How does friendship shape a life? And how does life shape a friendship? Time passes in fits and spurts in One Day, Netflix's new decades-spanning romantic drama, centering on the will-they-won't-they friendship of Emma (Ambika Mod, best known for playing junior doctor Shruti in This is Going to Hurt) and Dexter (Leo Woodall, a world away from his last small-screen appearance as Essex boy Jack in The White Lotus season 2).
Based on David Nicholls' novel of the same name – which broke my heart when I read it as a teenager – each episode follows Dexter and Emma on the same day in July over the course of nearly 20 years, beginning on the night of their graduation from the University of Edinburgh in 1988. Emma, a straight-A socialist from Leeds, catches hedonistic Home Counties heartthrob Dexter's eye at their grad ball. A night of conversation culminates in a failed attempt at a one-night stand, but a promise to stay in touch overlays a frisson of missed opportunity.
