Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #666 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-01-07
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 177 minutes

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

DVD Description
Secret Diary of a Call Girl, starring Billie Piper (Doctor Who), is the sexually explicit story of a beautiful woman who leads the ultimate double life. To her parents Hannah is a legal secretary, which often involves late night work. To her clients, Belle is whatever they want her to be. However, her moto of never getting emotionally involved with her clients is soon put to the test. Follow Hannah/Belle's adventures and mishaps in this eight-part mini series.

Synopsis
ITV2's sexually-charged drama, SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL, follows the double life of a beautiful young prostitute working the streets of London. By day, Hannah (Billie Piper, DR WHO) is a respectable legal secretary who works long hours to make ends meet. By night she's Belle, a ruthless, money-hungry hooker who will do anything to satisfy her clients' basest fantasies. A professional in every sense of the word, Belle slips with seeming ease from the role of girl-next-door to high-heeled dominatrix, taking care never to become emotionally involved with her clients. But the constant pressures of keeping her two lives separate begins to take its toll, and in an unguarded moment with a handsome stranger, Belle lets slip her true identity. From then on, he only wants to be with Hannah...
Based on the internet blogs of London call girl Belle de Jour, this provocative eight-part TV series presents a very human angle on the sex trade.

Customer Reviews

There's definately something missing here!
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.

Buyer Beware: this DVD isn't the same as the TV version!
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
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.