Nicola Walker’s Emotional Confession The Heartbreaking Reason She Delayed Marriage and Motherhood
Nicola Walker is back as Hannah Stern in The Split, as the hit drama makes its unexpected return to screens tonight for a special two-episode event. The actress, 54, who rose to fame in the ’90s, has enjoyed a distinguished career on both stage and screen, with her portrayal of Hannah Stern becoming one of her most beloved roles.
The Split, which originally ran for three seasons before concluding in 2022, follows the Defoe family as they navigate complex relationships, infidelity, grief, and the challenges of modern marriage. The return of the show has fans excited, especially since it was thought to have ended for good.
Nicola’s career is as impressive as her The Split role. She first made a mark in the late ’90s with appearances in Chalk and Touching Evil, followed by her iconic role as Ruth Evershed in Spooks, which aired from 2002 to 2011. She went on to appear in numerous notable series including Last Tango in Halifax, Unforgotten, and Prisoners’ Wives. More recently, she starred in Annika and Marriage and received an Olivier Award for her stage performance in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Off-screen, Nicola keeps her private life relatively low-key, though she is married to actor Barnaby Kay, with whom she shares a son, Harry, born in 2006. Reflecting on their marriage in past interviews, Nicola shared a candid moment: “Me and my husband, because we both lost a parent young, we thought, after we had a child, we ought to get married, in case one of us dies, so that the legalities are clear”, reported by Hello! Magazine. She added that it wasn’t the most romantic reason to marry, but it made sense for them at the time.
As for the return of The Split, Nicola teased the upcoming episodes, saying: “What’s brilliant about them is that you get to see where they are a few years on. There’s no sense we’re picking up where we left off, we are not, stuff has moved on, and their lives have moved on.” She also hinted at some drama ahead: “Of course, the Defoes are the Defoes and there are little implosions, emotional explosions throughout this wedding weekend.”
Nicola also shared how the show’s return to Barcelona will add an exciting new dynamic: “The great joke for me when I read the scripts was, ‘Oh, they’re just even more like themselves in Barcelona, we haven’t lost anything, they are just like themselves turned up to 11.’” Fans can expect these emotional twists to unfold as the Defoes reunite, and the characters continue their tumultuous journey.