One Day is the latest Netflix drama that has been captivating users worldwide and has been categorized as one of the most-watched, claiming the top spot on the Top 10, according to the platform-specialized site Flix Patrol.
The 14-episode series was created by Nicole Taylor and is based on the 2011 film, which starred Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. The movie quickly became a cult classic and now the first season serves as its successor.
Leo Woodall portrays Dexter in the show, while Ambika Mod was chosen to play Emma. After its massive success, many have been wondering if the fantasy romance plot is based on real events.
Is Netflix’s One Day based on real events?
No, One Day is not based on real events. The series is the second adaptation of the novel of the same name by David Nicholls, which was published in 2009. However, the 57-year-old author confessed to using some events from his life to create the story.
The British writer explained in 2011, through an article in The Guardian, that the main idea first came to him when he was studying for his A-Levels in the mid-80s, so not everything is entirely fictional.
Nicholls was reading Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles and it was there that he was struck by the dates, including a specific quote. This quote had a special place in the series, as there is a scene where Emma recites it. It goes:
“She philosophically noted dates as they came past in the revolution of the year. Her own birthday, and every other day individualised by incidents in which she had taken some share. She suddenly thought, one afternoon, that there was another date, of greater importance than all those; that of her own death; a day which lay sly and unseen among all the other days of the year, giving no sign or sound when she annually passed over it; but not the less surely there. When was it?”.
David Nicholls was inspired by his life to make One Day
The author confessed to The Guardian that some aspects of his life were reflected in the story of One Day. One of them was his time as an actor or his time working in a chain of bistros in Fulham. During the interview, he confessed:
“When I was an actor, I worked with a lot of men who had some success early on, who were very good-looking, who suddenly made some money and who felt no shame – and nor should they have – about having a good time. I think there are probably bits of them in Dexter”.
On the other hand, he also revealed that he drew inspiration from himself to create Ian, Emma’s boyfriend. The writer confessed that they share many aspects, saying, “I had the same lapses in taste, the same terrible trampling, the same clumsiness“.
