One Day's Ambika Mod reveals secret to her Yorkshire accent in Netflix show

What did you miss?

One Day star Ambika Mod has revealed she owes securing her starring role in the new Netflix drama to watching the pupils of Educating Yorkshire.

Mod admitted she binge-watched the Channel 4 documentary in order to get the part of Emma in the new TV adaptation of David Nicholl's beloved novel. And she thanked the children and teachers of the award-winning fly-on-the-wall show filmed in a Yorkshire secondary school for helping her nail her Yorkshire accent.

What, how, and why?

Mod appeared on The One Show along with her One Day co-star, The White Lotus' Leo Woodall to discuss the new Netflix adaptation of romantic novel One Day, which launches on Netflix on Thursday 8 February.

Mod, who also starred in This Is Going To Hurt, told Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas: "It was towards the end of the audition process. I was waiting to hear if I was going to get it and I got a call from my agent saying, 'They love you, they really want you but they're just not sure about the accent, so they just need you to be signed off by a dialect coach.'

"So I was like 'Oh my God my life is in this woman's hands.' I had a meeting scheduled with her for a Saturday evening so I spent the whole day just binging Educating Yorkshire, weeping over Asghar getting over his stutter.

"And then I met her in the evening and we had our session together and she was like 'To be honest I don't really know what they want from me, you can clearly learn the accent. So I'm just going tell them that and they should give it to you.' So thank you Educating Yorkshire and the students and teachers of that school. I owe you a lot."

Educating Yorkshire was the second series of the Bafta-award winning documentary show about a UK secondary. It was filmed in Thornhill Community Academy in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire and aired in 2013. Mod is from Hertfordshire in South East England.

What else happened on The One Show?

Mod also revealed that she turned down the role of Emma – played by Anne Hathaway in the 2011 film adaptation – multiple times because she is such a big fan of the book. She explained: "I read the book when I was 13, when it came out. So it's been in my life for nearly half of my existence, and I was obsessed with the book. I've always been a massive fan, it's one of my favourite books.

"And I got the audition for it and I saw the notification on my phone and I just saw 'Emma, One Day, self tape' and I just thought 'Nah, I'm not doing that.' I loved the book so much and I loved the character and I just didn't think I could do it.

"So I turned it down and kept turning it down, and the amazing casting director kept chasing. And one day I was in bed - and this isn't an exaggeration, my eyes literally popped open and 'I thought I've made a terrible mistake!' So I called my agent the next day and I got a tape in in two days."

One Day will be released on Netflix on 8 February, 2024.

The One Show airs on BBC One at 7pm Monday to Friday.

Read more: One Day

• Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod are 'Dex and Em' in first One Day trailer (Entertainment Weekly)

• One Day's Ambika Mod is the picture of serenity in white dress (Good Housekeeping UK)

• One Day: Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod question 'cosmic mysteries' while going from friends to lovers (People)