original series - the messiness, the dramas, the small squabbles and the huge internal, silent struggles that go on between siblings and between parents and between new relationships. So, we’ve taken those things we love, but relocated them to a brand-new city, and to a brand-new family that are dealing with similar things in some ways, but also very different things in others.

Why was Ursula Rani Sarma the right choice to expand this world?

There's a huge tenderness to her voice, and there's a very gentle comedy, but also I think she really understood that family dynamic. We wanted someone who was going to be fun to work with, who was very open-armed about what the series was, and had also loved The Split, which Ursula absolutely had. 

Ritu Arya (Aria Kishan)

Can you introduce us to Aria and where she is when we meet her at the beginning of the series?

Aria Kishan is a rising star at her family law firm, and she’s ready to take over from her father. But since her mother died a few months ago, her dad's wondering if she should or can take on that responsibility single-handedly. Also, her long-term relationship is under pressure when an old secret lover comes to work at the firm. So, she's navigating her personal and professional life alongside her siblings. And the series is about love, loss, messiness, and everything in between.

Aria is a very ambitious woman. She's driven. She's hardworking. She's a brilliant lawyer, and she wants to expand the business. But she's full of contradictions - she's so good at her job, and yet she's crumbling in her personal life. She's impulsive and reactionary and self-righteous and she's navigating losing her mum. There's a lot going on for her. She's trying to keep things steady, but I think the floor underneath her is shaking, and she deals with that by working hard and bringing lightness and humour and holding the family together. 

Can you talk a little bit more about the core family relationships and how she fits in?

Aria’s family is complex, and she is the glue inside that family, especially since their mother died; she's holding it all together. She wants to expand the family business; she wants what's best for everyone. She's always rooting for her siblings because she's their biggest champion. She loves her dad - she basically worships him and wants to be him - but she also hates him at times. So, it’s an interesting family, and I think they've grown so much closer together since losing their mum. We see them at this time in their life where they’re in that transitional period of experiencing this big absence, but there’s also so much love and with that comes a lot of lightness. I think Aria brings as much lightness as she can throughout, because that's how she copes in that situation. 

Where do we find Aria in terms of her love life at the beginning of the series?

Aria's love life at the beginning of the series isn't at its best. She's set to get engaged to her long-term partner, Neal. It's within the first few minutes of the series, but the engagement comes as a surprise to Aria. At the same time, an old lover - a secret lover - of hers, has come to work at the office, and that brings all sorts of flashbacks into her mind and gets her questioning her choices. It brings up that questions of what we feel obligated to do, versus what our instincts might be. It's a complicated time for this girl's heart. 

Sanjeev Bhaskar (Dhruv Kishan)

What was your initial reaction to Ursula’s scripts when you first read them and what made you want to be a part of this?

I really loved the scripts and the ideas about this family. I'd seen The Split - all three series and the special. I had connections with that because Nicola Walker, who I've worked with quite a bit, was in it, and my wife Meera Syal was in the first series. I knew that the world would be interesting. I think the balance of family drama and the drama that conflict and secrets carry - I thought Ursula brought that to the table really well.

People enjoy well-written family dramas and, although as I well know, crime and murder and mayhem are enjoyable to watch, families have a different dynamic. And, most people are part of a family, so it becomes relatable in that sense. I hope that people who watched The Split enjoy The Split Up. I think the other reason that people loved The Split was Abi Morgan - one of our greatest TV and film writers. And she's an executive producer on The Split Up. Ursula basically took that mantle and ran with it and made it her own, and she’s incredibly experienced in her own right, but I think that having that template from Abi and expanding it into The Split Up through a British South Asian family and setting the series in Manchester instead of London… I think for me it would have been an incredibly daunting task, but it’s one that Ursula more than rose to.

I've not played a patriarch, and I’m not sure I've even played a dad before in something. So, particularly playing a dad and a patriarch of such a dysfunctional family (which is bad for family relationships, but good for drama!) attracted me to it.

