The Split Up – Ritu Arya leads in BBC modern Asian family drama

A spin-off from ‘The Split’, this new drama shows plenty of promise… 

HITTING our screens in prime time this evening – if you still watch linear TV – is ‘The Split Up’ on BBC One, a spin-off from the highly successful ‘The Split’. 

There’s no Nicola Walker this time: Ritu Arya takes the lead as Aria Kishan, a go-getting, no-nonsense and highly successful lawyer. 

Set to inherit the family firm, Kishan Law, Aria is seen in the early scenes visiting potential new premises in Manchester. 

The show was filmed in and around Manchester, with Kishan Law’s offices created in part of an old town hall. The result looks convincing, if a little old school. 

It is rare to see a whole British Asian family at the centre of a prime-time drama, and this feels like a significant step forward.

Much, of course, will rest on how the six-part series lands with audiences. Alongside Arya, the cast includes Sanjeev Bhaskar, Ayesha Kala as Maya, Arian Nik as Kav, and Sindhu Vee, Jameela Jamil, Mawaan Rizwan, Lenny Henry and Jane Horrocks all have roles.

At the heart of the series is the relationship between Aria and her father, Dhruv. Their outlook is different professionally, and in the first episode Dhruv drops a bombshell that leaves Aria feeling second best, even though she knows she is firmly in control of Kishan Law, which specialises in divorce cases. The family are still trying to come to terms with the death of the mother and Dhruv’s wife.

There is also an earlier dramatic turn when Luke (Dmitri Leonidas), an ex-flame of Aria’s, arrives as a new employee recruited by her father. 

Aria is set to marry her teenage sweetheart Neal Sharma (Danny Ashok), and the first episode centres on their engagement party. Her father and future mother-in-law, played by Vee, have helped push it along because, frankly, it has taken long enough – and six months have passed since the death of Aria’s mother, Raina. 

On Wednesday, September 16, the series had a special launch at BFI Southbank.
 
Arya and Nik were absent due to filming, but Bhaskar, Kala, Ashok, lead writer Ursula Rani Sarma, ‘The Split’ creator Abi Morgan and producer Jane Featherstone and director Shamim Sarif all joined a panel to discuss how ‘The Split Up’ came together, what viewers can expect, and how it relates to the original series. 

Critic and panel host Rhianna Dhillon gave the drama her thumbs up, describing it as “incredible” and praising its focus on a successful, modern British Asian family. 

Sarma said it felt like a seminal moment for Asian screen representation: no longer were the characters on the margins, nor was the culture they came from, incidental to the drama. It was front, centre and back. 

“I grew up as a mixed-race person, Irish and Indian, and I felt the lack of representation for my own self, both as a person and as an artist. Not being able to see yourself on screen, or reflected back in the various art forms you love, can be a bit disillusioning.” 

On an www.asianculturevulture.com site visit in January, she spoke about wanting to create a successful modern Asian woman, Aria Kishan, who is juggling personal expectations, family obligations and professional dreams. 

“I think representing diversity can really foster empathy, understanding and recognition,” she told the BFI audience. 

She said much of the rhetoric against people of colour, diverse communities and immigrants came from ignorance and fear. 

“If you can bring an audience to a show like this and make them laugh and cry and make them see themselves reflected back in the lives of people who they thought they had very little or nothing in common with – that would be real success.” 

Bhaskar said that working with the cast was a joy and that they continued to communicate with one another in a Whats App group and enjoyed each other’s company – which he thinks paid dividends on screen. 

“Within in a scene you’re not trying to compete to be the best, you’re trying to elevate each other and the writing – and that happened really quickly,” he said on Wednesday.

He shared that the dance scene performed by Kala’s screen teenage daughter was a genuine moment of coming together and realising that this was more than just about entertainment – it reverberated at a deeper level.  

Kala concurred and said there was respect and attention to what they were doing as actors but away from the set, they bonded and got on well – Ashok would bring them Indian sweets regularly. 

“We all had a similar mindset  – we took the work seriously, but we didn’t take ourselves too seriously.” 

For director Shamim Sarif, it was important to show life and work right up against each other and not always in happy dialogue. 

“What I loved (about working on the show) was the tone of it – it pushed me to meld everything together. So you’re (Aria) walking down the hallway and your personal life is imploding and you land up in the boardroom and you’ve got to put your game face on and advise Lenny Henry’s character (on his impending divorce battle). There was constant movement, so we used handheld and steadicam cameras.” 

It does have a very naturalistic and real feel and the set design we saw in January was very real though created just for the purposes of filming.

Abi Morgan, series creator said they were keen to centre the drama around an Asian family this time. 

“I think Ursula’s got real heart, elegance and humour. I think what’s so important about representation is that this is not just lip service but this does shift the dial – you are not just a character in the background, you have several characters and so the actors really build up their currency.” 

‘The Split Up’was created by Sister Pictures and Little Chick. The first episode screening was introduced by Nawfal Faizullah, BBC Drama commissioning editor, Jane Featherstone from Sister Pictures and Xavier Pillai from the BFI.  

Review – Love or Loathe Aria?

 
FAST PACED and edgy, ‘The Split Up’ is a welcome drama and good to see a successful Asian family being portrayed warts and all on prime time. Arya is especially good in holding confidence professionally and exhibiting vulnerability and diffidence on a personal level. Stay with this – the first episode is strong and we can only hope the rest is of the same calibre. 
ACV rating: **** (out of five)  
 
BBC One 9pm and I-player (all six one hour episodes available, UK only) https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002y5lq/the-split-up?seriesId=m002y5lq-structural-1-m002y5lr