It all started with a blog by someone, a
girl, named Belle. In her online diary, Bell de Jour openly spoke about her
experiences as a high-priced London
call girl. Her work and her personal life are seen as two separate roads. The
blog developed into a book, which was the source of inspiration for “Secret
Diary of a Call Girl,” an eight-part series that ran on the BBC in the fall.
The interesting part of Billie Piper’s job,
who stars as Belle in the TV show, is that she met the real Belle portrayed in
the book and in the show. She plays her role well and she manages to give the
viewers a realistic image of Belle’s double life.
“Secret Diary of a Call Girl” is an unusual
show, as it excludes the stereotypes and it doesn’t try to sell sex scenes. Inspired
by the book “Belle de Jour: The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girls” combined
with interviews with escorts Belle de Jour is also a drama about a prostitute
living and working in London.
Belle’s meetings with men became pretexts for
showing different types of clients, whom she sees as companions as well as sex
partners. Strange things happen all the time: Horsey Des, on e of her clients,
needs to talk about horses to reach a climax, Drawing Ken’s wife gives him
money each month for his meetings with Belle. Some of them became her friends. But
Belle’s only real friend, one of her ex-boyfriends, doesn’t know all about her.
Belle is portrayed as an independent,
witty, arrogant young woman with a double life, who feels comfortable in the
company of men. Sometimes she goes to theatre with them, sometimes they chose dinner
and they have to pay £300 to spend an hour with her.
The show dramatizes the real life of a real
high-priced London
prostitute, with a subtle sense of humour and tries to offer an image of the
inner life behind Belle’s job.