Television series
One Day
One Day is Netflix's 14-episode adaptation of David Nicholls' novel, checking in on Dexter and Emma on the same July date every year from their 1988 graduation onward. It's a slow-build romance told in snapshots — funny, awkward, then quietly devastating — anchored by Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod's easy, lived-in chemistry. Best binged over a weekend so the ending lands with full force.
If you liked this
Normal People2020
Same aching architecture: two people who keep almost getting it right, told with the same unbearable tenderness and silence-heavy pacing that made One Day so quietly devastating. Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones say more with a look than most shows say with a script.
But It's even slower and sadder, with less of One Day's warmth or comic relief — pack tissues, not popcorn.
Past Lives2023
A hushed, aching study of the person who got away, spanning decades and continents with the same sense that timing, not feeling, is the real villain of every love story.
But Barely ninety minutes and almost entirely restrained — if you want big emotional swings, this one whispers instead.
The Time Traveler's Wife2022no page yet
Takes One Day's puzzle-box structure — lovers meeting at different points in each other's lives — and turns the dial up with literal time travel instead of just an annual calendar date.
But The sci-fi mechanics can feel gimmicky next to One Day's grounded realism, and the tone swings noticeably soapier.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Same Time, Next Year1978
One Day's entire structural trick — checking in on two people on the same date, year after year — was already the whole premise of this 1978 film, adapted from the hit stage play.
A married couple meet for one weekend every year for decades — the exact same-day-annually structure One Day borrowed, played as a wry, talky two-hander long before streaming rediscovered the idea.
But Stagey and dated, with none of Dex and Em's youthful energy — it's about adultery, not first love.
More like this (7)
Us2017no page yet
Written by the same author, David Nicholls, this one swaps young romance for a marriage on the rocks — same eye for the small devastating detail, same bittersweet British humour holding it together.
But Less swoony, more middle-aged melancholy — it's about a marriage ending, not a love story starting.
Before Sunset2004
Two people, one conversation, nine years after they first met — the original blueprint for romance measured out in something close to real time, and the ache of what might have been.
But Almost no plot, just talking — gorgeous if you love dialogue-driven cinema, maddening if you need momentum.
When Harry Met Sally...1989
The friends-to-lovers-over-years template, done with more jokes and less heartbreak than One Day, but the same slow-motion realisation that this was the person all along.
But Broadly comic and very 1989 — warmer and funnier, without One Day's persistent melancholy undertow.
Blue Valentine2010
Cuts between a couple's giddy beginning and bitter unraveling, mirroring One Day's own trick of showing you the whole arc of a love story out of strict order.
But Much bleaker and more explicit — this is fundamentally a breakup movie wearing a love story's clothes.
La La Land2016
Ambition keeps colliding with romance across years of near-misses, set to a soundtrack that makes the heartbreak go down easier than One Day's quieter, harder devastation.
But It's a full-blown musical — if people singing their feelings kills the mood for you, skip it.
Love, Rosie2014no page yet
British best friends who are obviously meant for each other spend a decade missing each other by inches — the closest thing to One Day's DNA in pure rom-com form.
But Lighter and glossier, with more contrivance and less of One Day's real emotional weight.
In the Mood for Love2000
The same ache as One Day, two people whose timing is permanently off, but rendered in near-total restraint, in Cantonese, through Wong Kar-wai's slow-motion lens instead of British kitchen-sink realism.
Two neighbours in 1960s Hong Kong circle each other for years without ever quite acting on what they feel — one of the most beautiful films ever made about a love story that keeps missing its moment.
But Nothing is said outright — if you need explicit declarations rather than glances and silences, it will frustrate you.
People
Cast
Writing
- Nicole TaylorCreator
Production
- Molly MannersAssociate Producer
- David NichollsExecutive Producer
- Jude LiknaitzkyExecutive Producer
- Nicole TaylorExecutive Producer
- Roanna BennExecutive Producer
- Andrew ChapmanLine Producer
- Nige WatsonProducer