BY THE BOOK

A longform adaptation of David Nicholls’ beloved novel.

Being hired to write the script for Netflix’s new adaptation of David Nicholls’ much-loved novel One Day was a real pinch-me moment for Nicole Taylor. ‘It’s my favourite novel of all time, so I still can’t believe it,’ she tells Total Film excitedly.

The epic love story between two friends, Emma and Dexter, played out over 20 years on 15 July St. Swithin’s Day - was a wordof-mouth sensation when it was published in 2009. Danish director Lone Scherfig then turned it into a hit film in 2011 starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.

Netflix’s adaptation will span 14 episodes. ‘I wanted to give it the most faithful adaptation I possibly could,’ says Taylor. But most of all, ‘I just really wanted to create a pair of characters that people would be like, “Yeah, that’s my Emma, that’s my Dexter.”’

An exhaustive search led the team to This is Going to Hurt’s Ambika Mod and The White Lotus’ Leo Woodall. ‘When we saw her tape, we were completely united,’ Taylor says of Mod. ‘It was like, “Whoa, there she is.”’ While Woodall, who was cast before his breakout performance in Season 2 of the HBO satire, ‘brings a real vulnerability - he’s much more interesting than [the] generic posh boy that the character could have been’.

Dexter and Emma (Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod) look glum while trying to have fun in the sun

Nicholls himself is serving as an executive producer (along with Taylor) and even wrote one of the episodes. ‘He is just the most brilliant, kind, helpful man,’ Taylor says. However, the novelist drew the line at acting. ‘We tried to get him to appear as an estate agent or something, like a tiny little cameo, but he refused.’

Taylor hopes audiences will fall hard and fast again for the heady will-they-won’t-they romance. ‘It’s the gorgeous story that you remember, but reinterpreted through these amazing young actors who’ve got such interesting chemistry.’