Could you introduce us to Dhruv - who is he? And where do we find him at the start of the series?

Dhruv Kishan is the head of his own law firm called Kishan Law, in Manchester. When the story starts, his wife has recently passed away, leaving him with his three grown up kids: Aria, Maya and Kav. Aria and Maya both trained in law, but Maya left the legal profession to have a family. Aria is in the law firm and Kav, his youngest, is taking his law exams. 

I think with Aria, it's an interesting relationship. I think Dhruv sees a lot of himself in her. They're both very driven. They're both ambitious. They’re both go-getters. So I think that he sees a younger version of himself in Aria, which means he understands her, but that's where their conflicts come from. They’re just too similar and too ready to dive into the fight, much more than the other siblings.

His relationship with his other two kids is different from the one he has with Aria. Maya’s his eldest, and her husband is also involved in the legal profession as a judge. Maya was his firstborn, so he's incredibly close to her. And unlike Dhruv’s other two children, she's also a parent, so I think he feels that she understands his issues with parenting better than the other two!

With Kav, it's complicated, because Kav is his only son. Dhruv is progressive in many, many ways, but the traditional part of him wants his son to succeed. His son will carry on the family name, so I think he puts possibly a little more pressure on Kav, or his expectations are maybe higher for Kav, just because he is Dhruv’s son. 

You're surrounded by an incredible ensemble cast. What was it like working with them?

The kids? You want me to talk about working with the kids? They're all amazing! They're all such incredible people, that we actually began to feel like a family quite quickly. There's no question about their abilities as actors. I mean, they're all brilliant. But for me, what was more important was that they are also really lovely, warm, generous, supportive people. And so that's what I carry with me all the time. 

Aysha Kala (Maya Kishan)

What was it about Maya that drew you to her? How did you find your way into that character?

What I loved about Maya is that her emotions are shown visibly bubbling on the surface. She will have a big blow out, and then she'll sort of get out of her system and find the rational, fair place to land. I guess being a lawyer, she's quite good at weighing things up and being very pragmatic. And she has a real sense of humour, which I really loved about her - especially with her siblings, she'll always point out the obvious to them, which was fun to play. 

It’s a complex family dynamic, though. Because Maya decided to take herself out of the family firm, there isn't this sort of competitive nature with her siblings. Kav and Aria can sometimes be fighting a little bit for Dad's attention, whereas Maya took a step back. I also think after losing their mum, she felt like she had to take on a bit of the motherly role in the family and I think she quite enjoys that aspect and feels she's good at it. She feels she's a good mum, and so that role in the family was a natural fit for her. But I think within that role, there’s always a chance for her to be honest with her siblings. It’s such a lovely thing that Ursula's written in, that they're so loving and supportive, but underneath it, they'll always be honest with each other. I think that felt really truthful to the family dynamic.

I also had the pleasure of working with two incredible younger actors - Izzy Khan and Jacob Krishna who play Maya’s children, Charvi and Danny. I mean, Izzy will kill me if I call her a child because she keeps telling me she's not a child! I will cry if I talk about Izzy dancing because she is phenomenal. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when she danced at the Chunni. She got up onto the dance floor and none of us knew what to expect because she's, you know, a 19-year-old girl. She's incredibly confident, and she carries herself beautifully. She is really, really special, and I think she's going to do amazing things. I'm like her mum in real life because I can't talk about her without crying! 

Arian Nik (Kav Kishan)

Who is Kav and why did you want to play him?

Kav is the youngest in the family. You meet him at the start of the series, very much living in the shadow of his two older sisters and his dad. He's failed his final law exams twice, and he's just a little bit over it. He's young, but he's jaded. He feels very confused as to what his future looks like and where his place is within the family, but also where his place is within the firm. You journey with him through the expectations of his dad, his family and the firm, but also his expectations of himself. 

