User:Mesmeilleurs/sandbox/List of The Split characters

The Split is a British television legal drama series written and created by Abi Morgan that premiered in 2018. The following is a list of characters from the series.

Hannah Stern
Hannah Stern (née Defoe; played by Nicola Walker) is a divorce lawyer, who is a senior partner at the London-based firm Noble & Hale, specialising in high-profile cases.

In Series 1, having previously worked at her family's firm, Defoe's, she has defected to Noble & Hale with the help of her former flame and classmate, Christie Carmichael. This puts her at odds with her mother, Ruth and her younger sister, Nina, who wished her to remain at Defoe's. Seeing herself as the "reliable and dependable one", Hannah has decided to re-evaluate her life.

At the age of 12, Hannah's father, Oscar, walked out on the family, leaving her to pick up the pieces, and support her devastated mother and two younger sisters. She holds great animosity towards her father, and is surprised when she encounters him for the first time in thirty years in a park. Oscar wants to meet with the three sisters to get back in contact with them. Hannah is resistant, as she is the one who remembers him most. Nina and Rose are more open to meeting him, as they were too young to remember when he left.

Hannah is married to Nathan Stern, another top barrister who was in her class at law school. Having reached twenty years of marriage and three children, Liv, Tilly and Vinnie, Hannah and Nathan are beginning to feel the pressure of their professional lives and the years they've spent together. Their once solid relationship as 'the golden couple' is now beginning to reveal cracks, and both face temptations.

Hannah struggles to resist the advances of Christie, who exposes feelings between them that have gone buried for twenty years, and the unfinished business they left behind on the night before Hannah and Nathan's wedding. They begin an affair, leaving Hannah feeling guilty about her family.

Nathan Stern
Nathan Stern (played by Stephen Mangan) is Hannah's husband, and a barrister who deals with fertility and surrogacy cases.

Nathan met Hannah at law school twenty years ago. During their pupillage they both specialised in family law. Nathan then became a barrister, the go-to legal mind in an emerging and lucrative field; fertility & surrogacy cases.

On the outside Nathan and Hannah are the golden couple, personally and professionally, to everyone who knows them and Nathan is fiercely proud and protective of the life and family they has built.

Yet the inevitable pressures of the kids growing up, his body growing older, a high pressured professional life and the toll of years spent together have begun to expose cracks in their once solid relationship. When Hannah’s father returns around the same time she leaves the family firm to join Noble & Hale, insecurities are brought to the fore with potentially devastating consequences for the family Nathan loves.

Rose Defoe
Rose Defoe (played by Fiona Button) is the youngest of the Defoe sisters. Entering into her 30s and getting married, Rose finds herself directionless and unsure about what life has next for her.

Born in the whirl of a last ditch attempt by her parents to save their marriage, Rose has worn this badge with wry resignation. The child who knew her father the least, Rose was brought up in the bosom of this female family, raised in the midst of the post-divorce chaos of Ruth’s life and the high-octane teenage years of Hannah and Nina. For this reason Rose is the pure, chilled heart of the family, not layered with the resentment that her sisters feel.

However, engaged to James, she has signed up to her own quiet form of rebellion, opening herself up to the idea of being the kept wife, something Ruth would never conceive and Hannah and Nina could not understand. But Oscar’s return blows apart Rose’s security, exposing to her that the vacuum left by him was not completely filled by the three strong, opinionated and funny women who effectively raised her. Now Rose is beginning to question what she really wants out of life, just as her marriage to James draws ever closer.

Nina Defoe
Nina Defoe (played by Annabel Scholey) is the middle Defoe sister, and a senior partner at the family firm.

She is everything that Hannah is not - reckless, hedonistic and burning the candle at both ends through her twenties and now into her thirties. Everybody’s booty call, Nina is the first to raise her glass and the last to go home at the end of the night. A fiercely independent, intelligent woman with a spirit few can match, she seems to have it all… but after the friends have fallen away and the work meeting is over, Nina is ultimately alone.

With the return of Oscar, the father she has not seen since she was 8 years old, Nina’s entire emotional armour is punctured as she reevaluates everything she believes in whilst renegotiating her closest relationships with her mum and her sisters. With Hannah no longer at the family firm, can Nina finally step up when her mother needs her the most?

Christie Carmichael
Christie Carmichael (played by Barry Atsma) is another divorce lawyer, and Head of Family Law at Noble & Hale. He attended law school with Hannah and Nathan.

