Our One Night special issue is here! We’re very excited, extremely proud, and completely exhausted. If we could’ve predicted the number of major life events that would occur in the making of this feature, we probably would've chosen to fall in love with a show that was made closer to where either of us live. Like, in the mid-Atlantic preferably. But the heart wants what it wants, and both of ours wanted to dive deep into Paramount+ Australia's One Night, so, into the South Coast's waters we went, waxing poetic about and interrogating the effects of Tess’ return home. We couldn't have foreseen ourselves finishing our work in sudden, extended trips to our own childhood towns. Life imitates art imitates life, huh?
Admittedly, we also hadn’t expected almost everyone we reached out to on the One Night team to say “yes”. Surely, responses to our inquiries would be few and far between. How wrong we were. (There’s a lesson about self-worth here somewhere.) We sent asks out to 19 cast, crew, and creatives involved in One Night, and 16 said yes. Incredible, isn’t it?
We're very grateful and excited that so many people from the show were willing to chat with us about their time, their process, and their characters. A real privilege. We feel very, very lucky.
One of the key reasons that we started this magazine was because of the interesting conversations and in-depth discussions that we’d seen and been a part of about the show. It greatly affected and resonated with a lot of people, ourselves included, and has immediately become a very special, personal, and important work of art. And that's what led a brief WhatsApp chat full of hypotheticals and “what if”s and “wouldn’t it be nice”s in September to quickly turn into a plan for a full-fledged One Night feature, full of colour-coded spreadsheets, so, so many emails, and a subscription to Zoom because, as it turns out, we have a habit of talking to folks for longer than 40 minutes.
While in the end we weren’t able to secure interviews with leading actors Jodie Whittaker, Nicole da Silva, and Yael Stone, their presence is felt across the entire feature. Stories about the three of them are sprinkled throughout interviews, and we were fortunate enough to get their blessing on some of the more spoiler-laced and sensitive content. What a gift. Truly.
For ease, here’s a rundown of every interview and article. They’re ordered not alphabetically and only sort of chronologically from when each interview took place. It’s mostly vibes, honestly, which we’re allowing after three months of interviews with people in Australia, a country in which neither of us live. But despite our good-hearted moaning, we’d do the months of 3am interviews again in a heartbeat.
First up, we have an in-depth interview with showrunner Emily Ballou, who kindly answered two pages worth of questions because we are many things, but low-key is not one of them.
We sat down with the director of the first three episodes (aka “block one”) and the person who led the creation of the series’ gorgeous visual template, Catherine Millar.
Kat Stewart talked to us about her role as Vicki, “the wife” of Tess, and about why One Night spoke to her. We briefly entertained naming her piece “Kat Stewart Finally Has Her Shit Together,” but thought she might not appreciate that out of context, as she very much actually does have her shit together. Read her interview to get the sweet sweet context.
We now move onto the “Young Girls” aka Bella Ridgway, Bridgette Armstrong, and Mikaela Binns-Rorke, who each gave us some of their time to chat about their characters Hat, Simone, and Tess, respectively. They were all effortlessly cool. We think it’s an Australian thing.
Helena rang accomplished hair and make up designer Sheldon Wade to discuss all things, well, hair and make up about the show. We got the deets on Tess’ incredible tattoos and all the work that went into them, plus, how much thought the “natural” look takes.
George Mason spoke to us about his role as Joey Calley and playing a bad guy - all while he chilled in his campervan, which was parked up by a suitably sun-kissed Australian beach. Also, we said hello to his dog. It was great.
Up next is Harper Simon who smashes it as Lily in the series and who rocks it during the interview, too. We had a chat about how she landed the role, her views on the Eve-Owen family dynamic, and her future with acting. Also, how trailers need to stop giving away a movie’s entire plot. (We agree.)
Enough kind words cannot be said about intimacy coordinator Chloë Dallimore. She provided some brilliant insight into what being an intimacy coordinator means, how that translated onto the set of One Night, and why it’s such a special role.
David Howell and Shane Osborne gave us the low-down on the Young Calleys (Joey and Trevor), how they approached their roles as aggressors, and what it was like working alongside their older counterparts.
We geek out with talented cinematographer Emma Paine who chats about some of the more technical aspects of filming One Night as well as where that awesome pink glow came from during a scene in Episode 6.
Director Lisa Matthews was our first interview for this whole feature, and her openness and passion were really just signs of how wonderfully kind and generous we would learn the entire One Night team to be. Another nerdy interview about camera angles and visual language for the second block (Episodes 4 -6) here. We can’t help it.
Tina Bursill (who is, quite frankly, Australian acting royalty) was gloriously chatty and spoke candidly about her experiences in the film and TV industry as well as shared her views on her role as Tess’ mother Helen.
The last of our interviews is with award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown who provided the stunning soundtrack to the series. She explains her creative process when it comes to composing music for a show like One Night. All of our interviews are really cool, but this one is really cool.
Then we have a review, it’s true. Candice thinks Jodie Whittaker is a force to be reckoned with in an ocean of stand-out performances. Whittaker was certainly more like a wave than a ripple, that’s for shore. We’ll sea ourselves out.
Do you like music? Well, we do, and so do the cast and crew of One Night. We asked them what music they associate with the show, and they gave us over two hours worth of tunes. Check out what everyone had to say about their choices (and guess who picked what!) in our Exclusive Spotify Playlist.
As we’re talking about exclusives, there’s a real treat over on our Ko-fi page. Become a member and you can gain access to an interview featuring many cast and crew talking about that scene - ‘Making of a Scene: The Recording (Episode 6)’.
We’ve worked incredibly hard, and it’s been a massive team effort to compile and pull this enormous feature together. But boy, we definitely think it’s been worth it. An enthusiastic pat on the back is in order for everyone involved. We cannot thank all those who spoke with us enough for being so generous with their time, insight, and heart. A most special thank you, a beer, and some gummy sweets, to showrunner Emily Ballou for generously guiding and supporting us throughout.
This feature is very much a love letter to the series, a thank you, and a celebration. It’s a show and an experience that will remain with us for awhile. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed creating it. We’re off to put our best trouser suits on and dance to “Young Girl” with joy and abandon.
Much love,
Helena and Alfie
Co-Editors
You can watch One Night on Paramount+ UK & Ireland and Paramount+ Australia now.
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