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

[Netaporter]

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.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the scene where he turns up for his mother's birthday, that was so realistic and fantastic crying when he was phoning Emma from the station. The part where his dad gets cross in the car!!😱😭

Yes that was excellent. The Dex scenes were much better then the Emma scenes.

His poor mother.

it absolutely wasn’t colour blind casting because her heritage was referred to.

What reference was that, then? It must have been very fleeting.

What reference was that, then? It must have been very fleeting

Definitely very clear reference. They were discussing why Emma didn't have sex with Dex that first night. He wondered if it was a religious thing. She explained her heritage very clearly then.

When they climb up Arthur’s Seat. She says “my mum’s Hindu, my dad’s a lapsed Catholic “. But that’s the only reference, other than they change the name to her children’s book character to Nisha Halliday. It’s Julie Driscoll in the book.

I'm up to episode 5... with having no reference from either film or book, I'm really enjoying it. I also have a very weird affinity in that not only is it 'my era' but I was working in kid's TV in the early 1990s, so that whole world is familiar to me too... and then watching the credits, I see that the Series Producer on this was a guy I used to work with (we were both VERY much lower down the pecking order then) in the 90s! Weird coincidences.

Have to say he was one of the nicest guys you would ever find in tele... no side, no arrogance, he was a genuinely lovely guy. He also produced Killing Eve. We shared a message via FB a couple of years ago having not spoken for nearly 30 years and he was still as lovely!

One of the best things about this imo was how well drawn (and acted) Dex's difficult relationship with his parents was. It made sense of his character to see that he was an only child, spoilt and suffocated by his mother, his father more distant. When he meets his mother in Italy and she grills him about his plans for life, he mentions photography, and she pisses on that fire by cruelly joking about his school project (photos of gravel). That scene was so well acted. Later when Dex is shown in his childhood bedroom, the photos from that project are up on the wall. It showed how, even though he was far closer to his mother than father, both parents kept undermining him in one way or another and often voiced their disappointment in him. I enjoyed the thaw in his relationship with his father as they bonded over their grief.

On the other hand where the hell were Emma's family, apart from on the blower with Ian? I haven't read the book, so perhaps they didn't feature in that either? But it felt unbalanced and as a result I was far more invested in Dex's character than Emma's.

Like some pp have said I wasn't convinced that these people would have been drawn to each other, let alone formed a long term friendship. I can see that Dex would be drawn to someone who sees through his golden boy persona and shows a real interest in him as a person, but much as I liked both leads I wasn't convinced by their connection.

The soundtrack was amazing.

This was such a lovely series.
My era was the late 80's & the music was so good in this.
The two leads both acted their socks off. I don't think the fact that one of them was of Pakistani extraction was of a consequence whatsoever.
It's sort of restored my faith in programming. As the vast majority of series now are made for the young & are just boring to my age group. Whereas this is universally appealing I would think. But then again I loved Normal People.

Just watching the unbearable dinner episode! It’s really struck me that it’s not really Emma’s story is it. The lack of family detail, we never get introduced to them, that scene and what happens after… Tilly is introduced and then disappears for years, it’s Dex’s story all along. Emma’s the mechanism (if that’s the right word) for his journey and character development. I can’t remember if I felt that with the book too but I do remember thinking it was weird that there’s more detail on Sylvie’s family than Emma’s.

Yes. Haven't watched the series yet, but the whole message of the book is Em makes Dex a better person.

Chip Jenga at Quags 😂

@Tallesttiptoes

Yes, agree with that. Emma is much more weakly drawn and is a kind of version of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

Tilly is a very minor character in the book and not a good friend of Emma’s. But then Emma doesn’t seem to have any friends except Dexter. Which doesn’t really ring true.

It’s really struck me that it’s not really Emma’s story is it.

You're absolutely right. Whereas I felt that the book very much WAS Emma's story.

But there are no big differences between the book and the TV adaptation. I think the largely female readership project themselves into Emma and kind of fill in the gaps. And we’ve all loved a sparky lower class girl grabs herself a posh dreamboat (but makes him wait for it) story since Elizabeth side-eyed Darcy.

