Edinburgh to star in new Netflix series adapted from best-selling love story One Day

Netflix has revealed that Edinburgh is set to get a starring role in a major new series based on the best-selling novel One Day.

The streaming giant has confirmed that the city will feature in an new adaptation of David Nicholls hugely-popular love story, which is partly set in the city.

It is one of several Netflix projects being shot in Scotland, which is set to get a major new “cop show” and also be used for an adaptation of the young adult fantasy books Half Bad.

Nicole Taylor, the writer behind the hit Glasgow-set film Wild Rose and the BBC surrogacy thriller The Nest, is adapting Nicholls’ 2009 book into a series.

David Nicholls' best-selling novel One Day, which is being turned into a new Netflix series, was previously adapted into a feature film.

It was turned into a 2011 feature film starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, with Arthur’s Seat, Warriston Close, Moray Place, Parliament Square, Calton Hill and Victoria Street among the locations deployed by Danish director Lone Scherfig.

Nicholls was inspired to write the book - which follows the lives of Dexter and Emma after on the anniversary of their first meeting as they are leaving Edinburgh University – after spending a summer working at the Fringe. He received an honorary degree from the university in 2015.

Netflix’s official announcement on One Day states: “An epic, tragi-comic love story, every episode catches up with central characters Em and Dex on one particular day – 15th July – as they grow and change, move together and apart, experience joy and heartbreak."

A string of recent Netflix films have been made in Scotland, including Outlaw King, Calibre and Eurovision, along with location filming for The Crown.

David Nicholls' best-selling novel One Day is being turned into a new Netflix series which will be partly set in Edinburgh. Picture: Ian Rutherford

As well as One Day, Netflix has revealed that Scotland will be featuring on screen in Half Bad, a series adapted from author Sally Green’s best-selling novels, which are set in a world where witches secretly live among humankind.

Details of its new Scottish-set police drama are being kept firmly under wraps, although trainees are currently being sought for a new “high-end” drama series due to film in Glasgow for up to eight weeks in April and May.

Giving evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee in the House of Commons, Anne Mensah, vice-president of original series at Netflix, said: “There are lots of things coming up. I used to be the head of drama for BBC Scotland, so I used to live in Glasgow for five years.

“What is amazing is being able to know how brilliant the production sector is, how amazing the crew is, how brilliant the writers are.

David Nicholls' best-selling novel One Day is being turned into a new Netflix series.

"Working in Scotland for us is easy. It is a lovely place to work and. The Crown has been shot there and is shooting there again.

“We are looking at a new version of ‘One Day,’ by Scottish writer Nicole Taylor and obviously that had to be in Edinburgh. We have another cop show that we are shooting.

“Sometimes I think the material dictates the location. We are just shooting ‘Half Bad’ at the moment and being in Scotland is part of the story.

“Sometimes it’s the best place to shoot because the locations are many and varied, or the crews have experience of working on big productions, both feature films and television, so in a way there are lots and lots of reasons to work in Scotland. There is never just one.”