"British Asianness isn’t the motor for the story – it could be any family," The Split Up stars say of new series

With pretty much a built-in fanbase from Abi Morgan's The Split, The Split Up is set to be the new legal drama that gets everyone talking.

Not only does it blend delicious relationship dynamics and legal cases together, but it also gives us a window into the Kishan family, their law firm and, in various touching moments, their culture.

With a leading cast of South Asian talent, The Split Up is not only expanding the universe of The Split but is also paving the way for further representation of multifaceted British Asian characters.

When asked how it feels to be at the forefront of such a series, Sanjeev Bhaskar (Unforgotten) told Radio Times: "When I was reading the script, I never thought that their British Asianness was the motor for the story. And so, it could have been any family.

"Interestingly, the whole series starts with a secret. You know, there's a secret celebration um which Kavaria is unaware of. And so that is an interesting tonal start to the secrets that are going to emerge and either threaten to be uncovered or are uncovered as the series goes on - and that could have been anybody."

He continues: "I thought in that sense, when you stop to think about it, you do go, 'Well, when was the last predominantly South Asian-based drama?'. I'd struggle to tell you a family drama. But I think that the inclusivity of this was that it's a family.

"Abi Morgan wrote the first series of The Split, which I really loved. But there was no point where I watched that thinking this is representative of British families. It was a family and I understood family, I understood sibling-parent relationships and that was my way into it. Hopefully this will be the same for people who watch it."

The Umbrella Academy's Ritu Arya leads the cast as Aria Kishan, the successful daughter of Dhruv (Bhaskar) who is in line to take over the family business. But with an impending marriage, secrets from the past and the death of her mother to contend with, there's plenty on this character's plate.

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When asked about her own feelings relating to being part of such a series, Arya said: "Ursula [Rani Sarma, series creator] was talking about this in a really articulate way of it not even being about representation but about the universality really.

"When a story is full of characters that feel specific and complicated, we have interest because it feels relatable. It's not running on the fact that they're South Asian, they just happen to be. What I think drew us all to it is the dynamics between these people, the mistakes that they make, watching them navigate that, seeing the love they have, the betrayal that's there, the secrets and watching people go through this tricky moment in their lives.

"I think it's really fun to watch this family who are this affluent, powerful family living in Manchester. I haven't seen a family like this on my screen before. So it feels exciting for me."

The rest of the cast includes Virdee's Aysha Kala, Film Club's Arian Nik and Dinosaur's Danny Ashok, as well as Dimitri Leonidas (Those About To Die), Mawaan Rizwan (Juice), Sindhu Vee (Matilda the Musical), Shalini Peiris (The White Lotus) and Tom Forbes (Queenie).

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The Split Up will premiere on Sunday 20 and Monday 21 September at 9pm on BBC One.

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