I’m on episode 5 and I’m only watching because Leo is soooo attractive. Emma is miserable, dreary and boring. It’s just not believable that Dexter would be friends with her.

I’m British Indian and I hate the casting of Ambika in this. It just doesn’t work. It might have worked if it was colour blind casting and they didn’t mention her heritage - but they do.

They meet on their graduation in 1988 so Emma would be 21 and would have been born in 1967. Let’s say her parents met and married in 1965. It would have been a MASSIVE deal for an Indian woman to marry a white man in those days. She would likely have been disowned. Ok, we could say he wasn’t white and was an Indian Catholic - it still would have been a BIG deal. They haven’t shown how this affected her at all. I get this isn’t part of the story, but it doesn’t work to just ignore it when they’ve focussed on everything else of the ‘time’. So they should have just used a white actress in the first place.

Producers might think they are being inclusive by casting black & Asian people but we hate it! None of my friends/family like it. We want to see black and Asian actors when it makes sense for the story - not just for the sake of being ‘inclusive’.

I was also confused why she was working in an awful restaurant when she had a first class degree from a good uni and was in London. It would have been easy to get good ‘temp’ jobs in London whilst she was figuring out what to do. That’s what all my friends did in the early 90s and we weren’t even in London where there were more opportunities.

Agreed. Dex is better drawn as it’s written by a man.

For anyone looking for a female led friendship through the decades, if you don't mind a different country and subtitles - and era, it’s earlier , I highly, highly recommend My Beautiful Friend. It’s not a standard love story like Only You, but is a stunningly written and acted series that explores a close female friendship over the years.

It’s written by a woman (Elena Ferranti ) and boy it shows.

@LadyDowntown

I was also confused why she was working in an awful restaurant when she had a first class degree from a good uni and was in London. It would have been easy to get good ‘temp’ jobs in London whilst she was figuring out what to do.

Yeah, that a real weakness in the book, that she stays working in the restaurant for like two years when she could have got herself down Office Angels.

But there are no big differences between the book and the TV adaptation.

Emma being Indian is surely a big difference!

Producers might think they are being inclusive by casting black & Asian people but we hate it! None of my friends/family like it. We want to see black and Asian actors when it makes sense for the story - not just for the sake of being ‘inclusive’.

So interesting - thanks for sharing.

Agreed. Dex is better drawn as it’s written by a man.

Hmmm I think Emma is a brilliant written character in the book... David Nicholls did an amazing job with her. It's the TV adaptation I think is weak in her respect.

It explained the drinking too, she drank a LOT and normalized it.

The colourblind casting is disingenuous for many roles. Could Oprah Winfrey play Margaret Thatcher, after all she's a fiesty, strong determined, multi skilled black American woman. I love the British Indian actress playing Emma, she's an outstanding actress, striking looking and mutli faceted, but could she not have a fantastic vehicle that allows her to refer to her own heritage which is surely a core tenet of the story, as well as the reason it would have been hard to fit in at Edinburgh adding to her grit.

I didn't like the sound track at all tbh, I seem to be the only one though. I thought John Armatrading was an interesting choice , the only people I knew who listened to her back then were my mum's crowd. (She's on all the time now I'm older!)

Didn't think they got the hair/ costumes quite right either.

It's been so many years since I read the book I can't remember why they didn't sleep together that first night, was it because he couldn't get it up as he was so pissed as Emma says in the last episode? In the series it seems like she doesn't want to as she shy but really just keeps brushing him off,in reality he'd have given up and gone home as she really was so sour and didn't come across as funny at all. Her accent was jarring too.

Emma being Indian is surely a big difference!

But they didn’t do enough to make that choice work in my opinion. I think fine to rework it so that Emma Morley becomes Emma Mukherjee or something, but then the story takes on a different cast. It was like the writers wanted to have their cake and eat it. Cast a British Indian actor but not have her portray an authentic British Indian character.

It's been so many years since I read the book I can't remember why they didn't sleep together that first night

I think it’s because she won’t stop talking. I thought that scene was badly done, very low energy and she was horribly styled, although I appreciate it was supposed to be the 80s.

Hands down the best two episodes were the one that culminates in Dex breaking down at the station phone box and Emma and Ian breaking up.