Secret Diary of a Call Girl: Season 2

Belle de Jour: The Diary of a London Call Girl began as an internet blog that exposed the seedier side of the Capital's prostitution clique that allowed readers to attain a prurient distance from the true face of the escort agencies that hold London's hotel nightlife in a seeming stranglehold.

The anonymous writer (who has still not revealed her - or even his - identity) has given rise to the presumption that it may all be an elaborate scam created to push two books and now two TV series on ITV2.

Billie Piper is Hannah, going by the nom-de-plume of Belle when she works as a high-class London-based call girl, who often speaks directly to camera to give us a warts and all look at the life of a prostitute. It's undoubted that this is a truly sanitised version of what must be at times a harrowing lifestyle, yet life seems a ball to Belle as she develops her contacts and tries to juggle her work with her life.

In this second season, best friend Ben is side-lined to make way for prospective boyfriend Alex (Callum Blue), which pretty much robs the show of the cheeky charm of the first series. With Piper pregnant at the start of the series, all sex scenes are now chastely substituted with an unrealistic body double and these scenes are now toe-curlingly un-erotic.

The introduction of a mentor like subplot with new girl Bambi is equally misguided and the brief running time of the episodes create a stultifying boring predictability of client/life/client banality. Yet a third series has already been commissioned so we have yet to see the last of Belle’s exploits which will probably be reduced to a PG certificate judging by the decline of the show’s content.



Extras: Webisodes.

Released on DVD on 2nd March 2009 by Warner Home Entertainment.

Written by Simon Cole.