User reviews

"Secret Diary of a Call Girl", Billie Piper's controversial and highly adult series, is the first home-grown drama from ITV2. Based on the blog and subsequent novel by the mysterious Belle de Jour, this is an insight into the life of a high-end call girl who turns normal prostitute stereotypes on their head. Annoyingly, the production has a slightly soft focus sheen which gives it a somewhat abstract (and low budget) feel. Visualise an '80s pop promo and you'll know what I mean!

It's only a matter of minutes before the first episode kicks into gear with Piper delivering energetic, simulated fellatio on a gawping customer. For British television, this is no-holds-barred stuff with "F" and "C" words, and relatively graphic imagery at every turn. I was pleasantly surprised at the bravery of this drama - it doesn't disappoint but despite the sexual gymnastics on display, the series lacks any real erotic content. It has the substance of a late-night MTV video.

Piper herself delivers a great performance. She's as likable as always as both Hannah and her late-night alter ego and she makes the most of the relatively light material contained within the script.

The beautiful Cherie Lunghi plays Piper's agent, Stephanie, a no-nonsense, straight-talking businesswoman. Marvellous stuff.

8 out of 10. With this series, Piper has shrugged off the shadow of "Doctor Who"'s Rose and entered a whole new territory. Without a doubt, she's an actress that will continue to enjoy success in the fields of television and cinema.

Diary of a Secret Call Girl. I found this show very funny and scarily honest!!

I found it very similar to a book I read a couple of years back "Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl" by Nancy Chan. That book was also quite graphic, witty and funny (well worth a read!)

Billie Piper was excellent in this show - I found myself believing that she could be/is a prostitute/escort. I am a very open minded person but I have to admit that some scenes did shock me little. I just didn't expect for her to talk while giving a BJ!!

Her character is warm, witty and funny and I look forward to watching the rest of the series.

8 out of 10!

Ms Piper is quality, her timing and playing to camera are excellent, a female Alfie?

What lets the program down is the 30 minute time slot, and this restricts the progression of the narrative. I would have liked to see more of the meeting between her agent and the girls. The lingering exterior shots are reminiscent of US series, and perhaps that is a future target for this show, however they just seemed like fillers.

The amount of information that the book and blogs provide, should easily fill the time, and a decent (or indecent) series.

Made me laugh, and the bit with the saddle, brave people. I hope they did not have too many takes, looks exhausting.

By and large a good attempt at a difficult subject, I wonder what Channel 4 would have done with the same book?

As for the aforementioned Ms Piper, sultry and naughty, very good. Watch it and laugh at how ridiculous we can all appear during sex.

It's a topic we all talk about. A subject that we're afraid to talk about. A taboo, a unique idea that we all think about but often feel unable to talk about.

Based on Belle De Jour's novels, Secret diary of a call girl is a full blown intimate and sexcapade that is quite honestly, brilliant.

Forget your 50 shades of Grey, this British programme brought about a whole new wave of sex and the boundaries which we cover and don't cover and will open your eyes into lives that you had heard about, never fully believed, but will blow your mind with every episode.

Billie Piper portrays Belle De Jour, a high class London call girl, living the high life with the nice apartment, the trendy attire and when it comes down to business, she is well equipped and professional to go toe to toe with the strangers of the night.

For those already presuming this is going to be sleazy and cheap with plenty of sex, nudity and general degrading remarks and one liners, my friend, you have no idea.

Released in 2007 and finishing in 2011 this 4 season hit compiles the intimate, dramatic and frequently funny accounts of Belle, a confident professional wrapped deeply in her job as a call girl, battling the ever demanding pressures of keeping secrets from friends and family, working professionally despite personal dramas and as ever, often meeting a certain man who makes her feel that little bit different.

Piper gives Belle a wonderful confidence that shines right through to the viewers at home, the male viewers won't be complaining too much. It's not simply the skimpy clothes and raunchy seductive sex scenes, but the confidence of the character, the idea of her being special is always there and Piper never wavers. Her story is wonderfully told and we get an insight into her character through her camera facing turns, giving us her insights into the business and into her emotional connections.

Whilst each season has a serious guy in Belle's life and this can feel slightly mundane at points, its the dirty little secrets of the business you'll be hooked to, exploring the client's fantasises, seeing how the money changes hands, how call girls interact with one another and the fun they have with their clients and the drama that goes alongside the demanding profession.

Some great moments include wrestling turn-ons, movie portrayals, book scripting, fancy dress parties and exploration of various fantasies (fantastic James Bond montage) The diversity of the show is constantly shifting from simple location shots to exploring America to the darkness of clubs and the seedy realism of the human spirit is frequently mesmerizing. The fact the camera shifts from Belle in her moment to her facing the camera and giving us some cheeky quote or divulging some intriguing business information, this invites us right into the story.

But the bottom line is that this is a programme about sex. A programme that does not shy away from the nature of what it is, what we desire, how we tackle it in relationships, how we deceive others and how we crave that erotic fantasy and a feeling of freedom from reality.

There is no nonsense, any question you have will be answered and portrayed here. There is a lot of nudity, a lot of flirting and innuendos, and graphic bedroom scenes that justify the nature of the industry and indeed, life. Always enjoyable and frequently jaw dropping, Secret diary will invite you into the secret world of an industry and will open your eyes to those ideas and possibilities you were always uncertain about.

I have to say Billie Piper is a very special actress, her ability to make you believe, smile and cry are amazing, as Belle you feel for her almost to the point of being jealous of her , I know the actress/actor talking to the camera isn't new but it seems so right in "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" this series is a delicious look into the life of a hooker, call girl, whatever you wish to call it , its highs and lows with its hazards and bonuses. I've been a big fan of Billie since I saw how well she acted in a Doctor Who episode where she actually had me in tears!!! she is a very believable actress that blends into whatever she does whether its flirting with a time lord or charging for her company she seems to do it so easily. Don't miss it, rent it or buy it I guarantee you will not be disappointed , put it this way I would work with her any day lol

When I watched the first episode I will admit I was rather scandalized. The sex is pretty graphic and they don't sugar coat too much. However, as the series went on I found myself really enjoying the characters and dying to know what would happen to Belle next. The life of a prostitute seems anything but glamorous in modern society but with in this show it was portrayed in a fun and fresh way.

This is not the show for everyone but for something fluffy to watch with some Hagen Daas and your girlfriends its rather enjoyable. I would have appreciated more character build up with more overlapping characters. However, keeping in mind that it was only 8 - twenty minute episodes I have high hopes for season two.

Very Sex and the City. Only British ... and starring Samantha.

It seams that so many books are becoming TV shows lately with Americas huge acclaim of gossip girl which i read years ago and watched the first series and enjoyed but was slightly disappointed

BUT I also read Belles Dairy several years ago and was intrigued when i found out this interesting incite into another world was being made visual and even more so that it was an English production who tend to do more controversial things better (for example sin cites which America could never do). I was a bit sceptical about the fact Billie piper was playing Hannah/belle but she didn't disappoint she was excellent she made me feel she was a pro and nothing like the teeny bopper I remember her for!

I ended up watching all 8 episodes in one night online I was that addicted!!!!!!! And cant wait for more!

WARNING if you don't like nudity, foul language, talking about sex, watching sex scenes, or something that is kind of not moral THEN THIS NOT IS FOR YOU!!!!

BUT if you have always wondered what escort world is all about then this is for you

The only thing that really annoyed me about this show were the silent bits that seem to go on way to long watching belle shower sit stare out a window, sitting around etc the over make their point but apart form that its a solid 9

"Secret Diary of a Call Girl" is one of those shows that go nowhere. Sure there may be some resemblance of a longstanding plot, but in the end you're exactly where you started from. It's not like it's a loop, or a full circle - you just haven't gotten anywhere.

And I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, not at all actually. It's kind of comforting to know that when you watch it, it's just to entertain you. It has a kind of calming feeling to it - something that's incredibly hard to find. Yes, the main character's life goes up in flames, whatever, it still has the same calamity as it does when she's having sex. And even then, the scenes aren't exactly erotic. Their more awkward, and present.

The greatest part of this show is that its irresistible. It doesn't have the addictiveness of really good Chinese, or ice cream (for example), but it wont turn you off like the food you've been eating every meal for the past month might. While the writing might not be the best, and half the shots are filler, you always know that you could skip an episode and it wouldn't matter.

While the chemistry between Hannah/Belle and Ben is undeniable, it's almost hard to resist Alex's charm as well. While season one is much better then season two, season two is most definitely not bad, and almost feels like an end to a series. But, to the viewing pleasure of many, a third season is on its way.