I think what drew me to Kav was his vulnerability. To see a brown man on TV who's gay and proud, and the thing that he's navigating isn't the approval of his parents, but actually the approval of himself, felt really fresh and original. 

At the beginning of the series, we see Kav develop a relationship with Ashok. Could you set up their relationship for us?

Ashok has always been this figure that's existed on the periphery of Kishan Law. He has a lot of power online and he's a bit of an enemy of the firm, really. But specifically, for Kav, Ashok is the epitome of everything that Kav hasn't quite reached yet: Ashok’s incredibly proud of who he is, he wears his identity on his sleeve, and doesn't really care about what other people think. Ashok is such a contrast to Kav, who, whilst he is out and loved and supported by his family, is still carrying all of this sadness.

Danny Ashok (Neal Sharma)

Can you tell us about where Aria and Neal’s relationship is at the start of the series when Luke arrives on the scene?

At the beginning of the series, Neal and Aria are in a solid place, but not as good as they once were. Six months prior to the series starting, Aria's mother, Raina, passed away, and as is often the case when a parent passes away, it can have a profound effect on the children. Aria moved out of Neal's apartment to move back home with her family, and Neal certainly felt the strain of that separation. There are also moments where even though he wants to believe that the relationship is solid, I think he has realised at times that he's not the priority that he would like to be. And sometimes Aria's ambitions and hopes come first over Neal.

As for whether Neal has any suspicions of Luke, no, I don't think he does. I think he's so blindly in love with Aria that he doesn't think that Luke is any kind of threat in that sense. There are still moments where he does question the relationship and moments when he questions Aria's loyalty to him. But as far as Luke's concerned, I don't think that ever comes into his vision. There are other people that may notice something going on between Aria and Luke, but Neal seems to have the blinkers on. 

How do you think The Split Up balances heritage and modern identity?

I think what’s great about The Split Up is that it's not asking anyone to choose which identity you are - you know, British-Asian, Asian-British, whatever it might be. It’s taking almost a pleasure in the overlap. For me, as a British-Asian man, I think part of the beauty is the overlap in identities. You can be British in your values and humour, but also lean into your South Asian heritage with food, family structure, traditions, clothing, and different things like that. I think The Split Up does such a great job of finding enjoyment in that.

Dimitri Leonidas (Luke Christos)

Who is Luke and where do we meet him at the start of the series?

Luke is a specialist in financial forensics and has been brought in by Dhruv to join Kishan Law. He's kind of upped and left London at the beginning of the series. We see him coming into the office for the first time, as the new hire of the central law firm.

It's not a surprise for Luke that he's reunited with Aria. I think partly, maybe more than partly, he took the job because of her. Obviously, they have this history, but I think for him, he discovers a few things once he joins the firm that he didn't previously know and might have made him hesitate a little before he dove with both feet into this new job.

When Luke finds out that Aria is engaged to Neal, there’s obviously shock and it changes a lot. But I think Shamim [director] steered us in more interesting directions. Luke is capable enough to realise that him being there is going to freak Aria out - so he is quite functional and able to go, okay, well, let's put aside how I feel here, Aria is freaking out about this, I need to just make this okay. He's got a charm about him and a coolness to him that I think hides, obviously, what's going on under the surface.

Sindhu Vee (Harshika Sharma)

Could you please introduce us to Harshika?

Harshika Sharma is the mother of Aria’s fiancé Neal – she’s a widow, a great mum and a very good friend of Aria's family. She knew Aria's mother, who is now deceased, and she knows Dhruv, Aria's father. So she's been this strange fixture in Aria's life that is one day going to be her mother-in-law. But as the series progresses, we find out that Harshika is embroiled with the Kishan family in ways that are very important, which I'm not going to give away because you need to watch to find out!

