An unashamedly romantic drama, following on-off lovers across 20 years. It’s a description that not only applies to the new Netflix adaptation of David Nicholls’ novel One Day, but also neatly sums up Channel 4’s Alice & Jack, which swoons on to television screens tonight. Yes, you wait ages for a decades-spanning love story and two come along at once, like buses painted love-heart red. Perfectly timetabled for Valentine’s Day, too.
TV romance is back and viewers are falling for it hard. One Day has been Netflix’s most-watched UK show since it was released a week ago. Like Nicholls’ global bestseller, it revisits two will-they-or-won’t-they friends annually on St Swithin’s Day, 15 July, the date they first met at their graduation ball at the University of Edinburgh. The hit series isn’t just fan-pleasingly faithful to the novel but boasts a sublime soundtrack and superb performances.
As the star-crossed protagonists, Dex and Em, Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod are a revelation. Woodall captures posh, privileged Dexter’s blend of easy charisma and itchy insecurity perfectly. Mod’s worthy, dry-witted northerner Emma banishes bad memories of Anne Hathaway’s mangled Yorkshire accent in the 2011 film adaptation. Together they are electric.
When I ask Nicholls, who executive produces, why the fiendishly bingeable 14-parter has struck such a chord, he is modestly baffled. “I’m not entirely sure,” he says. “None of us expected a reaction like this. Perhaps the structure of the novel perfectly matches the format. There’s an in-built narrative pull – where will they be next year? – so the viewer, like the reader, is thinking ‘just one more chapter’. Also, Leo and Ambika are wonderfully cast. They are charming but imperfect, likable but flawed. Two great new actors is so exciting to see.”
Nicholls is at pains to credit One Day’s success to its lead writer Nicole Taylor and her team, whose “beautiful scripts were faithful to the book but still full of invention”. “I desperately wanted to get as close to the book as possible,” says Taylor. “Not just in terms of staying faithful to the characters and story but getting as near as I could to the feeling I had when I first read it. Me and however many other millions. That’s what I was constantly chasing. I’m thrilled and bloody relieved at the show’s impact. Someone on Twitter said it felt like if you shook the book, Leo and Ambika would fall out. I agree.”
One Day is now joined on every romantic’s to-watch list by Alice & Jack. The titular pair are played by Oscar nominee Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson, both of whom also executive-produce. After swiping right on a dating app, spiky financier Alice and sensitive scientist Jack move in and out of each other’s lives in surprising ways.
Created by former Mad Men writer Victor Levin, for whom it has been a long-term passion project, Alice & Jack begins with Gleeson’s character saying: “Love is the best thing we have. Maybe after we strip away all the bullshit, it’s the only thing we have.” The slow-burning six-parter is pretty much a grown-up Normal People, with Gleeson’s enviable hair-and-workwear combos replacing Paul Mescal’s character Connell’s silver chain.
The love-lorn double whammy of One Day and Alice & Jack seals a welcome renaissance for TV romance. Thanks to Heartstopper, Bridgerton and Emily In Paris, Netflix is the soppiest of the streamers. In the past six months, Sky has brought us The Lovers and Smothered. And what is Jack Rooke’s generous-hearted Channel 4 sitcom Big Boys if not a love story about friendship? On the BBC, meanwhile, there is Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck and the Australian gem Colin From Accounts. Yesterday came the cheering news that the mega-rated Anglo-Welsh romcom Gavin & Stacey will return this Christmas, five years after it left viewers agonisingly waiting for Nessa’s unanswered marriage proposal to Smithy.
So in the words of Nessa herself, what’s occurring? Why is TV suddenly full of hearts and flowers? Well, it’s partly the times we’re living through. We emerged from Covid lockdown to tentatively renew face-to-face relationships. Post-pandemic, Gleeson announced that the only work he wanted to watch or make was “about connection and love”. After two years in emotional limbo, a generation got back into dating. This TV trend taps into that.
It speaks to a yearning for comfort, rather than conflict. Losing oneself in a love story is a refreshing antidote to all the unremittingly bleak, violent dramas currently on our screens (True Detective, Trigger Point, Masters of the Air, Silent Witness, Griselda) – and the nerve-shreddingly stressful dramas that defined 2023 (Succession, The Bear, Beef, Happy Valley). In an uncertain world, perhaps viewers are seeking something gentler, dreamier and more uplifting.
Romance goes back to storytelling basics. Love, after all, is the oldest tale of all. As broadcasters tighten their belts, affairs of the heart are remarkably budget-friendly. No need for expensive CGI, vast ensemble casts or exotic settings. Just point the camera at two people talking and walking (and occasionally kissing).
Not that this is as easy as it might sound. “It’s famously hard to tell a love story on TV – I know, I’ve tried – because the structure is so tricky,” says Nicholls. “In thrillers or adventures, the narrative pull is always there – a dead body, a discovery, a mystery. Love stories are all about detail – small events, a bad date, an argument. They also tend to end with characters either parting or getting together and no one wants to watch a show about a happy relationship. There goes series two! This new wave of shows have all found ways around that to keep viewers engaged. They’re well-cast, modern, grounded, full of twists and charm. So it is possible, though ferociously hard to sustain.”
One Day and Alice & Jack share more than just a loose premise. Both are warm, wise and bittersweetly beautiful. They follow specific couples, sure, but the themes are universal. These are stories of life and loss, personal change and the passing of time.
As Nicholls says: “One Day pulls in two directions. For older viewers, it’s nostalgic and poignant. For younger viewers, it’s all about what the future might hold, the decisions we make, friendship and fate. Love stories have an enduring appeal which is partly recognition (‘I know how that feels’) and partly wish-fulfilment (‘I wish I felt like that’). They also combine big emotions with comedy. Nothing is more serious and life-changing than falling in love – yet it’s absurd, too. It makes us vulnerable and ridiculous.”
“Another impression the show has made on people is how totally lost the world of the 90s and 00s is,” adds Taylor. “The longing for a world pre-mobiles and internet is real. Those times feel so near – but also utterly gone.”
Who needs Love Island when we’ve got love stories? Just as January’s most talked-about shows were The Traitors and Mr Bates vs The Post Office, February’s TV discourse looks set to be dominated by One Day and Alice & Jack. Happy Valentine’s viewing.
• Alice & Jack is on Channel 4
