The Split, episode 4, recap: is it all over for Hannah and Nathan?
Writer Abi Morgan’s divorce drama passed the halfway point with its most scandal-heavy, incident-packed instalment yet. Here are all the talking points from episode four…
Is it all over for Hannah and Nathan?
Does the divorce lawyer need… well, a divorce lawyer? Cracks have been evident in the marriage of Hannah Stern (Nicola Walker) and husband Nathan (Stephen Mangan) all series but here they widened into chasms.
Not only did Nathan’s daft drunken lunge at Hannah’s sister Nina (Annabel Scholey) come to light - more on that dinner-party-from-hell in a moment - but it also transpired that he’d joined extramarital dating website Indiana Ray. Oops. Nathan protested that it was a “moment of madness” (copyright Welsh politician Ron Davies) while he was away working alone and that he never actually went on any dates, but such excuses cut no mustard with Hannah.
After a weepy tussle, she pushed him away and closed the bedroom door. Is there any way back from the brink for the show’s pivotal couple? Ironically, they’d just had sex for the first time in ages and seemed to be rebuilding bridges. However, Nathan didn’t help himself by hitting the wine too hard (he always seems to have a bottle of red on the go) and generally being a weak, drunken doofus.
Following last week’s vengeful fury, Nicola Walker has really started to display her range. This showdown with Nathan - first the hurt looks at the dining table, then the visceral reaction to his betrayal - flexed her acting muscles further. A fine performance, unshowy but utterly believable. What next for Hannah? Well, a certain blast from the past is waiting in the wings…
Disastrous dinner destroyed two relationships
Recent TV drama has seen such memorable meals-from-hell as the Doctor Foster pasta massacre and This Is England’s grim Sunday lunch of roast misery and all the trimmings. To that list we can now add The Split’s pre-wedding dinner party.
Things were already looking shaky for cold-footed Rose (Fiona Button) and wet blanket fiancé James (Rudi Dharmalingam), after she said she didn’t want children and had a panic attack on the bus. Now up stepped sister Nina to have her wine-addled say in front of both families and vicar Glen Peters (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith).
Railing against the whole “happy ever after pile of c--p”, Nina told the dumbstruck James: “It’s not enough to just get on top and hope Rose feels the same. Is it any wonder she put you hand on the vicar’s c--k?” Awkward. James and his parents were last seen making a hasty exit, while Glen got hot under the clerical collar.
Yet Nina hadn’t quite finished, also informing Ruth that Nathan had “put his hand on my arse and said ‘Why doesn’t she want to have sex with me any more?’” Riiiiight. Anyone for tea or coffee? Cheeseboard? Port? Oh, they've all gone home crying.
Storyline echoed Ashley Madison scandal
This episode began with divorce lawyers all over London and beyond leaping into action after Indiana Ray - ironically taglined “The place to go for a discreet affair” - was hacked and its client list was leaked. The culprits turned out to be a far-right Christian group, which sounded a little unlikely.
Still, it sparked an unseemly scramble at both Defoes and Noble & Hale as business picked up. As the press and paparazzi also descended, it was gleefully dubbed “Divorce D-Day”.
Writer Abi Morgan had clearly been inspired by the 2015 data breach at Canadian site Ashley Madison, when hackers stole all of its customer data. Suicides and extortion attempts followed, presumably hence the script’s reference to “Some bishop blew his brains out in Glasgow”.
As Noble & Hale boss Zander (Chukwudi Iwuji) so sagely said: “The moral of the tale? The best affairs are the ones you never had.”
MP spanking scandal was amusingly near-the-knuckle
We opened with a 4am phone call summoning Hannah to a delicate meeting with the Foreign Secretary, Emma Graham (Claire Rushbrook) because the politician’s errant husband Bill (Nicholas Gleaves) was on the list leaked by the Indiana Ray hackers. Although Emma was a former client of Defoes, she had specifically asked for Hannah to represent her - nabbing a case from mother Ruth (Deborah Findlay) in a neat reversal from episode one.
The unseen Prime Minister had demanded “damage limitation”, while Emma wanted a divorce - which Bill vowed to contest, for the sake of their three children. Just to add extra pressure, Emma was due to host a high-profile state visit from the Chinese President that very day.
