TotalTelly.co.uk

Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV

Secret Diary Of A Call Girl - Series 1 [2007]


RRP: £24.99
Our Price: £10.76 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Billie Piper managed to avoid the dangers of typecasting, when she leapt to Secret Diary Of A Call Girl soon after departing full time work on Doctor Who. And while the series itself may lack a little polish and charm, there’s little doubting the ferocity of Piper in the central role.

Secret Diary Of A Call Girl is, of course, based on the huge best-selling book of the same name, and it follows a woman with a dual life. Her profession? A London prostitute. To anyone who asks? She’s a secretary. And while much of Secret Diary Of A Call Girl is given over to Piper’s explicit professional duties, there’s also the core of a drama as she struggles to deal with the conflicting sides of her life.

Yet this is never, ahem, fleshed out particularly well, with the programme makers too often distracted themselves by the titillation over the substance. And the problem is that once the sexually-charged scenes are over, there’s not always enough in the tank for an episode to justify its running time.

Piper, to her credit, puts in sterling work here, and the Secret Diary Of A Call Girl will do her continually rising star no harm at all. It’s also an easy, unambitious drama that does manage to entertain. As a result, this complete set of all the episodes from the first series still has merit, and is still worth checking out, it’s just there was an opportunity here to do something a little bit more. --Jon Foster


There's definately something missing here!
Review date: 2008-07-18 Rating: 2 out of 10

I rented the first half of this series from Love film, and having watched it I'm definately not renting the second half. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what left me cold. Billy Piper is a very good actress, and she does her best with what the script gives her. However, the character she played was so shallow that it is impossible to care about what happens to her, and watching her have sex that selection of creepy men was just a bit gross.

I have read and enjoyed the book this is based on, and I think that it probably just hasn't translated well to the screen. There was a thread of storyline, about Belle and her boyfriend, that ran through the book, but this has been cut out, leaving nothing to create the suspense needed to keep the viewer interested.

It might have made a decent film if properly handled, but in this series it comes across as cheap and disjointed.

Similar Products

Reviews


Buyer Beware: this DVD isn't the same as the TV version!
Review date: 2008-07-16 Rating: 2 out of 10

Despite the high pricetag, reviews of this title elsewhere indicate that this DVD has fallen victim to the "music-replaced" syndrome that has beset many other shows.

If you want to see ("hear") the show as it was originally broadcast, then unfortunately, these DVDs will not give you that experience.

Witty and Warm
Review date: 2008-06-25 Rating: 8 out of 10

Secret Diary of a call Girl was a television show i avoided at the beginning, when i seen the picture of Billie Piper all tarted up in the tv guide i rolled my eyes and thought "God, another waste of a tv show where all the producers want to do is put unadulterated sex on our screens". I got bored one night and flicked on the tv, and this was on. i have to say, i was proved completely and utterly wrong! yes, there is a huge sexual edge to the programme, but the subject matter does indicate this, after all its about a prostitute, not tea at the vicarage. Billie Piper really impressed me as Belle/Hannah (Hannah is her characters real name, and Belle is her escort name) i've never watched her before, all i remebered about her was a slew of cheesy pop songs somewhere in the 90's that were probably best left forgotten and of course her recent role in Dr. Who, another show i never bothered with. well i can now see why she is such a popular british celebrity, she has got talent, and i really felt her slip into her role. When i was doing my A Levels at school i took a 2 year drama course, and im pretty sure that no matter who it was with i could NOT do the sex scenes she had to do in this, i just wouldnt have the guts.
She's also very believable as Hannah, the show is in part about Hannah's struggle to balance her both lives, and as a viewer i certainly got the feeling that this woman on screen is a mixture of Hannah and Belle, and she is forced to seperate and hide these aspects of her persona. its kinda sad when you think about it, certainly makes a statement about society. the acting is good, the episodes are fun, and overall its a very enjoyable experience, some good music playing in the background as well. if you ejoyed shows like Sugar Rush which have a loving undertone but do not shy away from the racy side of life, then Secret Diary of a Call Girl is for you. my only criticism of this dvd is that there are no extras! i would really love to have watched a featurette with the actors being interviewed, i think it would be quite interesting to hear the actors/actresses views on the issues raised in the episodes, as well as what it was like to make the series. Cherie Lunghi and Iddo Goldberg co star with Piper as her Madam and her best mate, they also bring a strong presence to the screen. i havent read the book that this series was based on "Intimate diaries of a London Call Girl" by Belle De Jour, but i think i will take myself to the book store and get a copy, series two is presently being filmed (now being summer 2008) and i cannot wait to see what else Belle has in store for us!
so give it a go, between warmhearted drama and good acting theres something here for most.