Christie is intelligent, charismatic and fluent in several languages. Ambitious and competitive and a serial womaniser into his twenties, he travelled the world with his legal career until, head-hunted by Zander Hale, he finally returned and put down roots in London.

Whilst reckless in his youth, marriage and a subsequent painful, albeit amicable, divorce have mellowed Christie. Outwardly content on the surface, his re-connection with Hannah at Noble & Hale has proved surprising for him, coming at a time when he wants more from life.

Ruth Defoe
Ruth Alice Defoe (played by Deborah Findlay) is the Defoe matriarch, and Managing Partner of Defoe's, the firm she inherited from her father-in-law.

Ruth is a brilliant thinker and masterful strategist, having punched her way through the glass ceiling when divorce law was the unsexy end of the legal world. A ground-breaker in her field; Ruth is eminently respected in her profession but it has been at a cost to her personal life. Raising her three daughters alone, Ruth has evolved into the steely matriarch, not without humour and wit but one who has worked tirelessly 24/7 to ensure the success of the company and security for her three girls.

As she hits 70, Ruth’s resistance to stepping down could be read as resistance to relinquish control. In truth it is so much more than that. The loss of her daughter Hannah to Noble & Hale and the return of her ex-husband Oscar serve as a catalyst that will force Ruth to face the consequences of the past and to finally let the world and her family in.

Oscar Defoe
Oscar Defoe (played by Anthony Head) is a former lawyer and property entrepreneur. He is the ex-husband of Ruth, and father of Hannah, Nina, and Rose.

He left the family home and London over 30 years ago, fleeing with the family nanny, Maya, and leaving his wife Ruth to bring up his three daughters on her own. A hippy at heart, Oscar was not only escaping the responsibilities of his marriage but also of the family business – Defoe’s was started by his great-great-grandfather in 1855.

The split between Oscar and Ruth was complicated and messy and as a result, never fully resolved. But recently Oscar has decided it is time to face his family, in the hope of reconnecting with his daughters and laying the past, finally, to rest.

Oscar Defoe only appears in Series 1. Between Series 1 and 2, Oscar dies. In the first episode of Series 2, we see the family scattering his ashes.

Davey McKenzie
Davey McKenzie (played by Stephen Tompkinson) is the co-founder of a multi-million pound sportswear company.

Davey unexpectedly calls a meeting with his lawyer, Hannah, and wife, Goldie, where he announces his intention to divorce her. At first, it appears he wants an amicable divorce, but over time, Goldie figures out that he has been having an affair with her widowed best friend, Yvonne.

Davey McKenzie only appears in Series 1.

Goldie McKenzie
Goldie McKenzie (played by Meera Syal) is the co-founder of a multi-million pound sportswear company.

She met her childhood sweetheart, Davey McKenzie, across the desks of an East End secondary school; the mutual attraction instantaneous. Bunking off and dreaming of escaping a life of struggling for money, they worked together on a new business venture, Davey with his eye for a deal and Goldie with a razor sharp mind for figures. Together they built a multi million pound sportswear company and started to live the life of their dreams with homes abroad, private planes and designer clothes.

But after forty years together, the dream is finally over. The subsequent multi million pound McKenzie divorce is one that pits Hannah against her own family.

Fi Hansen
Fi Hansen (played by Donna Air) is a a former singer and now television presenter on the successful show 'We're With The Band', alongside her husband, Richie.

After discovering her husband has been having an affair with the family nanny, Fi enlists Hannah, who is also her neighbour, to initiate divorce proceedings. As a pattern of abusive behaviour begins to emerge, and attempts by Richie and his team to ruin Fi's reputation, it is made even more important that he is brought down.

Fi Hansen only appears in Series 2.

Richie Hansen
Richie Hansen (played by Ben Bailey Smith) is a television presenter, and the husband of Fi Hansen.

After having an affair with the family nanny, and a pattern of abusive behaviour, Richie is served with divorce papers. His controlling attitude to both his wife and other female members of his staff become important factors in the proceedings.

James Cutler
James Cutler (played by Rudi Dharmalingam) is Rose's fiancé, later husband. He is a corporate banker.

Sweet, loveable James came out smiling into the arms of loving parents who have stayed together through thick and thin. As a result, James has never felt the insecurities Rose grew up with, after all his parents marriage is one he yearns to emulate not run a mile from.

