The Split star Nicola Walker has recalled filming Hannah's "embarrassing" champagne scene in the new special.
Abi Morgan's popular drama returned to screens this weekend with one of two new episodes titled The Split: Barcelona, with the conclusion following tomorrow night (December 30).
The festive episodes see the Defoe sisters jet off to sunny Spain for an important wedding, and among the guests is "mysterious" lawyer Archie Moore (Toby Stephens) who is teased as a potential love interest for Hannah.
In an exclusive interview with Digital Spy, the Unforgotten actor remembered filming the pair's reintroduction after arriving in Barcelona, which sees Hannah spill champagne all down herself.
Related: Does The Split's return to the BBC live up to expectations?
"It was absolutely scripted by Abi [Morgan]," she laughed, adding of the champagne: "It’s actually technically incredibly hard to time on camera and I was thinking crikey how do they do the volcano eruptions and then it explodes."
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"I think it was done on the third or fourth take it happened," she continued. "It's funny when you want a bottle of champagne to explode, sometimes it’s quite obstinate and doesn’t want to."
Walker hailed the scene as "a great moment of them meeting" which Hannah would rather forget in a hurry, explaining: "It's just that awful, awful, crippling embarrassment when it’s the last person you want to see across your balcony."
Related: Nicola Walker addresses The Split's future
The Split: Barcelona follows two years on from the season 3 finale which saw Hannah officially divorce from long-term husband Nathan Stern (Stephen Mangan).
Walker believes the new special shines a unique light on second-time love and the difficulties and fears of dipping your toes back into the dating pool again.
"I think what is great about these two episodes is these two grown up people being incredibly vulnerable," she told us. "Hannah being incredibly vulnerable, to speak about how she feels, which I don’t think I've seen very often, if ever.
"She's a woman at a certain point in her life saying this is absolutely terrifying and I’m afraid. We don't often present that in primetime TV dramas."
The Split: Barcelona premieres on BBC One on December 29 and 30 at 9pm, and iPlayer on December 29.
Emily is an experienced freelance entertainment writer and editor, reporting on all things TV, film, soaps and showbiz. An NCTJ-qualified journalist, with a First Class Honours degree in Journalism from the University of Sussex, Emily is a former Deputy News Editor and Evening News Editor at Digital Spy. She has previously worked at Hello magazine, BBC South News and GoodtoKnow.
A small and big-screen obsessive – with subscriptions to every TV and film service under the sun – Emily knows her movie stars from soap stars, and is always clued up on the latest reality show dumping, just-dropped trailer or off-screen spat. She's interviewed a number of celebrities over the years, with highlights including The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett and GMB's Kate Garraway (who "loved" her trousers).
Emily counts Sharon Horgan and Julia Davis as her TV heroes, and is a loyal Wes Anderson fan. LinkedIn
