It’s currently TV’s must-watch series, described by our critic, Deborah Ross, as ‘a sizzling romance with two leads who have terrific chemistry’.
Based on the feted 2009 book by David Nicholls, One Day stars Ambika Mod, 29, and Leo Woodall , 27, as Emma and Dexter. The story follows the pair, who spent the night together on the eve of their college graduation, each year on the same date to see where they are in their lives.
The supporting cast includes a multitude of talented actors, including Eleanor Tomlinson , Tim McInnerny, Joely Richardson and Essie Davis, and is set across London , Edinburgh , Paris, Rome and Greece .
While devotees of the book, and subsequent 2011 film starring Anne Hathaway, might think they know everything about Dex and Em, they may learn a thing or two in our A-Z of the Netflix series…
A – Arthur’s Seat. The extinct volcano overlooking Edinburgh, above, is at the heart of Dexter and Emma’s love story. They go there after spending graduation night together and Dexter returns in the final episode. Traditionally, local girls bathe their faces in the hill’s dew on May Day to make themselves more beautiful.
B – Britpop. The soundtrack is full of hits from this style of 1990s British rock music, including songs by Blur, The Verve, Suede, The Cranberries, Elastica and Radiohead.
C – Charlton Lido. The outdoor pool in South-East London is visited by keen swimmer Emma. It opened in 1939 but closed four months later due to the outbreak of the Second World War. It holds 450,000 gallons of water.
D – David Nicholls. The novelist behind the series is a former jobbing actor and his father worked in the Mr Kipling cake factory as a maintenance engineer.
E – Earring. Dexter’s silver hoop earring and silver signet ring engraved with his initials, worn on his little finger, have gained a cult following – just like the chain worn by actor Paul Mescal in Normal People.
Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, where Emma and Dexter go there after spending graduation night together and Dexter returns in the final episode
F – Fourteen. The number of episodes in the series, which last from 19 to 38 minutes. In total, there are 394 glorious minutes of One Day.
G – Get In! The late-night TV show briefly hosted by Dexter is based on Channel 4 programme The Word, presented by Terry Christian from 1990-1995. Dexter’s short-lived stint as a celebrity sent him on a downward spiral of drink and drugs.
H – Hatfield House. The Grade I-listed Hertfordshire country house was the setting for the wedding of Graham and Tilly, Emma’s best friend, and also where Dexter and Emma reunited after falling out. The reception, where Emma gives a speech, was filmed inside The Old Palace, the childhood home of Elizabeth I and also where Paddington 2, The Crown and Bridgerton were filmed.
I – Instant Chemistry. After testing hundreds of hopefuls for the lead roles, there directors reported a ‘natural’ rapport between Mod and Woodall that landed them the roles. According to Woodall, they just ‘clicked and it worked’.
J– July 15. St Swithin’s Day, and the day we return to each year in the series. As Dexter tells Emma on their first date in 1988, the old adage is that if it rains on July 15, stormy days will follow, but sunshine means clear skies ahead. The saying is a metaphor for their relationship throughout their 20-year love story.
Based on the 2009 book by David Nicholls, One Day stars Ambika Mod, 29, and Leo Woodall, 27, as Emma and Dexter
K – King’s Cross. The station in North London features heavily. The tunnels are seen in the backdrop to scenes when Emma commutes to her job in a Mexican restaurant. Dexter also travels from there to Paris to see Emma.
L – Little tweaks. While the series stays quite faithful to Nicholls’s book, there are some changes to timeline and character. The book’s plotlines of Dexter sleeping with Emma’s friend Tilly and Dexter having his clothes stolen after skinny-dipping in Greece have been axed. While Tilly and Dexter’s girlfriend Sylvie are made more sympathetic, and nods to Mod’s Indian heritage are incorporated.
M – Are you there, Moriarty? The parlour game – in which two people participate in a duel – originally appeared as something played by boy scouts in 1906. When Dexter meets Sylvie’s family for the first time at their Cotswold estate, he’s desperate to impress her posh parents and joins them in a family game – with disastrous consequences.