With a brilliant head for all things mathematical, he fell into corporate banking more by accident than design. In truth, it is not where his heart lies, it just pays the bills. With a mischievous sense of humour, he reluctantly finds most of his colleagues boring and yearns for adventure and a bit of anarchy to alleviate the stultifying structure of a professional life looking after the finances of others – and that’s where Rose came in. A woman who endlessly fascinates and frustrates him and who he utterly adores.

On paper, he knows he and Rose shouldn’t work. But there’s an edge to Rose that attracts him, a glimpse of darkness beneath the sunny veneer that he finds both dangerous and appealing. It challenges his view of life, scares and intrigues him.

Zander Hale
Alexander 'Zander' Hale (played by Chukwudi Iwuji is the director of the law firm Noble & Hale.

Having spent time in the United States, Zander head-hunts Christie, who in turn gets Hannah to join them as senior partner. Zander is strong, independent, and driven.

In Series 2, Zander returns from America with a new fiancé, Tyler.

Tyler Donaghue
Tyler Donaghue (played by Damian Molony is a management consultant and lawyer, and fiancé, later husband, of Zander Hale.

Brought into the firm by Zander to assess where cuts may need to be made, Tyler is seen as an unsettling force by the staff. Many people have reservations about Tyler's motivations, and are wary of his relationship with Zander.

Glen Peters
Glen Peters (played by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) is the vicar who marries Rose and James.

Rose confuses his friendliness for flirtiness, and they share a moment together. James finds out, and briefly cuts off the engagement. However, after Rose and James reconcile, Glen conducts their marriage ceremony in the final episode of Series 1.

Glen Peters only appears in Series 1.

Yvonne Duchy
Yvonne Duchy (played by Maggie O'Neill) is the best friend of Goldie McKenzie, later revealed to be the mistress of Goldie's husband, Davey.

Goldie and Yvonne have been friends for years, and Goldie is the godmother of Yvonne's 10-year-old son, Danny. It is revealed that Yvonne has been having an affair with Davey for years, and that Davey is secretly the father of Danny. Mysterious amounts of £1m per year to an unnamed account and Davey's paying for Yvonne's breast enlargement surgery confirmed this.

Yvonne Duchy only appears in Series 1.

Maya
Maya (played by Josette Simon) is Oscar Defoe's partner, and the family's former nanny.

Having run away with Oscar in the 1970s, Maya does not receive a warm welcome from the Defoes. She lives in the United States.

Maya only appears in Series 1.

Rex Pope
Rex Pope (played by Mathew Baynton) is a stand-up comedian who is divorcing his agent wife.

Rex is being represented by Nina, and his wife by Hannah. The custody of their young son is the main issue of their divorce. Rex's wife refuses to let him have some custody if he does not remove inappropriate material about her from his comedy set. Eventually, he agrees to do so and is allowed to see his son.

He has a short relationship with Nina, but it ends when he reconciles with his ex-wife. In Series 2, he is living in the United States with his ex-wife and son.

Rex Pope only appears in Series 1.

Liv Stern
Olivia "Liv" Stern (played by Elizabeth Roberts) is the eldest child of Hannah and Nathan.

A teenager, she clashes with her parents and seems to be rebellious in nature. She has a crush on her Spanish teacher, that goes too far, and she is also found once to have marijuana in her possession. Despite their clashes, she seems to have a close bond with her parents, although she loses trust in her father after his affair is revealed.

Oscar reveals in Series 1 that she is named after his mother.

Tilly Stern
Matilda "Tilly" Stern (played by Mollie Cowen) is the second daughter of Hannah and Nathan.

She frequently fights with her brother, Vinnie. She seems to have a good relationship with her parents.

Vinnie Stern
Vincent "Vinnie" Stern (played by Toby Oliver) is the only son of Hannah and Nathan.

He frequently fights with his sister, Tilly. He seems to have a good relationship with his parents.

Maggie Lavelle
Maggie Lavelle (played by Ellora Torchia) is a paralegal at Noble & Hale, and assistant to Hannah.

Determined and motivated, Maggie is always trying to move up the corporate ladder. When Hannah refuses to recommend her for a promotion, she leaves the firm.

Sasha
Sasha (played by Brenock O'Connor) is Liv Stern's boyfriend.

Sasha's presence at the family home seems to be a cause for concern for Nathan, who is worried about his daughter becoming pregnant.

By Series 2, Liv and Sasha have broken up.

Sasha only appears in Series 1.