This near-future dystopian thriller about DNA-matched dating is set in London – but looks can be deceptive
24 March 2021
The One Trailer
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The latest in a rich seam of character-driven modern thrillers from Netflix, The One revolves around some very 21st-century problems: technology, greed, and the search for human connection. Set ‘five minutes in the future’, it revolves around Rebecca Webb (Hannah Ware), boss of The One, a company that can locate every person’s perfect soulmate. Rich, successful, charismatic, and happily partnered, she seems to be living the dream – until her past returns, in the form of both flashback sequences and a dead body.
In keeping with the theme, much of the action takes place in a very 21st-century London, cleverly pieced together from both the capital itself and other parts of the UK, with the addition of some more exotic locations. Here’s our guide to the highlights.
LONDON
For the head office of The One, the production took over the Central Saint Martins building in King’s Cross, central London. Home to the famous art school since 2011, it sits in the redeveloped Granary Square, which we also see in the series.
For scenes revolving around couple Hannah (Lois Chimimba) and Mark (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), we are in the Barbican area of East London. We see many examples of the neighbourhood’s trademark brutalist architecture, but action also takes place on the walkways that join different parts of the area, as in Episode 6’s meeting between Mark and Megan (Pallavi Sharda).
For the home of Damian (Stephen Campbell Moore), meanwhile, we’re in another fashionable part of London, on Valentine Place near Borough Market in SE1. The production also makes great use of one of the capital’s best-kept secrets, the London Rooftop bar at the Trafalgar St James Hotel. This is where Rebecca meets a senior politician in Episode 1, carefully protecting herself against the backdrop of one of London’s great landmarks.
BRISTOL
Like TV shows as varied as Poldark, His Dark Materials, and The Trial of Christine Keeler, The One uses Bristol, with its range of architecture old and new, to fill out scenes set in London. Consequently, we see Hannah and Megan meet in two quite different parts of the city, first in Episode 4 at the top of the medieval Christmas Steps by Colston Street, and then in Episode 8 in the graffiti-clad Moon Street in St Pauls, close to drum’n’bass club Lakota.
Also in Episode 4, we are in the grand Marriott Hotel on College Green for the memorial service for Rebecca’s former colleague Ben (Amir El-Masry). Opened in 1868 as the Royal Hotel, at the height of the city’s trade boom, it’s a classic Victorian edifice popular for weddings, many of which take place in the Palm Court used here.
Bristol also supplies the backdrop for many café and restaurant scenes. In Episode 1, detective Kate (Zoë Tapper) waits for her date in tapas bar Pata Negra (since renamed Four Wise Monkeys) on Clare Street in the Old City, close to Broad Street and the Ironworks café where we see Hannah meeting friends in Episode 2. For Episode 6’s police meeting with protestor David (Paul Brennen), meanwhile, we’re over towards St Pauls at West Indian restaurant Caribbean Croft, on Stokes Croft.
WALES
In addition to shooting in Bristol, Cardiff was also used as a stand-in for London, with Glynrhondda Street in the Cathays area playing a suburban street. It also provides one of the series’ most memorable locations, the remote home of Rebecca’s former partner James (Dimitri Leonidas), a glass-fronted modern house overlooking a broad expanse of estuary.
This is a private home on the north Gower coast near Llanmadoc. Winner of the 2014 RIBA Manser Medal, it’s described by its architect as a ‘modern castle’ and was shaped to fit into the contours of the land around it, despite its three storeys of polished concrete. It’s easy enough to see why James might retreat from his troubled past in its serene surroundings with just his dog for company.
TENERIFE
For Rebecca’s meeting with her match Matheus (Albano Jerónimo), the production moved to the Canary Islands and Tenerife. The island has a strong film CV, mostly based on the volcanic deserts at its heart, which have provided ancient landscapes for movies from 1966’s One Million Years BC to 2010’s Clash of the Titans. The One, though, sticks to the coast, with the pair meeting at Matheus’s bar on El Medano beach on the southern tip of the island, with the distinctive Montaña Roja rising up beside it. A popular spot for windsurfing, it’s one of the largest strips of sand here, and not all parts are as uncrowded as his patch.
We also see the couple enjoying the nightlife in the towns of La Laguna to the north-east, where the production also took advantage of the location to provide a dramatic opening to the series. This is the Auditorio of Tenerife, a hyper-modern concert hall designed by Santiago Calatrava Valls and opened in 2003. Also featured in a 2020 episode of Doctor Who, it’s used here as a suitably impressive and futuristic venue for a presentation by Rebecca about her revolutionary company.
‘The One’ is available to stream on Netflix
