One Day

Netflix
3 out of 5

British author David Nicholls’ beloved 2009 bestseller, One Day, is an extended “will they or won’t they”: Boy meets girl the night they graduate from university; the two decide they are better off as friends, not lovers – and then spend the better part of two decades questioning that decision.

The first screen adaptation – the 2011 film of the same name starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess – was a flop, and memorable only for the American actress’ hideous Yorkshire accent.

But a new 14-episode series starring Ambika Mod (This Is Going To Hurt, 2022) and Leo Woodall (The White Lotus 2, 2022) has fared better.

Here are three reasons to stream the romantic drama, which was the No. 1 most-watched English-language series on Netflix globally for Feb 12 to 18.

1. Two lives, two decades

Sparks fly when British students Emma (Mod) and Dexter (Woodall) meet for the first time at their graduation ball in 1988.

But leftie literature geek Emma does not want to become just another notch on the bedpost for pretty boy Dex, the college Romeo.

They resolve to be friends instead, and their story is told in a series of yearly snapshots of their lives on the day they first met – July 15 – over the course of 20 years.

2. Ebbs and flows of friendship

This is as much a chronicle of the ebbs and flows of friendship as it is a love story.

When they first meet, Emma is idealistic and ambitious and Dex, charming but rudderless.

Then, professional success comes easily to him while she flounders. Although there is a role reversal later on, the disparity becomes a source of tension between the two – not uncommon with old school friends.

As they take different paths, they drift apart. But, despite all the tragedies, disappointments and misunderstandings, they stay friends.

3. Slow-simmering romance

Emma and Dex are not quite star-crossed, but Cupid does take his time with them.

And the show falls back on a fair number of romantic comedy cliches to capture this decades-long, slow-simmering longing and ache.

As performers, Mod and Woodall may not have the broadest range, but they have just enough chemistry to conjure up Emma and Dex’s unbreakable bond, and the banter does the rest.

Things get a little mawkish and tear-stained towards the end, but there are joyful moments to balance it out.

And, on top of being a marvellously economical storytelling device, the once-a-year narrative underscores just how fleeting it all is – the joy and the sorrow.