One Day - A Netflix Gem that makes Ordinary Extra-Ordinary

(Spoiler-alert)

by Hayley Doyle

It was 2010. I was sitting on the small balcony of my apartment on the 18th floor of a JBR tower in Dubai. I’d been devouring a new-ish novel, quite literally finding it hard to put down. I was completely invested in the two main characters, although didn’t always like them, perhaps due to finding similarities in myself. What struck me about this book was how familiar it all felt. How I’d had those hopes, those failures, those insecurities. It was speaking directly to me, but indirectly through a narrator telling the tale of a guy called Dexter and a girl called Emma. As a gentle breeze from the Persian Gulf settled me into my beanbag, I turned the page. The constant murmur of construction acted as white noise. My eyes drifted across the words. Then, the author shattered my world. The unthinkable happened. My heart broke. And I sobbed and sobbed.

If you, like many avid readers, have read One Day by David Nicholls, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. Or, maybe you saw the movie adaptation starring Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway. Which was…okay. But let’s talk about the most recent visit into the lives of Emma and Dex, played by Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall. Currently the global number one Netflix show, this binge-fest is told in 14 slick, well-paced 30-minute episodes with no less than 9.9 million views this past week. So, is it any good? Worth the hype? And even though many of us know how it ends, do we still need tissues?

Yes.

Yes.

And yes.

The plot of One Day follows the two protagonists after they meet at their graduation party from the University of Edinburgh. Right at the beginning of this story, we’re hit with a massive “what-if”, because what a shame! Why didn’t they meet while they were at uni for four years?! If only they’d met sooner. The exact day that their eyes meet across a dance floor of shoulder pads and perms happens to be 15 July 1988, otherwise known as St. Swithin’s Day, which, according to folklore, if it rains, it will rain for 40 days. Whether this was true in 1988, the story doesn’t say. Instead, we see Dexter and Emma on St. Swithin’s Day every year for the next 20 years. Sometimes they’re together, and more often than not, they’re living separate lives and with different partners, but there is one constant; how their relationship evolves. 

In some ways, it’s a typical boy-meets-girl rom-com slash tearjerker screaming of opposites attract. Dexter is the posh, privileged heartthrob and Emma is the chippy, self-deprecating Northerner. Will-they-won’t-they-should-they is played out in every scene. But something special has indeed made One Day stand out from the crowd. Other similar love stories have been reduced to having crude caricatures, unrealistic situations and cringe dialogue, but Nicholls has a talent for writing with compassion and deep empathy, making fun of his characters whilst also taking their feelings seriously. Alongside Nicholls, a team of writers wrote the script for the Netflix show, and there is rarely a cliche in sight. The dialogue exchanges are so realistic, especially the fights, and as a viewer you feel like you’ve invaded their privacy. 

Which brings us to…the chemistry. I swear, if anyone looks at me the way that Leo Woodhall looks at Ambika Mod, or the way Ambika Mod looks at Leo Woodall, I’m at their mercy. I’m all in. I truly believed they were all the things that make a complex, important relationship. Their best friend vibes were spot on, from the comfort in non-sexual touching to the banter to the toxic traits we all experience with those super close to us. But, they were also right on the mark when they ripped each other’s clothes off. I definitely blushed. And when they portrayed a long term, loving relationship, chatting whilst brushing their teeth and dripping spit, I was sold. 

Starring alongside Woodall and Mod is the loveable Jonny Weldon as Ian, the comedian who just can’t seem to hit the nail on the head of comedy. I have followed Weldon since he made me howl in lockdown with his video sketches of an “actor’s life”. In contrast to his One Day character, his observations are perfectly, and hilariously executed on the day-to-day embarrassments of what comes along with trying to make it in the acting world and how people perceive the jobbing actor. Casting Weldon as Ian was such an interesting choice, bringing truth to a struggling artist, making us laugh and cry simultaneously. In the “best friend” role is Amber Grappy as Tilly, whose character in the book is entirely forgettable, blending far into the background. Grappy gives Tilly a brand new lease of life, thanks also to the writing team, portraying a fun-loving, caring friend with real-life struggles of her own, giving her many dimensions and precious on-screen moments. 

The Netflix adaptation of ‘One Day’ has reignited a flame for me with British TV. We are so overwhelmed by choice that we easily spend an evening flicking through various streaming apps without watching any decent content, going to bed wondering why we’re paying for subscriptions. It’s been refreshing to see such good quality acting and lively scriptwriting, digging deep and making me not only feel comforted, but also making me feel uncomfortable. With the book’s main theme ever present, this show affirms just how significant one 24-hour period can be. How an old ordinary day can, over the course of a lifetime, add up to create meaning and true significance. This is a story that gets stuck in my head, and not necessarily with thoughts of Emma and Dexter, but thoughts of my own. My memories. My ordinary days. It makes me think about when I graduated from uni, who I partied with and who I still keep in touch with. I wonder about those who’ve slipped through my fingers and smile at those who are still by my side, against all odds, and so beautifully unexpected. David Nicholls always gives you nostalgia on a plate, with plenty of side dishes to compliment your present and your future, and this Netflix show is exactly this in abundance.

In a flashback scene, Emma spends Christmas with Dexter and his family in 1988 and reads him a passage from a Thomas Hardy novel, which says, “There was yet another date of greater importance...her own death. A day which lay sly and unseen.” She finds this fascinating, exciting even. So, our hearts are shattered when we realise, in that moment, Dexter and Emma are blissfully unaware that the “sly and unseen” day for Emma would fall on the anniversary of their meeting, years earlier. If that doesn’t make the viewer ask silent, deep questions whilst trying to enjoy every living, breathing minute, I don’t know what will!

And thank you, Netflix, for breaking us even further when we’re given yet another flashback, this time of the morning-after the night they met. As they’re marching down Arthur’s Seat with a glorious Edinburgh backdrop, Emma says, “I'm not being a footnote.” As we blow our noses and wipe our ugly-crying tears on our pyjama sleeves, we all know how much Emma was never just a footnote, and how important she was going to become in Dexter’s life, forever.