Stakes are changed for Hannah as The Split to return for third and final series

Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan will return for a third and final series of The Split, it has been announced.

The BBC drama about divorce lawyers will come to an end as one of the lawyers faces the end of her own marriage.

Created and written by The Iron Lady writer Abi Morgan, the series will feature Dee Koppang O'Leary as the lead director, while cast members Annabel Scholey, Fiona Button, Deborah Findlay and Chukwudi Iwuji are all set to reprise their roles.

The show follows the lives of the three Defoe sisters, Hannah (Walker), Nina (Scholey) and Rose (Button) and their mother Ruth (Findlay), after Hannah's marriage to Nathan (Mangan) finally fell apart.

Ten months on, the two lawyers have been respectfully negotiating their separation and seem to have reached an amicable agreement.

But as they divide up the contents of their lives together, Hannah faces what she is about to lose and a shocking revelation changes the stakes, leaving their dream of achieving a "good divorce" in tatters.

Morgan said: 

It's great to be back writing for the Defoe family, and to dive once more into the complications of their lives and those of their clients. In the final series of this bittersweet trilogy, Hannah faces the heartbreak of her own divorce, and the fight to save her family and her marriage. Siblings clash, past mistakes are exposed and hearts are broken as Noble Hale and Defoe notches up more billable hours in the divorce capital of the world.

Walker added: "I can't wait to be back in the Defoe family, we are all looking forward to the journey Abi has planned for us. I don't know if Hannah will cling to the wreckage or walk away, but I do know it's going to be a fantastic ride."

The series, produced by production company Sister, is due to start filming later this year.