Fantasy, and nothing more
Review date: 2008-02-07 Rating: 6 out of 10

Phew, a lot of people seem to have got their knickers in a twist over this one... and in so doing, they're playing right into ITV's eager hands. (Innuendo entirely intentional.) How dare they! Suggesting that prostitution is a glamourous, enjoyable and entirely safe profession! How can they promote such a vile notion? How dare Billie Piper, with her adoring youthful audience, take on so irresponsible a role? How dare they suggest that this is how things are in the real world?

Answer: 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' is NOT representative of the real world, in any way, shape or form. It's about as indicative of the realities of the sex trade as the 'Bad Boys' movies are of police work. And we, as grown human beings - and yes, grown ups are the target audience here (over 18's at least) - should have the common sense to be able to recognise this. Alright, so it's based on what are supposedly the real-life memoirs of a professional high-class call girl; I haven't read the blog/book, though from what I understand it their veracity has been brought into question. To put it bluntly, that's neither here nor there. This isn't a documentary. This is a bit of saucy, late night escapism, the kind of which we don't often see from a major British television broadcaster. And, as such, I'm happy to admit that I rather enjoyed it.

It's clear from the get-go that 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' is designed as lightweight, easy entertainment. For starters, the episodes are only about 25 minutes long. Obviously that doesn't allow a lot of time for intricate plot and character work. What it does allow is for the show to get straight to the meat of the matter, figuratively and literally. It's a show about sex, and it doesn't shy away from that. Within the opening minutes of the first episode, we have our nymphette protagonist stripped down to her Victoria's Secrets, speaking with her mouth full - and that's just the beginning! Let's not be coy about this, for, after all, the show's marketing certainly wasn't: the main draw here is the promise of the hitherto sweet and innocent leading lady getting nude and naughty, Billie following gamely (again, pun intended) in the footsteps of innumerable former child stars such as Drew Barrymore and Alyssa Milano, taking a sexually explicit role in order to show us she's all grown up now. And that shouldn't be taken as a negative, for she certainly does a good job, handling the very provocative dialogue and content with confidence. And as for the nudity... one of the smartest moves on the part of the programme makers is the way the show teases the viewer with Billie's body, practically making a burlesque routine out of it: starting out with only a few tantalising glimpses of nakedness, keeping the audience tuning back in hungry for more as just that little bit more of the young star's anatomy is exposed episode by episode, until finally all is revealed mid-series, in a two-girl one-guy threesome scene...

Now some of you are calling me a perv. Fine. I'm not even going to deny it. Once again, that's what this show is really all about: unabashed titilation. To expect a hard-hitting insight into the realities of prostitution is to completely miss the point. 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' isn't aiming to be Ken Loach; it's aiming to be for the new generation what 'Emmanuelle,' 'Nine and a Half Weeks' and 'Red Shoe Diaries' were for generations past. And I think it's pretty successful in that. So sue me.

Why doesnt everyone become a hooker, it looks like fun
Review date: 2008-01-30 Rating: 2 out of 10

Prostitution as a life style choice? This is all pretty absurd a viewpoint, and this is where it falls before it begins unfortunately.

For an ITV2 drama, maybe I was expecting too much, but this is way below what I imagined a drama could ever be.

With such a potentially dangerous and seedy profession you would expect that this poor drama would contain some morality tale behind it, some suspense and dilemmias for the character of bell du jour to overcome but this is severely lacking. The only issues she faces are that she gets bored whilst waiting for a client to stop working when he paid for the weekend or when a guy is not attracted to her.

This is hardly approching the subject with the care and disection it needed and what is unsettling is to think what is the message of this drama to the audience?

Is it that prostitutes love their jobs so it is great to use them and everyone should because its all a big carry on film. Thats what it feels like it is saying, which is very alarming.

Although, Billie Piper is a very likable actress which in many ways is bad because it will give this terrible show a much bigger audience than it deserves.

If you want soft porn, buy soft porn, but stay away from this and let it die because the idea of major television channels promoting Being a prostitute is very unnerving to me

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Billie Piper
Iddo Goldberg

Creators:
Billie Piper (Primary Contributor)
Iddo Goldberg (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321903831861
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2008-01-07
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 177 minutes
Language: English (Unknown)

Add to Cart

© 2006 Darren Hester, DesignsByDarren.com, Some Rights Reserved.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional