Radio Times

Before I mount my moral high horse about how this show glamorises prostitution, a niggle: why all the sunshine? Belle's charmed life as a call girl isn't so much glossy as luminous. Every single scene is pierced with sunlight. The obvious implication is that we're far from the grim, drug-fuelled world of streetwalkers. But, as she strolls from room to room bathed in rays, it goes further: is Belle a divine being?

She's certainly blessed. Most of her clients are winsome, wonderfully handsome chaps. True, in a rare moment of danger, one man ties her up against her will. But, lo and behold, Belle's protégé Bambi bounds to the rescue with a gun. (Bambi's client had been showing off his weapon in the next room. Handy, that.) If being a lady of the night is dangerous, it's only in a comic, slapstick way.

Never has the sex trade appeared more sophisticated. Belle lives in a plush flat, wears fabulous outfits and is never far from a glass of champagne. Though, naturally, she's not in it for the riches. Young Bambi commits the faux pas of wanting money, and money alone. Belle would never be so tacky. She lies down because she's a liberated, uber-modern gal, or so we're supposed to believe.

Deep down Belle - aka Hannah Baxter - is a conventional, Home Counties girl. She might have strayed from the straight and narrow, but she wins our hearts in other ways, putting family first and protecting her inexperienced colleagues. It's no surprise that when she meets Mr Right in series two, he's a dashing, worthy doctor - and this is where the show gets really twisted. Not only does it provide a rose-tinted, perennially sunny vision of prostitution as a nice job for nice girls; it's also after the fairy-tale ending.

The creation of a sassy, independent heroine who challenges preconceptions about women is to be applauded (if you can ignore what she does). Yet, in series two, they transform her into the vapid creature common to most female-led dramas. Belle longs simply to settle down in domestic bliss with the man of her dreams. Secret Diary of a Call Girl is no more cutting-edge than Cinderella - who, come to think of it, might want to consider more profitable ways of spending her time.

What a waste of Billie Piper's talents. Since warbling her way onto Top of the Pops at the tender age of 15, Ms Piper has come far. Many - myself included - baulked when she landed the coveted role of the Doctor's companion in Doctor Who. Billie proved us wrong, and wrong again when she turned in a marvellous performance as Fanny Price in the TV dramatisation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. It's such a shame, then, that she's trapped in an ITV executive's wet dream. Come on, Billie, you can do better.

i don't think you've sat down and watched the series properly given your comments Clairewebb. Actually, there was an episode where Belle's client got rather nasty and it wasnt slapstick at all. they dealt with the situation seriously. and as for her fairytale ending with her man - they broke up because of her job! what are you talking about?!

Ditto Clairewebb. I totally agree.

As an escort myself I cannot bear to watch it. It's over glamorized and totally unrealistic. I guess it's like a doctor watching casualty and picking faults, I know it's supposed to be lighthearted entertainment, and if I wasn't an escort I may find it watchable. I'm all for showing a positive side to escorting, but this has just taken it to an unrealistic extreme. She paces around the room and doesn't sleep on an overnight date... I don't think so. She nips to the bar to pull another punter in while her client is sleeping!? Come on...

One positive thing is that it has bought escorting to the for-front and is maybe helping educate people to a certain extent - that it's not as seedy as people imagine and it's now becoming more socially acceptable in prudish ole' England! :)

In response to the comment made by Nursy on 12th November, I would like to clarify that I wasn't saying that prostitution is all fun and glamour and whilst I am fully aware that women and men often turn to prostitution to subsidise their habits, there are some who lead a drug free existence. The UK media paints a very vivid picture of what prostitution is really like and Secret Diary of a Call Girl offers a different angle to the bleak and depressing reality.

I felt I had to respond to 'Kelly''s comments about prostitution and the stereotypical "emaciated heroin addicts". Apart from Nevada, America, where brothels and prostitution are legal, I fail to grasp how Kelly can consider prostitution to be anything other than a money-ready source at the lowest of society's echelons. We're not talking about Escort Services or the like where women (and men) have some degree of security, freedom, and choice; we're talking about prostitution. I work in a large national institution where I frequently encounter women with drug abuse problems. these women are very forthcoming and also tell you about their lives as 'working girls/street girls'. Prostitution is not a choice, it's a necessity to gain money for drugs, again not a choice: an addiction, for women socially excluded and with venous body ulcers the size of jam jar lids and skin like tissue paper from months/years of self-injecting and neglect. so, if the "stereotypical" view of prostitution irks Kelly so much, perhaps she might like to open her eyes and let the cliche smack her hard in the face and welcome her into the real world!

