One Day ending explained: Yes, that really happened

The new Netflix limited series stars Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall as Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew, respectively, two strangers who meet on the evening of their graduation in 1988.

Over the next twenty years, the series follows the pair on the same date every year and how their relationship evolves in the intervening years.

So, where does the story end for Emma and Dexter, and does it match the novel? RadioTimes.com has you covered.

One Day ending explained

In episode 13, on the way to meet Dexter for a house viewing to start the next chapter of their lives together, Emma is hit by an oncoming car and dies, alone on the tarmac.

To add to the overwhelming tragedy, Dexter is stood on what could have been their new home, with a blossoming smile as he listens to a voicemail from Emma declaring her love for him.

A unique element of One Day, which echoes Nicholls’s novel, is that the story doesn’t end there. Instead, it continues for several years after Emma’s death to show how long-lasting grief can be.

The final episode sees Dexter struggle to process the profound loss. After a brief trip down memory lane to 1988, where Emma and Dexter are curled by the fire at Christmas, in a warm, hazy glow of love, we’re hurtled towards the first anniversary of Emma’s death in 2003.

In a chaotic, self-destructive display, Dex is in the middle of the dance floor at a children’s birthday party, beer in hand, bopping to Cotton Eye Joe. The stark contrast to the cosy, intimate display, makes it horrifically clear that Dexter isn’t coping.

It’s a different situation to the book, but the trajectory is the same, Dexter gets extremely drunk, is refused service from the bar thrown out at closing and is beaten by the bouncers. Dribbling blood into the carpet, he stumbled back to Sylvie’s house, where his dad arrived to take him home.

Haunted by his former happiness, Dexter sits on the stairs of his family home and remembers that Christmas from the '80s. Filled with love and laughter, before both his mother and Emma had passed away and left the house hollow, dim-lit and doused in silence.

As his father, Stephen (Tim McInnerny) sits in awkward silence he confesses that he “really doesn’t want to have a heart to heart", Dexter, dejected and deeply depressed, can’t meet his father’s gaze as he succumbs to the sadness he’s been desperately trying to drown out.

Though he is a man of few words, Stephen empathises with his son’s situation, having lost his wife over a decade before. He tells Dexter to try to “live as though she was still here”, which he reveals, in a rare moment of emotional vulnerability, is how he’s managed to cope with his own grief.

After this difficult conversation, Dexter, inconsolable, breaks down. The guttural grief breaks through, along with the realisation that he has to learn to accept Emma’s death and move forward.

Fast forward to July 2004, the second anniversary of Emma's death, and Dexter has recently moved into a flat near Hampstead Heath. Half-unpacked and lacking any hint of personality, it’s clear this isn’t home, but Dexter is trying to build a life again.

Interrupted by a knock at the door, Dexter finds a gaggle of his closest friends, his dad and frenemy Ian have arrived, as they didn’t want him to be alone on the anniversary.

An awkward reunion resumes, with silence broken by small talk, before Tilly (Amber Grappy) brings up the inevitable weight on their minds, how two years have passed since that dreadful day. They raise a toast to Emma before Dexter becomes overwhelmed and teary-eyed and escapes to the garden in the hope of catching his panicked breath.

His private moment collecting himself is cut short by Ian's arrival. Emma’s old friend admits that he never liked Dexter, which stirs a poignant chuckle out of him before Ian tells Dexter how much Emma loved him and how happy he made Emma, much to Ian own disappointment.

It seems as though everyone has come to terms with their conflicted emotions: the pain and joy of having known and loved Emma and being witness to her once-in-a-lifetime kind of love.

The story then skips further ahead, back to those familiar cobbled streets in Scotland where it all began. Dexter’s daughter Jasmine is keen to walk up to Arthur’s Seat, which he reluctantly agrees to. After making it to the summit, Dexter relives the last time he trod that path with Emma and almost watches on as his own young giddiness is played out before him.

The past and present are spliced together as Dexter seems to be learning to co-exist with the bittersweet pain of his wonderful past with Emma that taints his life in the present.

Read more:

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• One Day's Leo Woodall on adapting book for Netflix: "We knew it was a mountain to climb"

The series ends on the famous Vennel Steps – in the present, Dexter is with his young daughter, but he's also transported back to the time he sprinted to catch up with Emma before they first parted ways.

They share a passionate kiss and in that moment, he also relives all of their kisses to come, their happiness flashing before his and our eyes in a poignant montage.

Dexter is now a bystander to his old happiness. But it’s a reminder that while Emma’s gone, the memory of her isn’t. He now painfully holds his heartbreak that Emma is gone and his gratitude that he knew her and loved her so fervently, while he had the chance.

Is the One Day series ending the same as the novel?

Yes, David Nicholls's novel One Day ends in a similarly tragic fashion.

Emma Morley does die in a road collision while riding her bike and Dexter is left broken by her passing.

However, three years later, Dexter climbs Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh with his daughter Jasmine and recalls his great love for Emma.

The final chapter relives the pair's goodbye kiss.

Read more:

• One Day soundtrack: Full tracklist for Netflix drama
• Leo Woodall on One Day, The White Lotus and exceeding expectations
• One Day star Ambika Mod says Netflix series will cover more of book
• One Day cast: Meet the characters in the Netflix series
• Ambika Mod on modernising One Day: "I'm very different to Anne Hathaway"

One Day is available to stream now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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