The British series in love with Catalonia
Filmin premieres the return of 'The split', two special episodes filmed in vineyards near Barcelona
LondonFalling in love and falling out of love is a process that more or less everyone experiences at least once in their life. The members of the Defoe family, protagonists of the British series The split, know a lot about these matters: on the one hand, because they are lawyers specializing in divorces, and on the other, because they have experienced first-hand the breakdown of their love relationships. Three years after its end, this BBC-produced fiction returns with two special episodes that change the grey skies of London for a bucolic Catalonia with a hallucinating sun that the Defoes fall in love with. The split: Barcelona, which premieres this Tuesday on Filmin, the family travels to the Catalan capital to attend the wedding of one of the youngest members of the clan, Liv.
Nicola Walker, one of the great ladies of British fiction, takes on the role of Hannah, the brilliant lawyer who for three seasons debated whether to continue her marriage to Nathan (Stephen Mangan) or to bet on a new relationship with a love from her youth. In these special episodes, Hannah, who is now in her fifties, meets up with her now ex-husband, with whom she maintains a good relationship despite past disappointments. The reunion is for a happy cause, since the one getting married is their eldest daughter. "[Hannah and Nathan] have known each other since they were 18, because they met in college, and they will never stop being in a relationship, they just can't have the same relationship they had before. They have had to adapt. I think it's a very beautiful idea: it's what you wish for anyone you love to be painful, They have been able to evolve, which ensures that the bond between the ex-couple goes beyond sharing three children.
One of the surprises that fans of The split The two special episodes start off with a much more decidedly comic tone than the original series. This initial lightness is mainly due to the change of setting, namely Catalonia. "When Hannah moves away from London, work and her family life, she lets loose, and that has positive and negative effects. But what viewers will see is a much more playful side of her than usual, and that's because she's in Barcelona," says the actress, who visited Catalonia for the first time thanks to the filming of these episodes.
A Catalan wedding and a few clichés
Abi Morgan, creator of The split, wrote the series, partly inspired by the divorce of her parents, the English actress Pat England and the director Gareth Morgan, which took place when she was 13 years old. With the third season, the fiction was definitely closed –Morgan always imagined it as a series in three parts–, but the creator could not get the characters out of her head. "When the BBC asked me to do the specials, it was very easy and natural to meet the characters again and to carry out a story without having the feeling that I was stretching the bubble. I had the opportunity to take the characters to another place, and there is something irresistible about a wedding abroad," Morgan details in the ARA.
When it came to planning the episodes, different destinations were considered, but the team returned again and again to the possibility of filming in Barcelona. "It is a beautiful city, it has art, culture and spectacular food. In addition, it has beautiful surrounding landscapes: beach, mountains, vineyards," argues the creator. Barcelona is not the only Catalan location for the specials, as the team also filmed in Sant Pere de Ribes, Sant Pere Molanta, Tossa de Mar, Torredembarra and, above all, Sitges. Aware that the episodes fall into some clichés, most of them more linked to Spanish culture than Catalan, Morgan apologises in advance. Yes, there is sangria and flamenco dancing in the specials. "Barcelona is modern and contemporary, but at the same time it is elegant, historic and timeless, and this suited us very well for the story of this family," he remarks.
In the United Kingdom, the two episodes were broadcast at Christmas and, according to Morgan, the fact that they are set in a sunny Catalonia "was a great escape for the British audience" at a particularly cold and grey time in the country. How many more English people will visit Catalonia after watching the specials of The split?