A truly dreadful programme. Terrible scripts and an embarrassed performance from Billie Piper.

Ive never watched it because I think Billie Piper cant act and I can never understand her accent....

I think it's a great show, brilliantly acted. Why should it have to conform to the grimy side of prostitution that the Whitehouse brigade insist is the only one? If they don't like it, there's other channels . . .

I agree that this is a waste of Billie Piper's acting talent, who was simply amzing in Dr Who. The show does an awful job of proclaming the harsh realities of prostitution, but in all fairness Im sure more people would watch this rather than a woman using prostitution to fuel her drug addiction!

Pure entertainment... I love this show! Ok, it's not the most realistic but it's fun and gripping. Maybe you'd prefer watching something with Germaine Greer !?!

i absolutely love this show... i think she's a great actress and it's gripping viewing....

I think that Secret Diary of A Call Girl is an entertaining and interesting show. I am particularly glad to see that the characters aren't portrayed as emaciated heroin addicts who only sell their bodies for money. Surely this is a stereotype. Instead, Belle is an independent and feisty young woman who has made a deliberate life choice as opposed to being forced into it by criminals or doing it to feed an expensive drug habit. It's refreshing to see that for once prostitution is not a dirty word and that Belle is just a normal girl trying to make a living. So what if it does glamorise the industry a little bit. The relationships between the characters are natural and believable and it's easy to empathise with them. The show is also full of drama, conflict and comedy; what's not to like?

I agree, Bille Piper almost redeems the show with her sassy, appealing portrayal of Belle: in many ways a likeable, strong female character - if you ignore the less glamorous issues such as STDs that any prostitute would come across: glamorous and sexually-fulfilled or not. As Twisco suggests, not to address this issue in any way is unbelievable at best, irresponsible at worst.

I agree, this programme completely glamourises prostitution and gives credibility to a dangerous and exploitative industry. As for escapism...who wants to escpae to an all-mod-cons brothel? Rather you than me. It's shame that women are still over- and overtly-sexualised by a male dominated industry...and I'm not just talking about prostitution!

Alas Billie Piper 's charms continue to fuel the fantasties of the male population. The drama is titilating for both sexes but does nothing to help solve the problems associated with the bleak underworld of the 'real' working girls.

this show is great! however all it does is tease you. i think billie acts the part well but before it really gets going it ends. Im sure there are many women who enjoy the job and the pay, just as im sure there are many that do it becasue the have to. The women who wrote the article should stop getting her knickers in a twist!

You fail to appreciate that the lifestyle depicted - that of a 'high class' prostitute - is itself a truth. Ok, so some (most?) 'streetwalkers' are drug-addled desperates, but there are some who do live like Piper's character (perhaps in a less-favourable climate, as you point out). Just because it's the rosy side doesn't mean it's not worth using as inspiration. We don't always have to choose the sad story to tell.

I would suggest you have fallen into the common trap of being over-sensitive of how women are portrayed, perhaps you could even be accused of not giving women enough credit to appreciate something for what it is and not a social comment on the state of prostitution in this country.

A TV executives wet dream? Perhaps, and certainly one of many other men, and women, in this country. Light entertainment? Absolutely. That's the point, nothing more, nothing less.

Whatever the moral difficulties in creating a light comic drama centred around prostitution - and there are many - it's both refreshing and relieving that we have in Belle an 'independent heroine' who enjoys sex. And not in a passive, Girls Aloud, take-me-now sort of way, but as a real woman.

But isn't it just doing what a fictional television programme should be doing? Giving people an escape from their every day lives. After a hard day's work most people don't want to know the reality of what's happening on their streets. They'd rather take the easy option and have the glamour not the grime. And why not? The producers are just doing their job.

It seems that such shows should not be viewed in such a serious context, if every show were to be dissected in such a manner then serious flaws could be found in the most popular of shows. Although I do agree that Billie Piper's talents could certainly be of use in a better suited drama, we should hail the way she acts as an 'independent heroine who challenges preconceptions'.

I love this show, and if you've read the book you will know why <3

Whilst this is show is a very obvious work of fiction and should be viewed as such, the makers could have paid some attention to the problems created by the world's oldest profession - or last hinted at them! This show is a terrible waste of Ms Piper's acting talents.