The reason I was very excited about playing Harshika was that, first of all, even though she's an Indian mum of a certain age, she is a businesswoman. She's very shrewd, she's very sharp. She has a life that's about more than being a mum, a South Asian mum. She has a quiet confidence that I think is interesting from the very beginning, and you don't find out until later in the series that she's got a slight gangster vibe, which I loved. And then the other thing I liked about Harshika was that, I was told she knew about secrets that the family had. And I thought, well, I’d like to play a gangster who knows other people's secrets. 

Where do we find Harshika at the start of the series?

The series starts with Harshika pushing Aria and Neal’s engagement forward, but I always read that as her knowing this was a good thing that these two young people wanted, so she wanted their engagement to go ahead. I don't think she'd arranged it. There's a phrase in Hindi, “Shubh kaam mein deri kaisi”, which means “Why are we delaying an auspicious act?”, I don't think she has any other agenda. 

How do we see British South Asian culture and tradition woven throughout this modern story?

We see South Asian culture and traditions all throughout the series. There's a Chunni ceremony, there's a Haldi ceremony, and we saw all the different departments involved in the production - costumes, set design, the different directors - come together to make it into something that, as a South Asian, you think, “This does make sense.”

Also, I think in the way Harshika speaks to the younger characters - they call Harshika ‘Auntie’ - and in the way her and Dhruv speak. They throw in bits of Hindi, and I think that's very authentic - it's a pleasure to be part of that because it's real.

As an actor, it was nice being on a set that had all these amazing costumes and great, really yummy food. And the costumes - interestingly, I particularly liked the outfit that Harshika wears in the boardroom when they surprise Aria about the engagement. It's a Western outfit, but I think it says so much about how Harshika is a businesswoman, and it's quite high fashion. I also liked Harshika’s sari - it’s very beautiful and there’s a lot of attention to detail in the work that's gone into that.

Mawaan Rizwan (Ashok Khan)

Ashok is an outsider to the complex relationships within the Kishan family. With that in mind, how would you describe the Kishan family dynamic?

Ashok is basically doing his version of whistle-blowing online videos, and the way he sees himself is as a truth teller, so he relies on this family to give him certain insights and access to things that he might not otherwise have access to. So, he needs them, and they sometimes need him, but there’s a fun dance in the tension of them not liking each other but needing each other.

The Kishan family have got this push and pull between the younger siblings who want to modernise the firm and the older characters who stay stuck in their ways. It's nice how the series captures that. As an outsider, I definitely think Ashok finds the whole thing a bit ridiculous, and sees them as the establishment, so it's fun to mess with that and challenge Arian's character, Kav, especially.

What can you tell us about Ashok’s relationship with Kav?

Kav and Ashok have a really fun relationship to watch because it's a bit of a will-they-won't-they? But it’s also more complex than that, because Kav is juggling a lot and he doesn't always stand up for himself or go for what he wants, and gets lost in a family of really ambitious, headstrong people. Ashok comes in and messes with that and Kav’s whole perception of it. I think it's a really nice thing to watch when someone's falling in love with someone who challenges them – as a viewer, you know they're good for them, but the characters have to go on that journey, because it's not easy to confront a lot of that stuff.

Was there any moment in particular when you stepped onto the dressed set and thought “Yes, this feels right”?

My favourite scenes to film were all the big family events. One was a three-day shoot in this medieval castle, and it was so fun because all the cast were together, and it was just a bit surreal. I love those big event scenes because you get to eat all the food. Although all the samosas were prop samosas, and every time I’d try to eat them, the art department would remind me, “No you’ll get food poisoning because they've been there for three days!”… so that was quite a difficult day in the end, actually. Why be at a party if you can't eat the food? 

I love the costumes too. I've actually tried to steal everything Ashok has worn! Because you don't always do jobs where you like what you're wearing. With this, it's like the rings, the boots, you know what I mean? I've definitely tried to take my fair share!

Top picture: Mawaan Rizwan (Ashok Khan). Image: BBC/Sister Pictures.

Images: BBC/Sister Pictures