One Day's Ambika Mod opens up about how she and Leo Woodall found their chemistry

Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall in One Day
(Image credit: © 2022 Netflix, Inc.)

One Day is undoubtedly the most talked-about show of 2024, with the David Nicholls remake, airing this month, already cementing itself as a cult-classic.

Based on the bestselling novel, the series follows university friends Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew over a 20 year span, with each chapter revisiting their relationship every July 15th (St Swithin's Day).

The show's stars Leo Woodall (Dexter Mayhew) and Ambika Mod (Emma Morley) have been catapulted into stardom, with the two predicted to receive major award nominations.

This was in part down to their powerful onscreen chemistry, with both stars explaining that their sweet bond extended to offscreen too.

"I use the term creative chemistry," explained Mod in a recent interview with Vogue. "Working with Leo was really, really easy. Because we shot largely chronologically, we had the benefit of building Emma and Dexter’s relationship as our own friendship grew, so we let it happen naturally. And the writing was so good that everything just kind of seemed to flow. 

"Sometimes you are trying to force moments," she continued. "We never really had a problem with any of that."

Netflix One Day Dexter and Emma

(Image credit: Netflix)

“I think we met up for coffee, which then turned into a gin and tonic around lunchtime, the day before we went into pre-production, just to kind of have a natter,”  Woodall has also said of their offscreen friendship in a recent interview with Variety. “Pretty early, I guess we both realised that we were not alone in this big mountain that we thought we had to climb."

He continued: "We knew that we were going to lean on each other a bit, and we were lucky in that we did bond early, and and it made working a lot easier. I think maybe our friendship carried through on screen.”

Well, this is lovely.

We will continue to update this story.

One Day is available to watch on Netflix now.

Jenny Proudfoot
Features Editor

Jenny Proudfoot is an award-winning journalist, specialising in lifestyle, culture, entertainment, international development and politics. She has worked at Marie Claire UK for seven years, rising from intern to Features Editor and is now the most published Marie Claire writer of all time. She was made a 30 under 30 award-winner last year and named a rising star in journalism by the Professional Publishers Association.