"Secret Diary" is by no means perfect, but it is enjoyable. And I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

"Secret Diary of a Call Girl" a new "Showtime" cable series certainly has a theme and topic of interest that viewers love to see and explore. That the sex industry and also at the same time they get a real life look at the life of a high class call girl. The series is based on the memoir "The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl", yet this series is just as interested in everyday life moments as it is the sex trade. Billie Piper is Hannah by day and "Belle" by night to her clients and she as a high class London hooker who swears she took the job because she loves sex so much! And believe me this series is very provocative and blunt showing many of the make out scenes that really pushes the envelope even for top notch cable. Plenty of skin and sexy scenes are found with this series while at the same time as the viewer you feel the emotions of Hannah/Belle as each episode is narrated and told from her point of view and thoughts. Overall interesting series that's engrossing making it a good call to watch.

... more-than a decade passing ... remains some of the best-most-charming-work Billie Piper has accomplished ... she's just luscious throughout the entire series ... second viewing more enjoyable than first.

I'm rather surprised to see that some of the previous commentators who have also read the book didn't find it somewhat disturbing that that the main character has been quite dramatically changed. Sure, it's a TV series that has to be "glossy" and seductive to attract an audience, and although I find Piper somewhat dull, a bit over-polished perhaps, I suppose she's doing alright.

What I find disappointing is that the book's raunchy, funny and extremely in-control woman has been transformed into a nice but flat Ann Summers girl. Take for example Belle's bisexuality (yes, the "real" Belle enjoys sex with women!), which is a recurring element in the book. In the TV series, she has to turn to the camera and reassure us that she's definitely NOT a lesbian, but she "will go gay for pay". And what's with the dilly-dallying with her "ex", Ben? I suppose this would be the book's "N". With whom she in the book has long discussions about anal sex and fisting, for example. The series' Ben doesn't even know what she does for a living.

The Belle of the series then is nowhere near the cool, funny, and sexually explosive Belle I've got to know through the book. What on the surface actually has potential as a sleek and sexy show, is really just an empty promise that even the naughtiest hooker is really a sweet and innocent girl. I agree with a previous commentator that it would have been interesting to have seen what Channel 4 could have done to evoke the true Belle.

Belle (Billie Piper)is leading a double life. One emotional and one professional life. It's hard keeping these two apart, especially when the professional life contains the service to concede to needs of men and make dreams come true. As a professional escort-girl she's is in between of everything. How does she manage to be a classy call girl and not be mixed emotion in the two worlds she's living in. In these 3 seasons you have the opportunity to follow her and join her on her secret missions. You go on a journey with her and get to know the excitement covered with champagne and glamour. But also the reality about it. And if you had any prejudice about this profession at least it will soften by the charming character Bille Piper plays: Belle.

I recently watched this TV series and loved it. It was funny, entertaining, and had lot's of romance and drama. It was interesting to see how Hannah's career as an escort affected her love life, and how the different men she dated had different reactions to her career. I also loved the different characters that were introduced throughout the series. I admit I was disappointed in the way the series ended, I felt like it needed more. I feel there was definitely room for another season! Hannah's narrating throughout the series was one of my favorite things, especially when she would say something out of the blue to the camera. I am certain I will re watch this TV series over and over again, and hope to see more just like it in the future.

Where the first season had a self confident Belle giving us an insight into the world of a call girl, the second and third season seems to be more like a bad soap opera, about love and uncertainty with a bumbling Belle making all kinds of mistakes.

After having seen only a few season two episodes, I was starting to get really disappointed. The "based on the book" part seems to be only true for the main character, and only at the surface. The witty, powerful and strong Belle had crumbled to become a superficial character.

The interview between Billie Piper and the real Belle also showed how far the character has strayed from the real life Belle in the second series.

The third season doesn't fare much better than the second.

I'd say that's an opportunity lost by the writers of this series, which unfortunately is more and more often the case with TV series nowadays.

Well, this was lovely!

I only started this series because of Billie Piper (and the fact that Matt Smith would be in one episode), but I ended up actually enjoying it... So much I spent every free second of my last three days watching Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

It's a light-hearted, funny production with interesting characters that allowed me to understand better the world of (high-class) escorts while getting attached to the protagonist and everyone around her. Surely, the series is faulty at some points; there are some loose ends, characters come and go without ever being mentioned again, but all in all, I enjoyed myself a lot and actually felt like I had finally found something I could watch for hours, non-stop, without getting bored.

Four seasons, 42 episodes, 22 minutes per episode and much more fun than I was expecting.

Billie is so captivating and engaging. He'd character is well written and she plays the part to perfection. She's vulnerable, kind, and well- meaning. But she's also really well boundaried despite- mostly punters- pushing them.

It's a shame but I just don't feel the chemistry between Hannah and Ben, or Hannah and Alex. I don't think she's be drawn in by someone who's playing such a traditional role. Ben seems a bit victimy. I don't know if the writing or the acting. I'm sorry to say this. I just would have loved a refreshing more open attitude about her work.

These days having sex is as available as playing bowls or tennis. I believe in reality there are many people who are secure enough in themselves that they would love being partnered with someone like Hannah. So why are we not pairing her with someone who's inspired by her freedom, openness, sexuality.

The clichéd, outdated attitudes of the men are infuriating - but I fear they're common.

Alex being 'disgusted and humiliated' !!! She's working hard- sand as he is - at something she's good at!

When I first ran into this show, I watched the first few episodes out of curiosity. I wanted to know if a show like this could be executed tastefully. Surprise, surprise—it can be. This show is not about what most of us would expect, adult scenes wrapped in with dialogue to make the entire phenomena more acceptable. Rather it is a real psychological journey through the minds of everyday people. The therapist/philosophers? Our resident whore: Belle. The show opens the minds and hearts of the audience to her lifestyle. The problems she faces are more human than we may realize. This show is worth watching if enjoy shows that explore the idiosyncrasies of humanity. A warning, there is a bit of flesh and odd scenarios portrayed—but nothing that people don't do, apparently.

The show is risqué (but isn't that what sells?), so watch at your discretion.

The show was OK, maybe worth a 5 or 6. But I gave it an 8 because I love Billie Piper. She's a terrific actress and very versatile. I first heard of her when I recently watched the first two seasons of Doctor Who. Now I've been searching around to find other things she's done. As I'm seeing, she has put together quite a career over the years. Good for her.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

THE SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL-SEASON 1

To all those close to her, Hannah is a boring office clerk- but her secret profession gives her the title Belle de Jour, a high class prostitute who will entertain every man's kinkiest fantasy for the right price. The first series follows the trials and tribulations of her life, as she copes with the pressures being a call girl entails whilst dealing with her problems outside of work.

The secret diaries of Belle de Jour, who claimed to be a high class escort in a series of memoirs, has caused a stir for years, with claims she doesn't even really exist or is a secret identity who simply made it all up for publicity. This glossy adaptation of her books also created quite a sensation when it came out, rather too explicit and saucy for terrestrial telly and so confined to the more remote sector of digital TV channel ITV 2. It was even more shocking that former squeaky clean teen pop singer Billie Piper was taking the lead role.

However hard it tried and whatever other pretensions it may have had, whether it liked it or not, the first series almost certainly succeeded more as a piece of seedy voyeurism (watching Billie being a dirty, bad girl!) rather than being an intelligent, sharply written comedy about life in the sex trade. Which is a bit of a shame, since it does succeed at times with some quite funny sitcom moments (including Belle being quite graphically introduced to the joys of being a dominatrix prostitute!) and sharp pieces of comic writing, and this does help it along a lot. Whether it's all just a load of make believe is debatable but the writer of the original source material was definitely a bit fantastical with her claims. I doubt very much that any escort really has an apartment as swanky as Belle's, or lives a life as glamorous and exciting as she makes it out to be. Some abused ex hookers were up in arms about claims the show glamorized prostitution and I can sort of see where they were coming from. I've never known an ex hooker with a traumatic past/experiences but...In the lead role, Piper carries the part with the right amount of class and style, a little bland at times but the role's all hers now. There's some pretty good support too, from Iddo Goldberg as her ex lover/best mate and Cheri Lunghi as her hard faced cow boss, who at 55 still looks incredibly attractive herself as an older woman (could maybe still pull a few punters herself...)

More anticipated as a piece of free porn from ITV 2 (well, about time subscribers got some value for money!) and quite divorced from reality indeed, but not as bad as some might say. ***

SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL-SEASON 2

Belle's still getting by in the world of high class prostitution. However, one afternoon a c*ck up (ahem!) with a name in a hotel meeting leads her by chance to a meeting with a handsome doctor. Curious to know what a 'normal life' of dating and relationships would entail, she meets up with him again and becomes close to him. But complications with her work and other aspects of her personal life force her to question what she wants out of and where she's going with her life.

