The Split | Interview with Barry Atsma (Christie)

There was a question mark over whether we would see Christie in London this series because of the logistics of Covid…

There was a lot of stress as I was shooting something in France, and it was quite hard to come back to London and see if there was enough time to be in quarantine and then shoot and then go back to France, and be in quarantine back there to shoot again, so it was quite a puzzle! But I was so grateful we were all able to make it work because it’s such a beautiful family to be a part of and I was really eager to be part of this again. And it worked out! I had a great three weeks, they packed all my scenes in.

Where is Christie at in his work and life at the start of series three?

Well, he’s disillusioned after the end of series two where he left Hannah and went to the States, and kind of left this life behind him because he felt there was no chance he could be with Hannah and he also saw what he was destroying I guess. He felt he was that extra guy and he didn’t want to be that guy, so I think he made a wise choice to go back to the US and stay far away from the dangerous love that Hannah was for him. But then business calls him back, through Ruth in an unexpected way, and that takes him back to London.

There’s always been this tension between the fantasy and the reality of Christie and Hannah – how enjoyable is it to explore that?

Nicola is just an amazing actress, she’s so subtle and energetic and fun to work with. There’s so much coming out of her on the day when you’re shooting and you need that for the whole play of ‘can we be together, can we fantastise or not?’ – it can all be very corny if you do it the wrong way but with Nicola that’s just so much fun. And Abi with her writing, it’s really emotionally true I think.

In our lives we all have this ongoing fight between dreaming and reality and sometimes you lose yourself in wanting something different than you have and Abi writes beautifully and intelligently about that. Abi and I agreed from the beginning that you need something more than ‘the bad guy’, or that guy screwing things up for everyone, he has his own motive and loneliness and search for love. He always dreamt of being a father, which was introduced in series two, so that was really important for Christie and Abi wrote something beautiful for that. He’s not just a player.

Christie and Nathan do get to awkwardly cross paths in their professional, working life – how enjoyable has it been working with Stephen Mangan again?

Stephen is just great and it’s so fun to play opposite each other. I’m the blonde Dutch guy, and he’s the British dark-haired guy, the husband, family guy, he has everything that Christie wants, and I have a lot that he wants! It’s an interesting chemistry between us and Stephen is such a fantastic actor it’s so much fun to play that with him.

How does it feel to be saying goodbye to Christie in this third and final series?

What I find really interesting is that Abi ended it… well, I won’t spoil it too much, but it’s still an ending where there’s room to fantasise what might come after that. Although we filmed two endings and even I’m not sure which one they are going to use! I’m curious to see what happens. If it were up to me, I think Christie should fall in love with Ruth, I love that character and the way Deborah (Findlay) portrays her; I think that could be an interesting switch!!

How will you remember your time on The Split?

I feel so lucky to be part of this family. It’s been so much fun for me as a Dutch actor to be on a British set and enjoy all these fantastic actors and crew, and Abi’s scripts are just a dream. You want to learn the lines and just play it because it’s such good acting material and then Abi as a director was amazing too! I loved her sensitive touch and this has been a dream come true for me, really. And of course, I just love Nicola so that makes it easy!