Inside Netflix’s hit rom-com One Day — including writer making actor ‘die inside’ & sexy past of star Dexter Mayhew
HAILED as one of TV’s best ever rom-coms, Netflix’s One Day mini-series has captivated audiences with its slow-burning tale of unlikely lovers.
Based on David Nicholls’ 2009 novel and following a 2011 film version, the show traces the lives of university friends Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew over two decades, visiting them each year on July 15.
And it makes Britain look picture-postcard pretty, with scenes shot in Edinburgh and Herts as well as Paris, Rome and Greece.
So what makes it so special? Here, Georgette Culley offers a guide to the show that will make you fall in love.
AMBIKA’S FEARS AS LEADING LADY
A RISING star within the British acting scene, 28-year-old Ambika Mod plays bookish Emma, an aspiring writer who is losing hope that she will ever make it as a published author.
She is insecure and a bit awkward but the perfect foil for Dexter, whose faults she sees only too clearly.
Ambika was previously best known for her breakout role in the BBC’s 2022 medical drama This Is Going To Hurt, based on Adam Kay’s best-selling memoir of his life as a junior doctor.
She played struggling medic Shruti Acharya, whose heartbreaking story-line became one of the show’s biggest talking points.
Unlike co-star Leo, Ambika does not come from a family of thespians.
The daughter of Indian immigrants, she grew up in Potters Bar, Herts.
Her mother arrived in the UK as a child, and her father arrived in his twenties.
She fell in love with acting while at Durham University, performing at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival with fellow students.
After university, Ambika moved to London and worked in the stock department at John Lewis before joining global publishing house Conde Nast, working as a personal assistant while moonlighting as a comedian at night.
She says she “fell into acting”, landing minor roles on shows including The Mash Report, Trying and I Hate Suzie.
Speaking about playing the lead in One Day, she said: “To be in the series adaptation is really special. I’ve been a big fan of the novel for years.”
Even so, she feared she had made a mistake accepting such a high-profile role — until One Day author David Nicholls gave her a postcard on her first day of filming.
He wrote on it: “There was no character more beloved to me than Emma Morley and I can’t think of anyone better to play her.”
Ambika says: “I just died inside.”
The book
PUBLISHED in 2009, One Day the novel was a huge success.
Like Emma in the story, author David, 57, studied English and drama at university and, after working as an actor, turned to writing books.
Explaining the similarities, he said: “I’d had my fair share of false starts.
“Emma’s terrible Tex-Mex restaurant was my Fulham bistro chain, her avocado bathroom came from my bedsit in Battersea.”
David has also told how Dexter’s character was based on his “wild, hedonistic time in London in the Nineties”.
He said: “When I was an actor, I worked with lots of men who had a bit of success early on, who were very good-looking – there are probably bits of them in Dexter.”
The cast
THERE are a host of famous faces in supporting roles, including Poldark star Eleanor Tomlinson, as a posh girlfriend of Dexter, Sylvie.
Notting Hill and Blackadder favourite Tim McInnerny appears as Dexter’s dad, and acting royalty Joely Richardson plays Sylvie’s mum.
You might also recognise Emma’s comedian boyfriend Ian, played by Jonny Weldon.
Jonny has had minor roles in Game Of Thrones spin-off House Of The Dragon, BBC comedy The Outlaws and daytime soap Doctors.
LOTUS LEO MAKES PERFECT PLAYBOY
BRIT actor Leo Woodall has won critical acclaim for his pitch-perfect mix of vulnerability and bravado as leading man Dexter.
It comes on the back of a scene-stealing performance in HBO comedy The White Lotus — and he is now tipped to be Hollywood’s next big thing.
In One Day, Dex is a rich and privileged student at the University of Edinburgh who has a reputation as a bit of a playboy.
Unlike Emma, he is reluctant to grow up or take on any responsibility.
This leads to a series of bad decisions — and to missing out on what might have been staring him in the face all along.
While he seems perfect in the role, the 27-year-old did not want to be an actor when younger and planned to pursue a career as a PE teacher or stunt man.
It was only in his late teens he decided to follow in his famous father’s footsteps.
Dad Andrew, 60, appeared in 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story as well as 2002’s The Count Of Monte Cristo and 2013’s Belle.
He has also worked on several TV series, including Grantchester, Endeavour, The Reckoning and Des.
Leo’s mother, Jane, met Andrew at drama school but is now married to Scottish actor Alexander Morton, 78, who is best known for his role as Golly Mackenzie in BBC series Monarch Of The Glen.
Leo’s ancestors also include Maxine Elliott, an American silent film star of the 1910s.
After graduating from ArtsEd drama school in London, Leo began working in TV, with appearances in Holby City and short films.
His breakthrough came in 2022, in season two of US dark comedy The White Lotus where he played Jack, the troubled “nephew” of Tom Hollander’s Quentin.
While filming, he struck up a romance with US co-star Meghann Fahy, 33. The pair are still dating today.
Of his new role, Leo said: “I was struck by how much pressure I felt being a lead.
“There was one day when I noticed that I was being followed by a paparazzi photographer and I thought, ‘I don’t know how people deal with this on a daily basis’.
“I want to be as successful as I can be as an actor, but I don’t think it would be that fun to be categorically famous.”
The soundtrack
FANS have been going wild over the soundtrack across the 14 episodes, with songs matching each year of Emma and Dexter’s friendship from the late Eighties to the early Noughties.
Tracks include classics from Joan Armatrading, New Order and Blur.
You can download the soundtrack on Spotify – search One Day Netflix Soundtrack.
The film
IT’S perhaps no surprise One Day is among Netflix’s most watched new dramas worldwide – as the book had a global fanbase, having been translated into 40 languages.
But some viewers will be hoping to banish the memory of the 2011 film adaptation starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.
It was panned for dodgy casting and Anne’s even dodgier Yorkshire accent.