Not so much, Arya admits, framing her studies at Southampton University less as a grand intellectual plan and more as an instinct that she \u201cwasn\u2019t done learning\u201d before drama school. \u201cLike most kids, I was passionate about space, and I was quite academic at school,\u201d she says. \u201cI was very curious to know how things were the way they were. And I\u2019d seen other actors do the same. Natalie Portman [who took fewer acting roles while attending Harvard University] was an inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n
More prosaic than poetic, Arya says, \u201cyou could probably find some intellectual segue between astrophysics and acting\u201d, but what her degree gave her was time \u201cto grow into a person, to learn how to learn, to build a life and a community away from home. You\u2019ve got to be a person before you\u2019re an actor.\u201d<\/p>\n
By her own admission, she speaks to me in a strange state, covered in fake blood and scars. \u201cI\u2019m filming something I can\u2019t talk about yet. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been interviewed covered in blood before,\u201d she says, laughing at the incongruity of it. It\u2019s a fittingly chaotic image for an actor who has built a career on characters who refuse to sit still, refuse to be tidy, and \u2013 most of all \u2013 refuse to be liked in any straightforward way.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/The-Split-Up-Ritu-Arya-e16bc62.jpg\" "\\"Ritua")
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Ritua Arya in The Split Up.\u00a0BBC<\/p>\n
And so to The Split Up\u2019s Aria, who Arya describes, in a word, as \u201cmessy\u201d. It\u2019s her first time as the undisputed lead of a series and she describes being number one on the call sheet as \u201cpretty surreal\u201d. She is quick, however, to deflect any notion of her as the star of the show. \u201cIt really did feel like an ensemble,\u201d she says, \u201clike we were doing it all together\u201d.<\/p>\n
That instinct for collaboration over competition runs through how she talks about her career more broadly. She joined The Umbrella Academy already a devoted fan, arriving in its second season into a cast dynamic already \u201cfully formed. Whereas when you\u2019re starting a show, there can be a little bit of nervousness for sure, and you\u2019re finding the tone, you\u2019re finding the character dynamics sort of in real time as you\u2019re doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interestingly, she went into The Split Up having deliberately avoided its predecessor. \u201cI purposefully didn\u2019t watch The Split,\u201d she explains, having seen only enough of the first episode during her audition process to understand its tone before consciously steering away. The goal wasn\u2019t disrespect for the original, but self-preservation; she didn\u2019t want to catch herself making comparisons.<\/p>\n
The new series resounds with Abi Morgan\u2019s preoccupations with familial and romantic relationships, the choices that women have to make in their lives, the vagaries of the law, but relocates them to Manchester and trades the well-to-do Defoes for the equally aspirational Kishans. In place of Nicola Walker\u2019s Hannah, there\u2019s Arya\u2019s Aria. No pressure, then.<\/p>\n
![\"Riz](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/BAITFirst-LooksS1Courtesy-of-AMAZON-MGM-STUDIOS-3-3be50a3.jpg\" "\\"BAIT_First")
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Riz Ahmed and Ritu Arya in Bait on Prime Video\u00a0Prime Video<\/p>\n
Arya says she\u2019s trying not to think about that and is \u201cstriving to let go of the perfectionism\u201d that she sees in her character, who is high-achieving but falling apart. \u201cWe share drive and ambition, but Aria suffers from keeping secrets and she ties herself in knots, whereas I try to walk with ease and have transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Arya loves about acting, she says, is the immersion \u2013 \u201cputting on someone else\u2019s shoes\u201d \u2013 and the way the craft can quietly chip away at societal norms by showing audiences unfamiliar walks of life. It\u2019s a theme that connects two of her most contrasting roles: the maximalist, SFX-heavy world of The Umbrella Academy and the stripped-back intensity of Bait<\/a>, her last TV series for Prime Video, which was shot in black and white on a vintage 16mm camera.<\/p>\n She singles out one particular episode of Bait, which was staged as a single continuous shot (in reality six separate shots stitched together), and filmed with creator and star Riz Ahmed, as a genuine turning point. \u201cIt felt scarier,\u201d she says. \u201cYou had to surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n Any preconceptions about being cool or charming went out the window in favour of simply being present, one moment at a time \u2013 a discipline which, she says, has unlocked a sense of freedom in her work. That surrender extends to how she thinks about failure itself, which she\u2019s trying to stop treating as a verdict and start treating as data.<\/p>\n Playing Aria has, Arya says, reinforced the importance of stepping back from the constant go, go, go \u2013 of finding perspective through friends, family and nature. \u201cI like playing chaotic characters, but then you have your own life to live.\u201d<\/p>\n Screenwriter and playwright Abi Morgan.\u00a0Charley Gallay\/Getty Images for Netflix<\/p>\n Sanjeev Bhaskar<\/p>\n Comedy, Sanjeev Bhaskar muses, is \u201cactually way more difficult than drama\u201d and points to the precision involved. \u201cThe funniest thing in a sentence may be the pause \u2013 and if the pause is a millisecond too short or too long, it ceases to be funny. That\u2019s something you can\u2019t teach.\u201d<\/p>\n In a comedy scene, he explains, all the actors have to know and agree collectively where the comedy is, so no one is treading on it and everyone is setting it up. \u201cIt\u2019s surprisingly technical\u201d.