As a “Doctor Who” fanatic, “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” was initially an easy sell. After watching Billie Piper as Rose Tyler for two seasons, I’ve since been game to watch her in just about anything. Sitting down and actually seeing Piper unveil her dual lives of Belle the prostitute and Hannah the typical London girl was a different matter entirely. There was something incredibly dirty about seeing her lube up her private parts, masturbate with a vibrator in front of a client, and ride another while he wears a saddle. It’s just so not Rose Tyler.
It’s also difficult to tell based on the first episode whether or not Belle is even a likable person. What’s easy to glean is that she’s very good at her job and takes pride in doing it right. Probably the one thing that keeps her someone whom we can at all understand is the continued breaking of the fourth wall (i.e. speaking to the camera, and thus to the viewers). Normally, this is the kind of thing that would drive me nuts; here it feels like a necessity. It would be very difficult to follow this woman around from day to day, or care about her escapades if not for this narrative device.
Within the episode, two very different clients are showcased. One is an easy to please, but shy businessman type. All he needs is the slightest bit of coaxing from Belle in order for her to figure out his desires. In this case, he’s got some kind of barnyard fixation (not bestiality, but rather a “down on the farm” kind of thing). Things go so well after their first meeting that he comes back for more – and that’s when the saddle enters the admittedly humorous picture. Her other client is a different matter entirely. No matter what she does, he just can’t get it up, and he rather ashamedly leaves, at which point Belle addresses the audience and says, “First time that’s happened.” Later on during a meeting with her business manager, Stephanie (Cherie Lunghi), Belle asks if she’s heard from the client. Yes she has and he’s asked for a different type of girl – the next-door type. Belle asks for another chance with the guy, and this time she loses her fancy hair, the overdone makeup, and her high-priced clothing. And this time it works only too well. Once the work is over and she and the gent are resting comfortably she accidentally mentions her real name. He likes her even more, and thus ends their business dealings (although it would be interesting to see this guy come back at a later date).
That’s sort of the key to the show, and why Piper is an excellent choice for the part. She’s an actress who can play the slut and the schoolgirl equally convincingly, which is necessary for a series that will over time demand that she show us two very different sides of one woman. We get a glimpse of Hannah here as well, when she goes out for an afternoon of fun with her best friend, Ben (Iddo Goldberg), a guy who knows nothing of her other life. (So much for best friends, eh?) It’s interesting that this series would choose to make Hannah’s best friend a guy, and I cannot begin to speculate on the implications of that.
It’s also worth noting that Piper doesn’t have to show immense amounts of skin in order for this series to work. She radiates so much raw sex appeal that just seeing her prance around in a bra and panties is plenty revealing. Since this was created for British TV, don’t expect it to get as explicit as some of the other Showtime series like “Californication” or “The L Word” – at least not in the first season. But when it comes back for the second season (which has already been greenlit), I wouldn’t be surprised if some alternate, more explicit scenes are shot specifically for the Showtime airings.
