Episode: “Episode 1” – Series Premiere (Season 1)
Premiere Date: Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Rating: 2.5 out of 4 Stars
Quick Synopsis: “The first thing you should know about me is that I’m a whore.”
Long Synopsis: Belle takes you through the basics of being a high class London call girl. Nobody in her personal life knows what she does for a living, even though she enjoys it quite a lot. They all think she is a nighttime legal secretary. She explains the rules of keeping her personal, Hannah, and professional, Belle, lives separate.
Review: Secret Diary of a Call girl is based on the book The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl
This first episode does a very good job of introducing you to Belle De Jour the call girl, played by Billie Piper (Doctor Who), but not so much her fake legal secretary side Hannah. You get a small seen that introduces her best friend Ben, played by Iddo Goldberg (Run Fatboy Run), who doesn’t know what she does for a living, but that is it really.
The part of the story with the most potential is showing how she balances the two personas and keeps them separate. So far, only one of the clients was all that interesting and that was because he actually wanted someone more like Hannah than Belle.
Even after episode two, when her family is introduced, it is still a small part of the episode. The two episodes together make for a better overall introduction to the dichotomy in which she lives. But, I hope they give more time to the none prostitute side of the story in future episodes, as I have only watched the first two of the eight episodes so far.
One of the most interesting facets of the show is how it comes of as graphic, but actually has very little nudity. That is an interesting dichotomy in and of itself, especially given the show’s main topic.
Secret Diary of a Call Girl premieres tonight, Monday, June 16th on Showtime after the fourth season premiere of Weeds.
