The Split

This is where The Split really shines, where we get to see the Defoe women and those who love them face very real decisions and consequences, muddling through while knowing that, ultimately, they will always have their family.

The trio’s sibling dynamic is a delight, realistically but warmly observed. And Stephens slots effortlessly well into the world of The Split, where everyone is witty, emotionally vulnerable and has some kind of high-flying legal career.

The Split isn't perfect, often too polished for its own good, and many characters too cold to like much. ... But that teeth-itchingly awkward restaurant meal, in which Hannah clearly wanted to stab her smug love rival Kate with her chopsticks, was absolutely delicious. I don't blame her. Who calls children "little people"? I think this is The Split giving us clear permission to hate Kate.

For all its wandering through hopeless plotlines like Rose’s endless adventures planning her wedding, an effort at inspired abandon that grows more ghastly by the minute--and there are a lot of those--The Split in time finds its footing as powerful drama.

An addictive guilty pleasure. [14 - 27 May 2018, p.11]

Some of the script and plotting concerning the in-laws would be rejected by the writers of Death in Paradise. .... Walker and Mangan are still great at understated comedy (“Our contribution to this wedding will cover, at best, the patatas bravas,” says Nathan) and at digging out emotional truths.

Again, the script was absurdly trite on this point. Hannah even said: “If there’s anything more romantic than chicken in a basket and a karaoke machine then I don’t know what it is.” Really? At this time of year we want our TV shows to be warmer and cuddlier than usual – but not so much that they descend into telenovelas.