How Old Dex & Emma Are Throughout One Day

Warning: This article contains MAJOR spoilers for One Day.

Netflix’s One Day spans over two decades, raising the question of how old Emma and Dex are at the start, middle, and end of the story. Based on David Nicholls’ eponymous book that was released in 2009, One Day follows the friendship and love story between Emma “Em” Morley and Dexter “Dex” Mayhew. The pair meet the day of their graduation from the University of Edinburgh on St. Swithin’s Day in 1988, spending the whole day together. One Day revisits Emma and Dexter on St. Swithin’s Day every year for the next two decades.

Because the story stretches across such a long period of time, it’s difficult to keep track of One Day’s timeline and the events occurring each year. Additionally, the miniseries doesn’t specify exactly how old Dex and Em are at different points, only hinting at their ages. Ultimately, both of these things are important to understanding the personality, mentality, and story arcs of the two protagonists.

Dex Is 23 And Emma Is 22 Years Old At The Start Of One Day

While Netflix’s One Day miniseries doesn’t say how old Dexter and Emma are, David Nicholls’ book says that Dex is 23 and Emma is 22 when they first meet at the university graduation day party. Because the adaptation is mostly faithful to the book, it’s probable the pair are the same age in Netflix’s series. Dex and Em, being in their early 20s, explains many aspects of their lives throughout the first few episodes of One Day.

Since he’s so young and privileged, Dexter’s lack of forethought about his future at the start of One Day makes sense. He doesn’t have societal pressures telling him that he needs to have his life together because he can get away with being a bachelor who parties and drinks constantly. Dexter has the resources to travel around without worrying about his future prospects. His age and lack of experience in his profession make his level of privilege all the more obvious, considering he became a presenter less than a year after being given a job in TV.

On the other hand, Emma’s big dreams of changing the world are reflective of her young age. While this is an admirable dream, age and life experience often jades the dreamers and optimists. Additionally, Emma’s reactions to struggles are fitting for someone her age. Because the world hasn’t knocked her down quite so many times yet, she takes writer’s block, rejection, and failure extremely hard — personalizing it instead of understanding that everyone goes through these parts of life. Luckily, this changes as she gets older in One Day.

Emma Is 31 And Dex Is 32 Years Old When They Reconcile Their Friendship

In One Day episode 7, Emma and Dexter end their friendship after six years due to Dexter’s irresponsibility, substance abuse, and selfishness. Their friendship has become increasingly one-sided, with Em putting in all the effort and Dex ignoring her needs. By the time they reconcile their friendship in One Day episode 10, Emma is 31, and Dex is 32. The decision to repair their broken relationship makes sense based on their ages, because they each had time to grow and reflect on their fight.

As Dex explains to Emma when they talk at the wedding, he manages to pull his life together in One Day because he believes he is too old to keep fooling around, binge drinking, smoking, and doing drugs. This aligns with the common idea that a person’s 20s are the time to make impulsive decisions and foolish mistakes. However, back in the late 1990s, society dictated that someone’s 30s should be more stable and secure.

Additionally, Dex and Emma both find better ways to mentally cope with the negative aspects of life towards the middle of One Day. Consequently, both characters are healthy enough on their own to rebuild a strong friendship between the pair. Dex isn’t as selfish or self-destructive, making it easier for Emma to feel seen and valued. On top of this, Emma isn’t as quick to judge Dexter as she was prior to ending their friendship. It’s likely that neither of these changes would’ve happened if they weren’t at a very transformative period of their lives.

Emma Is 36 Years Old At The Time Of Her Death

One of the most devastating moments in One Day occurs at the end of episode 13 when a car hits Emma while she’s riding her bike in the rain, killing her almost immediately. Based on the show’s timeline, Emma is only 36 years old at the time of her death. She and Dex are about a year into their marriage and trying to conceive. The pair are looking to move into a house. Her career is finally starting to flourish, with her having two books out. She has a good relationship with her stepdaughter, Jasmine. Everything’s looking up.

It’s a gut punch watching Emma die after seeing that she has such a promising future ahead. She struggles for so long with her confidence and life path. It’s cruel to give her such great character growth only to rip it away. The same goes for her relationship. It took so long for Emma and Dexter to find their way to each other romantically. One of the biggest changes One Day from the book is that Dex and Em get 1 year as a married couple instead of 3, making the end of their relationship more painful.

Dex Is 42 Years Old At The End Of One Day

After Emma’s death in One Day, Dex goes through an extremely tough period where he relapses into binge-drinking and poor decision-making. The period after Emma’s death spans five years. By the very end of One Day, it’s 2007, and Dexter is 42 years old. He seems to have a better head on his shoulders, finding a way to both honor his love for Emma and keep living his life. This kind of peace and acceptance likely wouldn’t have come as quickly if Emma had died when the pair were in their 20s.

His age could’ve also been a factor in one major change from the book. In David Nicholls’ book, Dexter develops a relationship with Maddy, the manager of his Parisian café, two years after Emma’s death. Maddy is ten years younger than Dex in the books. Considering the circumstances, One Day saved Dexter’s character by removing the storyline. Nowadays, those kinds of age gaps are scrutinized. Combining that with the boss-employee power imbalance, Dexter would’ve come across as a creepy and predatory middle-aged man. It’s better that One Day focused, instead, on him being a widower grieving in his early 40s.

One Day

Cast

Leo Woodall , Ambika Mod , Amber Grappy , Tim McInnerny , Jonny Weldon

Release Date

February 8, 2024

Seasons

1

Writers

David Nicholls

Directors

Molly Manners

Creator(s)

Nicole Taylor , David Nicholls