Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Telly addicts

Related: Film discussion forum.

Original poster

One Day - series adaptation on Netflix, starts Feb 8th

669 replies

Netaporter · 07/02/2024 03:33

Anyone fancy a watch thread? Loved the book by David Nicholls, loved the film, but it’s never really gained a strong following for some reason? The series stars Ambika Mod (This is going to hurt) as Emma and Leo Woodall (The white Lotus) as Dexter.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
15
Brightredtulips · 09/02/2024 19:23

I take it all back, she really grew on me. I had to put the film out of my mind and watch it afresh. I've romped through 4 episodes so far and loving it.

TiaSeeya · 09/02/2024 19:28

I am loving it - but the one annoyance is the jewellery - again! They got it wrong in Saltburn and now it’s wrong in this grr! Men didn’t wear rings on their index fingers then.

Such a good study of the times and ones 20’s

LolaLouise · 09/02/2024 20:39

I loved it. I this the aging was better in the film, they looked so young all the way through this, and i prefer film Dex, i think he was more likeable, even when you weren't supposed to like him very much, but it was a great adaptation.

InYourRoom · 09/02/2024 20:43

I remember reading the book in bed then not being able to sleep that night! I have to say I've really enjoyed this adaptation, although sobbed again.

Axlcat · 09/02/2024 21:20

Just finished it. Had to go to London and back today and binged the lot. I love the book and I thought it was brilliant. The casting was excellent all round and Ambika was superb. That scene though - I had to stifle a loud sob on the train!

Justonemorecoffeeplease · 09/02/2024 21:28

As predicted, in bits after finishing the series. 🥺

OrangeBlossom28 · 09/02/2024 21:36

I loved the book, in fact, it's one of my favourites. I read it when it first came out and am of the right uni era ('91 - '95) so, like others, feel like it's full of so many memories for me. I haven't watched the film as I never wanted it to spoil the book for me. Similarly, I don't think I want to watch this in case it's a letdown.

Pebble21uk · 09/02/2024 21:37

Only started it tonight and loving it. I don't know which rock I was living under in 2009 but I have neither read the book or seen the film, despite it being very much my era! (Started Uni in '88) So nostalgic in so many ways. Haven't felt like anything has captured 'my' era since watching It's A Sin, which of course was also devastating! Will be binging!

Beamur · 09/02/2024 21:39

Am halfway through.
I wish I had met a Dexter and snogged him at Uni! He's beautiful.
Ambika is glorious. Such an amazing looking woman who can convincingly look nerdy and plain and then with a look just transform into an absolute siren. Fabulous casting. I like them a lot.
Am watching with DD and she couldn't get why they were interested in each other but I think we're supposed to accept the scenes where they're hanging out but without audible script/dialogue as the times their relationship flourishes.
I do recall it being quite a frustrating read at times.

JaneKatSuttonGoals · 09/02/2024 22:18

Just starting now - have somehow never seen book or film. Looks like my cup of tea - bit early timeline wise for me but assume the 90's will feature heavily!

Justonemorecoffeeplease · 09/02/2024 22:20

Namechangedforthis25 · 09/02/2024 18:55

Yes it’s a rom com, character study, study of time - and how choices and luck influence our future - they are definitely not meant to be that likeable

this is a great review

https://www.stylist.co.uk/entertainment/tv/one-day-netflix-romcom-review/863197

Just read this review @Namechangedforthis25 and I agree with every word. Thank you for sharing.

usernother · 09/02/2024 22:31

Disappointed in the pairing of this Dexter and Emma because they don't seem to have any chemistry so it's hard to believe in them. Enjoying the story because it's so long since I read the book I can't remember what happens.

surreygirl1987 · 09/02/2024 22:35

I'm watching this right now. A bit disappointed. It's my favourite book of all time. The movie was okay, but this is worse. Not a fan of the casting for Emma Morley at all. She is portrayed as just SO miserable and I'm finding her quite unlikeable. Dexter is perfect though, and Tilly is excellent. Make it will pick up...

surreygirl1987 · 09/02/2024 22:35

Disappointed in the pairing of this Dexter and Emma because they don't seem to have any chemistry so it's hard to believe in them.

Agree 100%

Crinkle77 · 09/02/2024 22:42

I've watched 4 episodes but feel frustrated. I'm like just hurry up and get it on with it will you. Although I've a feeling they won't and something tragic is going to happen.

surreygirl1987 · 09/02/2024 22:44

But the whole point is that she is unconventionally attractive and a bit geeky, abrasive etc
Yes but I think they've taken the chip on her shoulder too far. In the book she certainly has many flaws, but she's not entirely dislikable. I really can't warm to this Emma in the series and that's a pity. I've always hugely related to this character, more so than any other character in any other book, so I'm really disappointed. I hate to say it but Anne Hathaway's portrayl of the character was a million times better. I didn't even think the film was that good, but it was far better than this TV series.

KnittedCardi · 09/02/2024 23:09

Well I really didn't like the film at all, having read the book first. Anne Hathaway just painfully awful, and whats his name who played Dex was just cringe.

