Netflix’s One Day star Ambika Mod has opened up about feeling as though she wasn’t good enough for the role and wanted to quit the series before it even had even aired.
The 14-episode series follows the relationship of Emma Morley (played by Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) who meet by chance on their last night of university in Edinburgh.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Netflix series One Day
Their relationship is revisited every year on St Swithin’s Day, July 15, for over two decades, watching how they fall in and out of love.
Based on David Nicholls’ best-selling book by the same name, the show's format doesn’t follow the conventional sequences, with each episode representing the same day.
Viewers are given an insight into the character's heartbreaks and struggles on screen – unaware that the actors were struggling in real life too.
Mod recently admitted she felt like quitting the series whilst filming, but it was the support of Woodall who sympathised with how she was feeling and helped her through.
One Day follows the life and relationship of Dexter and Emma
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Opening up about the tough time on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, she said: “I met Leo at the chemistry reads and he was the second Dexter I read with. He is so cheeky and charming.
“He was so open and warm just immediately and it felt really easy, the scenes felt really playful and I think that’s really rare.
“That was really half the battle because I think if that had been cast wrong, it would have been so much harder. You just can’t fake that stuff and I’m really grateful to have had an actor like Leo.
“We were both going through a very, very similar thing. This was so much bigger than anything either of us had ever done before and I think we both felt really similarly about the undertaking.”
Emma actress Ambika Mod admitted to wanting to quit filming the show
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Feeling overwhelmed and a harbouring sense of having too much responsibility, she added: “We were both really open when we were struggling, when we didn’t feel like things were right.
“I remember just like, maybe I was more vocal about it than him, but I would come out of every scene just being like, ‘Oh, I’m a f**king s**t actor, I should f**king quit right now, I hate myself’.
“And he was always very supportive to me in that, and I hope vice versa. It was good to have someone like that because as an actor you might not always have that.”
Whilst many were excited about the release of the series, fans weren’t prepared for the “traumatic” ending which left them highly emotional.
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One Day fans were left emotionally scarred by the ending of the series
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In the penultimate episode, tragedy strikes when Dexter listens to a voicemail left by his then-wife Emma only to hear a fatal bike accident she becomes involved in.
The final episode looks at how Leo deals with his grief and sense of aimlessness without his wife – until he encounters the spectral presence of Emma, offering him solace and guidance on his journey toward healing.
Viewers were left upset and unsure how to move on after the emotional scenes, with one X user noting: “End of episode 13 of One Day on Netflix you ruined my life.”
“I watched One Day 4 days and I’m still upset about it, I knew how it ended and I’m still traumatised… every edit I see on Tiktok or Twitter makes me sadder, might rewatch Normal People again to switch up the cause of sadness,” another penned.
A third echoed: “The new show on Netflix named One Day had me crying. I’m also kinda upset I wasted my entire day binge-watching it.” (sic)