GRAZIA INTERVIEW
It’s the small screen event of the year: a new adaptation of best-selling novel One Day. Hattie Crisell meets its star, Ambika Mod
I’M THINKING of 8 February as my “death day”,’ says Ambika Mod, cheerfully. ‘After that, everything’s just black; I have no idea what to expect.’
It’s a surprising take on what is likely to be a career milestone for this 28- year-old actor: the release of Netflix’s One Day, in which she stars as Emma Morley. The show is an adaptation of David Nicholls’ much-loved novel (which sold over six million copies worldwide), and tells the stor y of Dexter and Emma, who meet after university and spend 20 years flirting , falling out and falling in love. Each chapter checks in on them on 15 July of another year, from 1988 to 2007. The series is hotly anticipated and doesn’t disappoint; prepare to binge.
Mod read the book in 2009 and adored it – she was 14 at the time. Fast-for ward to 2022, however, and she was strangely unenthusiastic about auditioning. ‘I saw the email notification pop up on my phone : “Emma, One Day, self-tape” – and I was like, “Nah, I’m not doing that,”’ she recalls. ‘I turned the audition down, again and again, over several months.’
This startling decision is itself quite Emma Morleyish. In the story, Emma takes years to find the confidence to pursue a writing career; similarly, Mod couldn’t face tr ying for this dream role and not getting it. ‘I love the book so much and I just didn’t see myself playing that part,’ she says. ‘I thought it was a waste of time. I envisaged the disappointment I would experience if I entertained the idea.’
She was also still reeling from her biggest job to date, playing exhausted student doctor Shruti Acharya in the 2022 hit drama This Is Going To Hurt. She’d delivered a heartbreaking performance that won her awards from the Broadcasting Press Guild and the Royal Television Society and, having only appeared in small roles previously, she was suddenly under a lot of scrutiny. ‘That was a massive experience,’ she says. ‘The reaction to that show blew all expectations out of the water and, although it was amazing, I felt very overwhelmed. I wasn’t prepared for strangers writing me messages on Instagram about their experiences of depression and suicide, and the attention that I was getting professionally felt like it came out of nowhere. I kind of wanted everything to go away.’
