Written by Aisha Alli-Balogun
One Day follows the premise of a posh southern boy who likes a working-class northern lass… over two decades!
One epic love story that pans through 20 years but all of it takes place on a single date, 15 July, St Swithin’s Day. Each day covers a day but begins in 1988 with Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) and Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) meeting for the first time on the night of their graduation party at Edinburgh University.
One Day excelled at showing the day-to-day life of these characters but also making the audience feel nostalgia throughout their lives. As Philip Larkin wrote in the poem that opens this beautiful adaptation, “Where can we live but days”.
One Day makes you question if there has ever been a day where you think you could’ve done something differently that would’ve changed your life.
Each episode knows how to pull the audience in, even though it may start off a bit slow. The show is relatable as no one is perfect like Dexter, an unraveling TV presenter who does drugs and alcohol, he goes to visit his dying mother but he screws up.
It makes you also think about the fun times you might have had with friends when you see Em and Dex getting a bottle and a bag of chips from the shop and just lying on Primrose Hill to watch the sundown.
You just can’t help but root for them especially, after everything they went through together and apart. Dexter is this charismatic but privileged boy whereas Emma is someone who is very committed but is scared to fail.
Even though they are very different, they bring out the best in each other as well as challenge each other.
Em always believed that she wasn’t good enough to become a writer and always gave up but Dex was the only one that challenged and pushed her to keep trying and stop settling for someone she didn’t love.
It wasn’t said in the best way but it was something she needed to hear. Dex had become famous and very full of himself but no one actually enjoyed him as a presenter.
He became mean and rude, especially to Em and she wasn’t afraid to call him out on it. She helped him grow up and he helped her have confidence within herself.
The supported cast is portrayed well, the period details are amazing and the soundtrack perfectly matches the series’ emotions.
I watched the movie which starred Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess and I found myself comparing the two in my head. I personally loved the show a bit more but the movie has a special place in my heart.
The series adaptation did very well and is loved by so many but leaves us all heartbroken because they were so close to having it all. However, that’s the reality of life, you don’t always get that happy ending.
That’s what leaves you appreciating the small things in life more because you never know what’s going to happen. Someone who is a stranger could end up being the love of your life and you lose them, it hurts but the love they had for you, helps you push through and become stronger.
As you watch Dex in the last episode walking through the moments they first met and fell for each other, you feel his feelings of pure joy when he thinks about all the moments he kissed her.
That kind of love is something that doesn’t die and everyone deserves a great love.
The more I watched, the more I wanted them to be together, even when Dex was being a complete idiot. I began to appreciate the poetry throughout the series and film, watching two people from different worlds who connect through humour, love for one another and last but not least, time.
It went by so quickly; one minute they’re at a wedding catching up after spending some time apart and suddenly it’s 2007 and Dexter is back in Edinburgh where his journey began all because he met her.
She was more than a footnote in his life… She was his whole life.