Tissues at the ready: David Nicholls’ bestselling novel One Day has had the Netflix treatment, and it’s going to steal and break your heart simultaneously.
For the uninitiated, it tells the story of Emma and Dexter after they meet at their university graduation. The book, TV series and 2011 film (starring Anne Hathaway) tells a day in the life of the two characters throughout their lives as they navigate success, failure and their feelings for each other.
The series may feature rom-com names of old (Notting Hill’s Tim McInnerny) and new (Leo Woodall, of White Lotus fame, plays the male lead, Dexter) but Ambika Mod’s Emma is undoubtedly One Day’s beating heart at its core. Full to bursting with pithy one liners and self-deprecating humour to smooth out her vulnerability, Ambika is the rom-com lead we needed – she plays her perfectly.
The much-awaited series drops this week.
After initially turning down the opportunity to audition, Ambika had a last-minute change of heart about playing Emma, and the rest is rom-com history. “I learned a Yorkshire accent in two days,” she tells GLAMOUR of her preparation to embody the Northern sweetheart.
She stresses that leading One Day was, and remains, “a massive, massive undertaking” not least due to the symbolism she felt she was conveying as a brown woman playing a romantic lead in “such a beloved story”. Ambika points out that while Emma is also a beloved character, she is also one who “definitely was originally written as white and previously played by a white actress”.
“I’m really excited to bring something new to the role,” she says. “I hope that young women who don’t see themselves on screen that often see that it’s possible.”
Not seeing yourself on screen – particularly due to a lack of representation of non-white people, particularly women, in rom-coms – can have a huge impact on your confidence and sense of self, she tells GLAMOUR. It even impacted whether she felt she was right for the part in One Day, as a romantic lead.
“I know that growing up I didn’t see myself on screen and that was a massive part of me not seeing myself in certain rooms or not thinking I deserve certain things,” she says. “I think there was definitely an element of when I turned down the tape for One Day, was because I just didn’t see myself as a romantic lead.”
She adds: “It took a lot of convincing, well into the shoot, like self convincing that I was right for the part and I deserved to be there and a character like that would fall in love with a character like Emma as played by me.”
Now, it is Ambika’s hope that her performance and the show itself makes other women feel seen. “It’s done a lot for me personally,” she says of her role. “I hope it can do the same for other young women.”
Imposter syndrome is both a big road block and a motivator towards success for Ambika, who is open about its influence on how she works and thinks. "I always have imposter syndrome, always! Even when I'm not even doing anything remarkable. I feel like I shouldn't be here, and everyone's looking at me and thinking I'm an imposter,” she says, agreeing that this feeling “definitely” fed into her reluctance to audition for One Day.
“I just honestly didn't think that I was right for the part. I just didn't think that it was me. I just thought it'd be a massive waste of everyone's time if I even entertained it. Thankfully the casting director chased me enough and championed me."
Part of her way of dealing with imposter syndrome is to rethink why she might be feeling it. “I feel very much like a fraud a lot of the time,” Ambika reflects. “But I heard somewhere that imposter syndrome is a sign that you're doing something challenging, and you're doing something outside of your comfort zone.
"So if you're not feeling imposter syndrome, it means that you're sort of sitting in a safe area and unsafe, so not pushing yourself. And so I'm trying to reframe it in my mind, bit by bit.”
When she re-read One Day in preparation for the role, Ambika became sure the story was about more than just romantic love. “I actually don't really think of it as a love story, because it's so much more than that,” she explains. “Obviously, Emma and Dexter's romance is at the heart of it all. But I actually think it's quite a reductive way to look at the story – it’s about life. Every element of life is conveyed in this story by these characters. It's much more telling about friendship, and growing up and about how life doesn't turn out how we expect it to.
“[It’s about] the rejection, the failure and the heartache, but also the incomparable joys that come with growing up and growing older, and how we become more competent and more, I suppose, secure in ourselves, the experiences we have and how they shape us.”
Ambika adds that she feels Emma is a “grounding element” in the show, particularly for young women. It’s her hope that as the main demographic watching the show, they will see the story is about much more than her relationship with Dexter.
Something that the show touches on expertly – even though it is set during the 1980s, 90s and 00s, where this topic may not have been discussed as openly – is privilege. Dexter, a wealthy white man, is often ignorant and unapologetic about his own privilege, even trying to tip Emma when she’s working in a particularly awful Mexican restaurant. Ambika describes many lines about privilege feeling “loaded”, due to the challenges a non-white woman would’ve had at that time, as well as her own experiences.
“I've been that person in that conversation where someone with much more, I suppose, blatant privilege has told me or given me advice that just doesn't apply to me. That just doesn't apply to my experience,” she says.
When asked what makes her feel empowered, though, Ambika draws on her experiences as a comic. “Comedy gave me everything,” she tells GLAMOUR. “That sounds like a very grandiose statement, [but] it really did. I wouldn't be the actor I am I wouldn't be where I am today.”
She discovered her love for comedy at university, and has since performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and on stage in London. “Since I was 18 years old, it taught me who I am, as clichéd as that sounds. I figured out what my voice was, I figured out what I enjoyed. I didn't compromise because I was doing all my own stuff.”
Having won awards for her performance as Shruti Acharya in the TV adaptation of Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt, Ambika is no stranger to showcasing the nuances of mental health on screen. But what about taking care of her own? She describes leading and shooting One Day as “no joke” and a “personal challenge”, which led to a “moment of reflection” when it came to her work-life balance, calling it a “healthy and much-needed realisation”.
“I sacrificed a lot for this job,” she says. “I didn't really see my friends and my family for like eight months, and you're working 14 hours a day. It really made me reflect on what I want my life to look like.
“I love being an actor, but I think if you're not careful it can be all consuming and physically speaking, your body can only do so much. So I think it's definitely made me sort of recalibrate my priorities in terms of how much time and scope I give my career, and the jobs that I want to do and how they have to fit in with other aspects of my life.”
Ambika refers to the launch date of One Day as “my death day, because everything after that is just black”. “I literally have no preconceptions or expectations,” she explains, adding that the high profile of the show may require some adjusting to.
Quipping in skilfully comical fashion, she remarks: “I’m in therapy, so it’ll all be okay”.
One Day is available to stream now on Netflix.
