Ambika Mod speaks about the ‘blatant privilege’ in One Day, and how she relates to Emma

Ambika Mod related to her One Day character, Emma Morley, and it’s not because she has a massive crush on Leo Woodall, too.

No, instead of an admission of love, Ambika admitted that she has experienced the same setbacks that Emma did via being not as posh and privileged as her contemporaries are. See, in the Netflix miniseries and in the book it is based on by David Nicholls, Emma argues a lot with her pal Dexter Mayhew about him finding things a lot easier than her. This is something that she has related to, particularly as she tried to etch out a career in comedy and acting. Due to her background, Ambika has an understanding that much of the advice from people who are more well-off than her  “just doesn’t apply” to her life.

“I’ve been that person in that conversation where someone with much more, I suppose, blatant privilege has told me or given me advice that just doesn’t apply to me. That just doesn’t apply to my experience,” she told Glamour magazine.

Ambika dubbed Emma as often supplying a “grounding element” in the show. Her working class and state school background shines a light on ex-public school boy Dexter being born into immense privilege and allows them to have “loaded” conversations about their differences. Much of their conflict comes from Emma trying to explain to Dexter how much of a personal sacrifice it is for her to be in London and try to carve out a name for herself.

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When asked what gave her the confidence and opportunity to pursue a career in television if it wasn’t an expensive education, Ambika revealed that “comedy gave me everything,” continuing: “Since I was 18 years old, it taught me who I am, as clichéd as that sounds. I figured out what my voice was, I figured out what I enjoyed. I didn’t compromise because I was doing all my own stuff.”

One Day is available to watch on Netflix now. For more like these One Day stories and all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

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