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s true? \u201cThat if you\u2019re a really good comedy actor, you can do anything? I think so.\u201d<\/p>\n To be clear, Bhaskar isn\u2019t saying that he\u2019s a great comedy actor. But his career \u2013 from Goodness Gracious Me<\/a> and The Kumars at No42<\/a> to Unforgotten<\/a> (a seventh series is in production), and now The Split Up \u2013 suggests that he might be. He demurs.<\/p>\n \u201cI was associated with comedy \u2013 which is not a complaint, because I loved it \u2013 but the leap of imagination required by other people to see me in dramatic roles came a little bit later, and I\u2019m super grateful for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanjeev Bhaskar and Aysha Kala in The Split Up.\u00a0BBC<\/p>\n As the most experienced actor on The Split Up set, Bhaskar saw himself less as a mentor than a collaborator, relishing the \u201cpotential magic\u201d of shared creative possibilities.<\/p>\n In Dhruv, recently widowed patriarch of the Kishan clan and formidable founder of the family law firm, Bhaskar found a character unlike anything he\u2019s played before. \u201cHe\u2019s carrying such a variety of weights around his neck \u2013 the weight of ageing, of his legacy, of being relevant or not, of trying to connect with his three children, who are very different from him and one another. And his grief, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n Bhaskar traces some of that directly to his own life \u2013 an immigrant-poverty mentality passed down through his family, the instinct to hoard \u201ca ball of rubber bands\u201d. \u201cMy mum keeps everything. My sister keeps a lot. I keep a lot. It\u2019s from the childhood experience of not having stuff,\u201d he says. \u201cThat experience shapes you in a way that people who don\u2019t have it maybe don\u2019t always understand.\u201d<\/p>\n The Split Up being a spin-off, it\u2019s possible that The Split\u2019s Hannah Stern might one day stride into Kishan Law \u2013 which would reunite Bhaskar with his former Unforgotten co-star, Nicola Walker. How would he feel about that? \u201cEmotionally, it would be like some sort of cosmic miracle,\u201d he beams. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Ursula Rani Sarma<\/p>\n Ursula Rani Sarma is clear about why she created The Split Up, spun off Abi Morgan\u2019s legal drama The Split: \u201cI wanted to write a British-Asian heroine who my daughter can look at and think, \u2018She\u2019s so cool!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s an admirable endeavour given the dearth of British-Asian characters on TV who aren\u2019t terror suspects (radicalised, male), relations of terror suspects (oppressed, female), retrograde community leaders (men again), or else definitely not Muslim (such as smiling Sikhs and happy Hindus).<\/p>\n It\u2019s also a mission accomplished with the character of Aria, the rising star in the Kishan Law family firmament. Smart and immaculately dressed, Aria is also \u2013 says Ritu Arya, who plays her \u2013 \u201cgloriously messy\u201d. Torn between duty and desire, Aria is falling apart \u2013 but looks fabulous doing so.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile dreaming up Aria,\u201d Sarma says, \u201cI had as a top line the question: \u2018Who do you live your life for?\u2019 That\u2019s a recognisable dilemma for everyone. I had an opportunity to create a unique character that I wanted to move the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to see this content?<\/p>\n Accept and continue<\/p>\n As a jobbing writer, the chance to play in Morgan\u2019s sandpit \u2013 a sandpit from which some of the most compelling dramas of the last 25 years have emerged, including Sex Traffic<\/a>, Shame<\/a>, The Hour<\/a>, The Iron Lady<\/a> and, of course, The Split \u2013 is an incredible opportunity. But then, golden tickets weigh heavy. Did Sarma find the prospect daunting?<\/p>\n \u201cMore liberating,\u201d she says, firmly. \u201cAbi\u2019s been there to support, consult and advise. She\u2019s been a brilliant executive producer, but these are stories and characters that I created. It\u2019s a new city, a new family and a new window into British culture\u201d.<\/p>\n Yet, for all the differences, the two dramas have a central preoccupation \u2013 the choice that women often have to make between pleasing other people and their own happiness.<\/p>\n With its sassy lawyers, love triangles and aspirational Manchester, The Split Up is also great fun. \u201cThey are characters that I\u2019d love to go for a glass of wine with,\u201d Sarma says. \u201cIt\u2019s aspirational comfort viewing, with the power to move the audience too. I want to make them laugh and cry in the same hour of television \u2013 I think we manage it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Split Up will premiere on Sunday 20 and Monday 21 September at 9pm on BBC One.<\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times is out on Tuesday \u2013 subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Add The Split Up to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app<\/a> \u2013 download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.<\/p>\n Check out more of our Drama<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Ritu Arya Before Ritu Arya trained as an actor \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-624577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Abi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2153252720-90d7920.jpg\" "\\"GettyImages-2153252720\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/The-Split-Up-4c61c20.jpg\" "\\"Sanjeev")
<\/p>\n![\"1-SE-39-0-Cover\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-SE-39-0-Cover-256a96c.jpg\" "\\"1-SE-39-0-Cover\\"")
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