N – Nokia. The phone Emma is given as a present by the headmaster at the school where she works and with whom she is having an affair. Emma loses her bet with Dexter that she would never own a phone made by the Finnish telecoms firm in 1995, when the company was at its height.
O – The Old Suffolk Punch. A pub in Hammersmith, West London, and one of the oldest in the area – dating back to the 1860s – doubles as Mexican restaurant Loco Caliente, where Emma works after university. Last year it was announced that the historic pub, located on the Fulham Palace Road, was to be demolished and redeveloped into a new bar and a 40-bedroom hotel.
P – Paros. On holiday together in Greece, Emma has plans to keep things platonic, while Dexter reminisces about the night they met and nearly slept together. Their friendship is tested by sun, sea, sand – and a single bed. These scenes were filmed on the island of Paros, where the film crew spent two weeks.
Q – Quaglino’s. Dexter and Emma go for a lavish dinner in fictional restaurant The Pacific. Scenes were actually filmed in Mayfair restaurant Quaglino’s, best-known in the 1990s for its Terence Conran-designed, Q-shaped aluminium ashtray, left. These were said to be the most sought-after item in London, with 1,000 stolen each month.
R – Rue Pierre Semard. This is where Emma and Dexter finally get together in Paris in 1999. They wander along the street, near the Gard du Nord, before stopping on the Passerelle Emmanuelle-Riva iron bridge and going to Emma’s apartment on Rue des Gobelins (Tapestry Street).
S – The Savoy. It was in one of the classy London hotel’s suites that Dexter’s wife, Sylvie, has an affair with his rich university friend Callum.
T – Tess. Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess Of The D’Urbervilles is a prominent feature through the show, with Emma reading a poignant passage to Dexter in the final episode via a flashback.
‘She suddenly thought, one afternoon, that there was another date, of greater importance than all those; that of her own death; a day which lay sly and unseen among all the other days of the year, giving no sign or sound when she annually passed over it,’ it read.
The quote was Nicholls’ inspiration for writing One Day.
U – Up-and-comers. Mod and Woodall may have been little-known when cast in the show. But he has since starred in TV’s The White Lotus, in which he acted in an X-rated sex scene with Tom Hollander. He’ll also be in the new Ridley Scott-produced Apple TV series Prime Target, alongside Russell Crowe. Ambika Mod is also known for her role in BBC drama series This Is Going To Hurt.
Charlton Lido: The outdoor pool in South-East London is visited by keen swimmer Emma
V– Vennel Steps. Derived from the French word ‘venelle’ (‘little street’), this Edinburgh alleyway is tucked away by the colourful buildings of the Grassmarket by the city’s castle. Here, Dexter chases Emma after their day out together following graduation in 1988.
W– Worplesdon. The station in Woking, Surrey, where Dexter is dropped off after a disastrous visit to his parents.
X – ‘Xxx’. Emma and Dexter spend many episodes not kissing – but their most passionate is their illicit kiss in the maze at a wedding. Their long-awaited kiss in Paris, while Dexter visits Emma, is another steamy moment. And, of course, their emotional kiss in Edinburgh, which is seen only seen in flashback.
Y – Yellow. The striking promotional poster, above, features Emma and Dexter against a bright yellow backdrop. Emma also wears a lot of yellow clothes through the series. One of the other promotional posters is a nod to the front of Nicholls’s book, with Emma and Dexter’s faces in the same positions as their orange silhouettes on the novel’s cover.
Z – Zoom. Producers were unsure about casting Mod until a last-minute Zoom session with a dialect coach to perfect the Yorkshire accent. Mod said: ‘I got a call from my agent saying, “They really want you but they’re just not sure about the accent. So we need you to be signed off by a dialect coach.” I had a Zoom meeting and I spent the whole day just bingeing Educating Yorkshire.’
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