That works itself up to a creamy lather and invites you to shut the bathroom door against real life and dive into a hot bath with it immediately for a much-needed break. The Split Up delivers full-on sudsy fun from the start. From the team behind The Split, it’s another glossy tale of a family-run family law firm specialising in the never-too-complicated divorce cases of any high net worth individuals in their vicinity.
This time, it’s written by Ursula Rani Sarma instead of Abi Morgan, the family is British South Asian and the location is Manchester not London, but beyond that it’s very much business as usual. A case of the week functions as the still eye of the ever-growing storm composed of the love lives, personal concerns and professional ambitions of the interrelated lawyers and their friends, colleagues and enemies – who are often, of course, one and the same thing. Mild glamour meets much plot; viewer happiness ensues.
The new clan, the Kishans, comprises recently widowed patriarch Dhruv (Sanjeev Bhaskar), who is preparing to hand over the firm he has spent decades building from scratch to his charismatic, highly competent daughter, Aria (Ritu Arya), who is as driven and ambitious as he was at that age. But Dhruv is older now, and driven and ambitious youth does not seem quite the unassailable asset it once was. Caution and consolidation perhaps have their place, too.
Aria is too busy laying plans, busting divorce balls and dealing with her portion of B-plots to notice immediately. The main complication to Aria’s narrative is her dad’s unilateral decision to add financial specialist Luke (Dimitri Leonidas) to the firm. Of all the forensic accountants in all the world … Luke is the one Aria had a one-night stand with at a conference a couple of years ago.
His re-entry into her world delights her not, and would delight her boyfriend, Neal (Danny Ashok) – who was also her boyfriend at the time – even less. Aria and Luke had better keep their former association hidden and their relationship going forward strictly professional. Like most good plans, it fails on first contact with the extremely hot enemy.
In the mix we also have Aria’s sister, Maya (Aysha Kala), who is a lawyer. Perhaps wisely, she took herself out of the melee a while back and just pops in now and again to lend a hand, in between raising a handful of kids and enjoying a strong and happy marriage, despite the long hours and late nights her husband (Tom Forbes) is putting in at his demanding job. Viewers hope that this is a sign of his unflagging commitment to providing for his family, but viewers have been here before.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