I am however really, really enjoying this. Much prefer the casting, think they have great chemistry. Musics great. Set design spot on. Emma has the same Habitat duvet I had in 1988! These things matter 😁

Marisquita · 09/02/2024 23:40

Oh, my long-distant youth! The 80s root perms and satin ballgowns and handsome boys smelling of Marlboro Lights and Kouros aftershave. Mellow dawn strolls hand-in-hand down deserted streets and big plans to change the world. Long summer evenings on the Heath’s bleached grass with white wine straight from the bottle and the stars just beginning to twinkle. Cheap hotels on stunning Greek islands and skinny dipping by moonlight…

Anyway! I’m 3 episodes in, and loving the casting of Dex while reserving judgment on Emma. I don’t really buy that they would have connected at all, let alone stayed in touch, but ready and willing to go on the journey with them.

Journeytosober · 09/02/2024 23:43

I binged the lot over 2 days. I agree with PP it was a bit slow to get going but overall I really enjoyed it. Sobbed quite a bit at the last episode. I thought the actors played their parts really well. I haven’t read the book or watched the film which may be why as I don’t have anything to compare to.

StillCreatingAName · 10/02/2024 00:35

I did read the book, but didn’t watch the film, I’m tempted to now for a different take on the story.

I finished it after a stop-start binge, it just didn’t pull me in enough for a proper binge watch. The music soundtrack, Edinburgh and London scenes were the highlights, everything else just missed the mark, which is a shame. I’ve been reading some reviews and this sums up all for me, particularly how good the two lead actors were in previous roles, but couldn’t produce the same screen presence for this: https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/one-day-netflix-review/

One Day review | Just read the book | Radio Times

Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall star in the second adaptation of David Nicholl's best-selling book One Day.

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/one-day-netflix-review/

SiobhanSharpe · 10/02/2024 01:09

I'd read the book years ago and was really enjoying the Netflix series.
i don't agree that Dexter and Emma lacked chemistry, she was so funny and quirky it really intrigued him. And he was just gorgeous, of course. Loved the character development. Yes, some episodes were slower but I romped through it.
But I'm now on episode 13 and I just can't watch any more so I won't finish it.

The book shocked me so much. Superbly done, but very hard to take.
(The actor who played Emma was also excellent in 'This is going to hurt' as Shruti, a newly qualified hospital Doctor. Which was also very sad. )

WouldWoodchuckChuck · 10/02/2024 01:25

I'll admit the casting for Emma threw me initially but I think that was an internalised bias where I just imagined the character being white.

However, I do think some watchers who are complaining need to re-read the book. Emma is meant to be awkward and mostly serious because comes across miserable in the book and film too. She's meant to kind of look down on Dexter and judge him on his life choices a bit.

From my POV, Dexter isn't meant to be attracted to Emma initially, he's meant to be materialistic and into leggy models but just wanting to get his leg over where he can (referenced in her comments about him sleeping with everyone in their year and the one below). He's a charmer that's just used to getting it where he wants. Ambika Mod is beautiful so it's not completely unfathomable. As a character, he's just not used to people like Emma talking themselves out of sleeping with him and she's turns into a bit of a challenge the first night, then an enigma as time goes on - he's found someone with a personality and she's not just interested in him physically. Shock, he has a friendship with a woman!

I'm a couple of episodes in and I do see an awkward chemistry between them that happens with young, uncertain relationships. I'd hope it progresses over the series but it is so much better than the film already.

The film was diabolical and rushed in comparison to the book, it left out massive parts of detail. It also wasn't how I'd imagined either character and Anne Hathaway's accent was awful.

StillCreatingAName · 10/02/2024 01:25

Agree @SiobhanSharpe as Shruti she was brilliant, played just right, I was still shocked (I hadn’t read that book) at that character’s storyline.

I love how we all read different things into it, as I just didn’t feel the on-screen chemistry throughout this version of One Day, though maybe a little more towards the end when they were both very ‘grown up’.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 10/02/2024 01:40

SpraggleWaggle · 09/02/2024 11:14

I've watched one episode and will give it a bit longer. At the moment I'm not warming to Ambika Mod as Emma- in fact I'm finding her quite unpleasant- but maybe that will change as we go on.

I can't bear her in this, I think she's really badly cast. The first few episodes were so boring but it's ramped up a bit now,I'm on episode 8 now.

TiaSeeya · 10/02/2024 08:04

There were a few scenes that I think were perfectly judged:
him with Jas cuddling her to the music whilst wife with Callum
the excruciating scenes at Quaglinos where he was off his face

Problem was - after the Quaglino’s scenes I just couldn’t see a place where they would reconnect. I read the book aeons ago and don’t remember it feeling so unlikely the pair were a match. But they weren’t in this and I just like others didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel when they first met nor any of the rest.

Still enjoyed it though.

Note to production team - please, please give the same attention to jewellery to the attention you give to music!!!

Still humming Brimful of Asha…..