Annabel Scholey is at the top of her game. The West-Yorkshire-born star, who turned 40 earlier this year, has been a constant fixture on our screens over the last few months – from her scene-stealing aeroplane romp with Alex Hassell's Rupert Campbell-Black in Disney+'s bonkbuster Rivals to her gripping turn as a revenge-seeking mother in the BBC's dark thriller, Dead and Buried.
Now, she's reprising her role as chaotic lawyer Nina Defoe in the BBC's smash hit legal drama The Split, which is back with a two-part special set in sunny Barcelona.
Sitting down with HELLO! ahead of the show's hotly-anticipated comeback, Annabel revealed how playing Nina helped her rediscover herself after becoming a mum to her little girl Marnie and feeling confident at 40.
What was it like reuniting with the cast?
They are such good mates. Fiona [Button, who plays Rose Defoe] and I chat all the time. She's one of my closest mates, so that was brilliant. Then just to see everyone else I adore, Nicola [Walker, who plays Hannah], Stephen [Mangan], Deborah [Findlay], Lizzie [Roberts] and everyone. People will hate us, but it was like going on holiday with your mates.
© BBCDo you feel like you've learned anything from playing Nina? Yes, definitely. When she was exploring her relationship with Tyler [Damien Molony], she felt empowered by that relationship and she felt confident and beautiful. When I first read that storyline in series three, I was a bit scared of it because it was quite full-on. It was a big love story and I'd just had a baby and you don't necessarily always feel particularly sexy and attractive after that. So it was a really nice way of rediscovering Annabelle, not mummy Annabelle. It was a useful tool to try and find me again.
It's been such a big year for you. You got married at the end of 2023 and turned 40 this year.
I got married at the very end of 2023 and went on my honeymoon this year. I also turned 40 and my husband turned 40.
Work-wise, it's just been incredible. It makes sense to me that it's taken until now for me to be in this position because I came out of drama school very young and naive, a girl from West Yorkshire.
© @bel_scholey / InstagramI feel good at 40. I feel like I'm kind of standing in myself. Being a mum definitely changed everything for me, my whole perspective on the industry. It's always been my first love and it's not anymore because I have my girl, and I think that's really been good for me. It's paid off on how I work, and I seem to be busier.
Getting a bit more life perspective and richness in general really helps as an actor and I've had some brilliant opportunities. Dead and Buried was just incredible. To have the opportunity to play a Northern Irish, bipolar character, was a huge and scary challenge but I think it paid off. Then Rivals, that was a cameo, but the reaction to it has been crazy and it was brilliant to be part of that.
© @bel_scholey / Instagram"Being a mum changed my whole perspective on the industry"
We loved watching you play journalist Beattie Johnson in Rivals. What was it like filming the raunchy opening scene with Alex Hassell?
I was a bit nervous. I have to do a lot of sex scenes but because I was a small part in it, and I was coming in to do that, it made it a bit scarier. But in the end, it was just hilarious. I mean, we could barely fit. They had to make a Concord toilet, because Concord toilets could barely fit one person in. The director of photography (DOP) had to sit on the loo while I was sat on the basin and poor Alex was there with his trousers down, and then you look down and there's the DOP, just horrendous. But very funny.
© Disney +Will you be in the second season?
There are whisperings that I would be a bigger part, which would be incredible. [Beattie] is such a horrible character, it's great. And then the hair, I feel like I'm in the Nescafe Gold advert! I'm a 1984 child and there are so many brilliant pictures of my mum with that hair with those shoulder pads. And I showed a picture of me to my mum and she was like, 'Oh, my God, it's me!' So that's very funny.
© BBC / Sister PicturesIs there any advice you'd give yourself in your 20s and 30s?
I think just stay in the day and realise how lucky you are because I have worked constantly. In my 20s, I always wanted more. I wanted to be doing what I'm doing now. But, in actual fact, what I was doing was really learning my craft, learning from the best and playing interesting parts. I was definitely more broke than I am now, but I wish I'd embraced that a little bit more and embraced the adventure of it. It's a difficult industry to be in if you like to be in control, so I would probably say to myself, just let go and trust that it will be okay.
The Split: Barcelona comes to BBC One and iPlayer on 29 December. The second episode airs on 30 December.
