One Day

[Clitheroekid]

I greatly enjoyed the original book, One Day, by David Nicholls, and rather less so the film with Ann Hathaway, but this new Netflix series has received sparkling reviews, so I was really looking forward to watching the first episode last night.

Unfortunately, despite the rave reviews and my high expectations I have to say I was disappointed.

Although Ambika Mod may be a good actress she didn’t seem a credible interpretation of the character of Emma. Apart from the fact that she played her as a rather chippy and unpleasant woman Emma was clearly a white woman, and I therefore felt I was being manipulated by having her played by an Indian actress, and made to feel guilty by noticing that she was Indian. Colour-blind casting can work well, but less so when one already has a fairly fixed image of what a character looks like, as in this case. I found that it was a distraction from the narrative.

I was also surprised by the fulsome praise of the critics for her “perfect” Yorkshire accent – she sounded to me as though she was from Birmingham, not Leeds. However, as the reviews were all written by people in London or the US I suppose to them one UK regional accent sounds much the same as another! But it's a bit depressing that there are apparently no actresses with natural Yorkshire accents that could have been cast in the role.

I also felt there was no genuine attraction or chemistry between the two characters, so that it was difficult to imagine them having a relationship in real life.

I’m obviously in a small minority, and I’ll carry on watching it for the time being, in the hope that it might improve, but I’m not holding my breath.

[nimnarb]

It doesn't improve..........not a spoiler, just my opinion. Gave up after the third or fourth episode as it just drags on and on and on.........................................................

[the0ni0nking]

I was also surprised by the fulsome praise of the critics for her “perfect” Yorkshire accent – she sounded to me as though she was from Birmingham, not Leeds.

Haha - I had absolutely zero interest in watching this but as a proud Yorkshireman born at Jimmy's (thankfully that "affectionate name" has nothing to do with Mr Savile) thought I'd put this on just so I could make an arbitrary judgement on her accent.

Worth pointing out I'm not of true Leeds stock - my parents are from Sheffield and Harrogate - and I was brought up north of the river which does also impact the accent. In fairness, I'm regularly told I don't have a Leeds accent which given that I think the Leeds accent which most people think of when they think of Leeds is largely from south of the river is no bad thing! I'll be so bold as to say it also sounds a bit thick .......

But enough of my wittering, yes I agree. Don't know where she was masquerading as from!

[terminal7]

Overall a somewhat insipid and poor adaptation from the David Nicholls page turner. The acting is very moderate and in addition to CK's comments re Emma, I thought the actor playing Dexter was totally uncharismatic. By the end of episode 2 I had given up caring. Maybe this was made for the US audience with the usual cast of English stereotypes? Anyway, have abandoned ship.

T7