The show obviously garnered enough of an interest on it's limited subscription channel to warrant a second series, and here it is with the original lead star. What's surprising is it's lack of faithfulness to the original's style. Those tuning in for more perverse titillation will be sourly disappointed as the racy sex scenes are kept to a minimum this time round and the series focuses more on the human dramas Belle faces. It plays like a corny daytime soap opera and is all the less interesting for it. None of the cast deliver strong enough performances to stir anything up and before long you're preying Series 3 will never come around. **

ITV evidently imagined that they were breaking new ground with this sassy combination of prostitution and Billie Piper; in reality this series is a re-hash of everything from Sex And The City to Footballer's Wives.

If Secret Diary of a Call Girl can claim have instigated any 'controversy' whatsoever, it is only among ITV's sexually repressed prime-time demographic who will still baulk at the broadcasting of an underexposed nipple or a glib f-word (uttered in Piper's objectionable mockney accent). This is, put bluntly, television for those whose viewing habits extend little beyond Coronation Street or The X-Factor. Certainly, anybody familiar with a typical E4 sex drama – such 2005's Sugar Rush, which Call Girl's post-feminist trappings obviously ape – will fail to be impressed by high-class escort Belle de Jours's attempts to reconcile her alternate career choice with a 'normal' life. While a show like this year's Skins, another sex-fuelled romp, could comfortably exist in an absurd world of drugs and drama, Call Girl's affectedly serious moments sit unevenly with Belle's lightweight sexual exploits.

The much-touted sex scenes are staggeringly unerotic. One need only sample a few minutes of Andrew Davies' recent Fanny Hill on BBC4 to see how comedy and sensuality can be effectively combined. Davies, admittedly, has wiled away much of his career perfecting a method of injecting sexual activity into moribund period dramas, but Call Girl's sex – surely the selling point of such a series – is perfunctory to a point. It gives one the impression that neither Piper nor anyone on either side of the camera is at all comfortable, and would far prefer to be filming an episode of Heartbeat. ITV's decision to shoe-horn Call Girl into choppy thirty-minute episodes further demonstrates their counter-productive adherence to the soap format and its banal production values.

Unimaginative, complacent and irredeemably passé, Secret Diary of Call Girl will only be remembered for show-casing Piper's not particularly photogenic breasts. While some outspoken critics have recently sought to raise a moral panic by highlighting it as an example of sexual liberalisation in mainstream television, the average Channel 4-produced show remains more offensive and certainly more enjoyable.

I managed to watch the entire show, all three series, in the space of one weekend. Billie Piper was flawless, Iddo Goldberg was brilliant and Cherie Lunghi was perfect for the part of Stephanie.

I loved this show, definitely one of my favourite series' out there, and probably will be for a long time.

The series is down to earth, gritty and real. I guarantee you will fall in love with the character of Hannah instantly.

I love the way Billie Piper breaks the fourth wall and speaks to the audience throughout the drama. It really makes you feel like you're involved in it, like you're there, on the set with Billie Piper and Iddo Goldberg.

The only fault I have with the show is the acting of Ashley Madekwe. I don't feel that she was right for the part of Bambi and was generally not persuaded by her acting or character representation in the slightest.

...then it became a different show entirely and flopped.

The first two seasons were really fun and felt to be a (relatively, albeit romanticized) truthful glimpse into this woman's unusual choice for a career. She was charming, funny, likable, warm and I believed "she loved her job." The relationships worked and the "scenes" were well-executed. The production values (wardrobe, lighting, sound and music choices) were all so sparkly, tasteful and well-done. The acting is superb...but then along came season four. It was just awful. I found myself turning it off and going to something else because I'd just be rolling my eyes...and disengaging. The tone was utterly wrong. It tried too hard. Pushed too hard. Hannah/Belle was hard. The lighting was hard. The music choices were awful and overwhelmed the story. The storyline was limp, and the writing terrible. The sexual encounters became farce-like to the point of making fun of this woman and her work...the wardrobe was awful. The make-up was terrible. It sounded as though the leading lady had a cold throughout the entire season..? The dominatrix character was like something out of a cartoon...flat and one-dimensional with wardrobe that nobody doing that type of work would wear outside of the dungeon... The last season was such a disappointment.