Sanjeev Bhaskar has revealed he was "really, really moved" by emotional grief scenes in the new BBC drama The Split Up, a spin-off from Nicola Walker's The Split. The series follows a British South Asian family law firm, The Kishans, set in Manchester.
The BBC teased the premise: "They are the 'go to firm' for a wide cross section of Manchester's elite, who come to them for their excellence, integrity, and discretion." The synopsis adds that Aria Kishan, a fast-rising star in the Manchester family law scene, is poised to step up and take the mantle from her father Dhruv. However, the death of her mother, Raina, six months prior, has cast a new light over these plans for Dhruv, who has begun to wonder if his daughter can, or should, take on this responsibility single handedly.
Grief as a running thread
As well as legal battles featuring actors Sir Lenny Henry and Jameela Jamil, and the personal crises members of the family face, grief is a running thread throughout the series as the family comes to terms with the matriarch's death.
Speaking at a Q&A ahead of the series airing, the Unforgotten actor shared: "Speaking generally, grief is a weird thing and affects people differently. Mostly it's like a weight, and you get on with your lives but there's a weight you're carrying."
Moving sibling scenes
Bhaskar, who plays Dhruv in the show, said: "Those scenes, the ones I wasn't a part of, when they [his three onscreen children] are reminiscing about their mother, I find it really, really moving. In fact, the relationship between the siblings I find really moving. That is threaded through with the mum and the wife in my case, who, as the story progresses, you realise how much of a central point she was."
Maya actress Aysha Kala added: "We never had a conversation about the grief aspect of it. It's so present in the script, but I think that helped in a way because, as you said, we're dealing with it in our own way and then when we get together, you feel that heaviness in us. But we never had a collective conversation about that, it was just like it was there in the script."
Attracted by the patriarch role
Elsewhere ahead of the show's premiere, Bhaskar shared: "I really loved the scripts and the ideas about this family. I'd seen The Split - all three series and the special. I had connections with that because Nicola Walker, who I've worked with quite a bit, was in it, and my wife Meera Syal was in the first series. I knew that the world would be interesting. I think the balance of family drama and the drama that conflict and secrets carry - I thought Ursula Rani Sarma [writer, creator and executive producer] brought that to the table really well."
He added: "I've not played a patriarch, and I'm not sure I've even played a dad before in something. So, particularly playing a dad and a patriarch of such a dysfunctional family (which is bad for family relationships, but good for drama!) attracted me to it."
The Split Up continues at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
