Our pick of the best streaming show of 2024 so far, Netflix’s One Day is the complete package: romantic, funny, moving and beautifully acted, especially by its leads Ambika Mod as Emma and The White Lotus’s Leo Woodall as her on-off partner Dexter.
The soundtrack is also highly bingeable, with a crate loads of acid house classics, mop-topped ’90s indie tunes and Britpop anthems, as well as some proper cheese.
Unusually, it’s thanks partly to ‘One Day’ author David Nicholls that it’s turned out to be a great show to listen to as well as watch. ‘In the novel, there’s a bit where Dexter is going through boxes and he finds an old compilation tape Emma did for him back in 1989. That prop, for me as a novelist, was fun to work out. Over the years that morphed into an 80-song playlist,’ he explains. ‘Beyond that, I thought it would be useful to know what Emma and Dex were listening to. I have all of their record collections, which was something that I dipped into when we were compiling the soundtrack as well.’
Nicholls and music supervisor Matt Biffa out there heads together – and occasionally butted them – to come up with the definitive One Day setlist you see below.
‘I was absolutely adamant that we should use the Pixies, that we should use Blur, that we should use Radiohead,’ Biffa remembers. ‘I really wanted to use Oasis, but I think that was a step too far.’
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, ‘Brimful of Asha’ made the cut. Because everyone needs a bosom for a pillow.
Episode 1
Your Love - Frankie Knuckles
Good Life - Inner City
Theme From S-Express - S’Express
Love in a Car - The House of Love
Love and Affection - Joan Armatrading
Saturday Sun - Nick Drake
Rip It Up - Orange Juice
Temptation - New Order
These Days - Nico
Falling Colour - Vanbur
This is the Day - The The
Episode 2
Un Bel Di Vedremo Maria Callas - Madama Butterfly, Act II
Madama Butterfly, Act II - Un Bel Dì Vedremo Maria Callas
Here Comes Your Man - Pixies
Last Look - Vanbur
Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship
The Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys
Falling Colour - Vanbur
Episode 3
Back to Life (However You Want Me) - Soul II Soul, Caron Wheeler
Bill is Dead - The Fall
After Hours - The Velvet Underground
Iceblink Luck - Cocteau Twins
Episode 4
I am the Black Gold of the Sun - Rotary Connection
You’ve Got A Woman - Lion
Something on Your Mind - Karen Dalton
Anyone Who Knows What Love Is - Irma Thomas
Episode 5
Anthem - N-Joi
Something Goin On - Todd Terry
My Dove to Sleep - Vanbur
Save Me - Joan Armatrading
Northern Sky - Nick Drake
Episode 6
Jump - Studio Pressure
The Only One I Know - The Charlatans
Step It Up - Stereo MC’s
Fallen - One Dove
Popscene - Blur
Push The Feeling On - Nightcrawlers
Thinking About You - Radiohead
Episode 7
Rocks - Primal Scream
Glory Box - Portishead
The Wild Ones - Suede
Episode 8
Connection - Elastica
Lo Boob Oscillator - Stereolab
Dreams - The Cranberries
Episode 9
The Four Seasons, Spring - Vivaldi
To the End - Blur
On & On - Longpigs
Episode 10
Brimful of Asha - Cornershop (Norman Cook remix)
Set You Free - N-Trance
A Design For Life - Manic Street Preachers
Candy - Cameo
Show Me Love - Robyn S
Release The Pressure - Leftfield
Sonnet - The Verve
Episode 11
Save Tonight - Eagle-Eye Cherry
Secret Smile - Semisonic
Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying - Belle & Sebastian
Trash - Suede
She Bangs The Drums - The Stone Roses
Protection - Massive Attack with Tracey Thorn
Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
Rebel Without A Pause - Public Enemy
Episode 12
Obsolète - MC Solaar
The Shining - Badly Drawn Boy
Pitseleh - Elliott Smith
The Book of Love - The Magnetic Fields
Episode 13
Flowers - Sweet Female Attitude
Up With People - Lambchop
Tijuana Lady - Gomez
Olympian - Gene
Once Around The Block - Badly Drawn Boy
Magic In The Air - Badly Drawn Boy
Weather With You - Crowded House
Asleep In The Back - Elbow
Satellite of Love - Lou Reed
Show - Beth Gibbons, Rustin Man
Episode 14
Coventry Carol - Kenneth Leighton
Cotton Eye Joe - Rednex
Where Were You - Mekons
Where Is My Love - Cat Power
Lilac Wine - Jeff Buckley
Falling Colour - Vanbur
In Cold Light - Vanbur
Read more of what the pair have to say about the show’s key cuts here.
Where was ‘One Day’ filmed? The real-life filming locations behind the Netflix series.