The plot thickened further when it transpired that Bill was a spanking fetishist and Ruth had once helped the couple take out a privacy injunction against a tabloid kiss ’n’ tell. Emma had signed a witness statement to protect Bill, lying to protect him. If this came out in court, she could be found guilty of perverting the course of justice, while Ruth could be struck off.
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With her mother’s words echoing in her ears (“You can always trust Hannah to do the right thing”), our heroine made a pragmatic choice. She persuaded Emma to stay with Bill for the sake of her career and their children - at least until she’s out of office and their youngest son had left home, at which point she could discreetly divorce.
It was fun to play “spot the real-life parallels” here. Graham was a “state school girl from Manchester” - rather like Margaret Beckett, Britain’s first female Foreign Secretary - while her warm, no-nonsense approach recalled Mo Mowlam. The whole “female MP embarrassed by husband’s indiscretion” storyline was reminiscent of Jacqui Smith’s husband Richard Timney and his porn habit, while the spanking element couldn’t help putting one in mind of Stormy Daniels’ claims about Donald Trump. Fake news?
Hannah could fall into Christie’s arms
Colleague and old flame Christie Carmichael (Dutch actor Barry Atsma, all silvery good looks and wandering accent) was mooning after Hannah like a lovesick puppy last week but suddenly he was back to being the office heart-throb.
She looked all a-flutter as Christie charismatically led the “Divorce D-Day” meeting, then asked for his advice over the tangled Graham case. He duly brokered a deal with the Daily Mail’s journalistic “piranha” Matthew Royston (Steve Edge) to contain the fallout with a sympathetic exclusive interview.
Hannah and Christie’s conversation about the Grahams - “too terrified to leave a marriage but wishing you were with someone else” - was loaded with double meaning. As she moved further away from Nathan, Hannah grew increasingly close to Christie. Surely it won’t be long before their simmering sexual tension boils over.
Is Oscar heartbroken - or at least heartsick?
We speculated last week that patriarch Oscar could be terminally ill, hence his sudden reappearance. Well, there certainly seems to be something amiss. Ex-wife Ruth spotted a chest scar - usually concealed with a tie or dapper scarf - which presumably means Oscar’s had open heart surgery. In a quietly tender moment, she reached out and held his hand.
More on this next week, I’ll warrant. His partner Mia also seems mysteriously absent. Have they separated? Might a reunion with Ruth even be on the cards?
Financial woes at Defoes
More hints this week that the family firm is in financial trouble. Comedian Rex Pope (Mathew Baynton) still hasn’t settled his bill and Nina was forced to chase him for payment. Ruth mentioned that “We can’t afford to lose Davey McKenzie as a client” and we heard that she hadn’t paid her share of Rose’s wedding costs yet.
She was also spotted in a late-night meeting with their accountant (comically nicknamed “Danny De Vito”). Ruth reiterated her intention to buy Oscar out of Defoes. If only she had the money.
Bonus for EastEnders fans
Did soap fans recognise the actress playing James’ mother Annie? The peony-mad mum-of-the-groom was Shobu Kapoor, who played Gita in EastEnders - the fearsome wife of flaky Walford Market trader Sanjay - for five years during the Nineties. She’s currently the long-suffering wife in Citizen Khan, too. Award yourself a bunch of peonies if you spotted her.
Kids today, eh?
Poor Liv. After the Sterns’ teenage daughter (Elizabeth Roberts) went on the pill last week, much to her father’s chagrin, now she was heartbroken after getting dumped by her boyfriend Sasha (Brenock O’Connor).
To add insult to injury, he did the deed via a misspelt text (“We need a brake” indeed). Just be thankful he didn’t do it with an emoji. You’re better off without him, Liv. He’s got a girl’s name, for starters.
Goldie was on the warpath
The acrimonious divorce of sportswear chain mogul Davey McKenzie (Stephen Tompkinson) and his childhood sweetheart Goldie (Meera Syal) continued to rumble on in the background.
As Hannah’s team dug into dodgy Davey’s finances, they discovered that he’d siphoned ￡18m through his secret lovechild’s account and there was still another ￡9m unaccounted for. Cue Goldie sashayed through the company HQ to gatecrash a board meeting.
“What else are you lying about?” she snarled at her slimy ex, who told her: “You’re sleepwalking, love. “Well, I’m awake now. And I’m onto you.” It’s all building to a deliciously soapy denouement over the next two weeks.
