Secret Diary of a Call Girl


Secret Diary of a Call Girl is a British drama television series that aired from 27 September 2007 to 22 March 2011 on ITV2, based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous Belle de Jour. It stars Billie Piper as Belle, a high-end London call girl.
The series was written by Lucy Prebble, who is also the author of the plays The Sugar Syndrome and Enron. The series has been compared to Sex and the City by many critics, mainly due to its humorous approach to sex.

Plot

The series, set in London, revolves around the life of Hannah Baxter, a seemingly normal young woman who lives a secret life as a call girl, under the pseudonym Belle. The series focuses on her professional and private lives and the complications as they collide. However, she receives help and advice from her best friend Ben. In the second series premiere, a new call girl Bambi is introduced; Hannah becomes close friends with her and frequently gives her advice regarding prostitution and her personal life.
Hannah, as the main character, also narrates the series, sometimes through voiceovers but more frequently by breaking the fourth wall. During the first series, the episodes are held together by a light story arc; however, Series 2 and 3 rely heavily on story arcs, usually in the form of Hannah's romances, namely with Alex and Duncan.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

The rights to the blog were bought by Silverapples Media, who co-produced the series with Tiger Aspect Productions. The series was initially developed with Channel 4 and when Channel 4 passed on the project, ITV took over. The series aired in a late-night 10pm slot, as part of ITV2's "XXL Thursday" programming block.
The theme song is an excerpt of "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse. The song runs whilst the intertitle plays, showing Belle applying make-up and getting dressed, interspersed with shots of urban London.
Both series 1 and 2 consisted of eight episodes: the series was commissioned for a third series, even before the second series was aired. Series 2 became complicated to film due to Piper's pregnancy and body doubles were hired.
The filming of series 3 began at the start of 2009, once Piper had recovered after the birth of her son, Winston, in October 2008. Piper also stated she would be taking on the role of executive producer of the upcoming series as well. Ahead of the series 3 premiere ITV2 aired a one-off interview between Piper and Brooke Magnanti, who had written under the Belle de Jour pseudonym, entitled, Billie and the Real Belle Bare All.
After the end of Series 3, ITV had not commissioned a fourth series, as well as there was speculation, even amongst the cast, whether or not Secret Diary of a Call Girl would return. However, on 4 May 2010, Katie Begley of the Daily Star reported that Piper and the cast would return for a fourth series, as well as that Piper would earn £2 million for the new series. Piper has stated that the fourth series was to be the final.

Broadcast

CountryChannel
United KingdomITV2
AustraliaNine Network
GEM
Arena
ArgentinaI-Sat
BelgiumVitaya
CanadaShowcase
The Movie Network
Czech RepublicPrima Cool
DenmarkKanal 4
SpainFox
FinlandNelonen
FranceTéva
M6
GreeceAlpha TV
GermanyPassion
HungaryRTL Klub
IcelandSkjár einn

CountryChannel
IsraelYes Stars Drama
ItalyFox Life
NetherlandsRTL5
New ZealandPrime
UKTV
NorwayTVNorge
PeruI-Sat
PolandFox Life
PortugalFX
RussiaMuz-TV
SloveniaTV3
South AfricaMNET Series
SwedenKanal 5
TurkeyFox Life
USAShowtime
Latin AmericaVH1 I-Sat
Middle EastShowtime Arabia

The series was first broadcast on 27 September 2007 on ITV2 in the United Kingdom. It was watched by 1.9 million, a record for ITV2.
In Canada, the first series began on Showcase on 22 November 2007. The second series debuted on The Movie Network on 19 January 2009.
In the United States, Showtime aired the first series of eight half-hour episodes beginning in June 2008, with a commitment for an additional 12 episodes. Robert Greenblatt, Showtime's president of entertainment, initially considered buying format rights and recasting it with American actors, but he ultimately decided that the original was "fantastic"; Greenblatt also noted that "it's very hard to find American actresses who are comfortable doing nudity." The second series aired on 18 January 2009. On 6 November 2009, Showtime announced that the show's third series would return on 25 January 2010 at 10:00pm. Showtime scheduled the fourth series to premiere 7 April 2011, at 10:30pm.

Home media

The first series was released on 7 January 2008 on Region 2 DVD. Series 2 was released in the United Kingdom on 2 March 2009 and like the first series classified 18. On the same day, a four disc box set edition consisting of both series 1 and 2 was released. On both sets, much of the popular music was replaced due to high licensing costs.
The entire series is also available to download on iTunes and to stream on Netflix UK and Lovefilm UK.
In the United States the Region 1 version of series 1 was released on 6 January 2009. Series 2 was released soon afterwards, in June. Again, much of the music was replaced due to high licensing costs.
The television series is rated R18 in New Zealand as it contains sex scenes and offensive language.

Reception

Critical response

The series was mainly well received by critics, with Tim Goodman of The San Francisco Chronicle saying, "there's surprise at how much you've underestimated its quality." It was graded A− by Entertainment Weekly, which said, "you will find a rather fascinating drama." Entertainment Weekly also commented on Billie Piper's portrayal of Belle, saying, "Piper is extraordinary, intermittently talking right to the camera in a straightforward, conspiratorial manner, the way a prostitute who's really good at her job would talk to a client." It was less well received, however, by The New York Times, which said, "Secret Diary has amusing touches, but not enough to sustain an entire series."
Whilst reviewing Series 3 of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Gerard O'Donovan of The Telegraph opined that the show focuses too much on Piper's character, saying "All the characters, apart from Belle, are about as two-dimensional as cardboard cut-outs – and no more engaging."

Criticism

The series was also accused of glamourising and being a misrepresentation of prostitution.
Piper hit back at the claims saying, "We've only been exposed to the drug-fuelled, sex traffic side – but the fact is, there are middle-class, cultured, well-read women who take part in this job."

Ratings

The first series averaged 1,242,125 viewers in the UK. The following weekly viewership statistics are from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board.
The series premiered in the United States on Showtime to the highest ratings the cable channel had seen in four years for a television premiere. The series debut reached almost one million viewers, its closest rival, Dexter, premiered to 604,000. The showing held on to an impressive 70% of its lead-in audience that tuned in for the fourth-series premiere of Weeds.

International versions

On 8 April, 2012, the Chilean network TVN premiered their own version of "Secret Diary..." entitled "Diario secreto de una profesional".
A Dutch remake, called Dagboek van een Callgirl, premiered on 26 March 2015 on Net 5. Sanne Langelaar portrays Anne, who secretly works as call girl Jolie. The show is set in Amsterdam. The first season adapts several scripts from the first and second series of the UK series.
A Spanish version of the television series, titled 700€ Diario Secreto de una Call Girl, was broadcast on Antena 3 in 2008.