“I'm very high class, which means I charge by the hour, and I charge a lot,” says Belle, the London resident and high-class escort played by Billie Piper on the British import Secret Diary of a Call Girl.  Sunday is a big night for Showtime, as it opens its big guns, namely The L Word, United States of Tara, and Secret Diary.  Fellow cable network HBO will likewise debut Big Love and Flight of the Conchords' season openers.  Piper played Rose on the long-running sci-fi hit Dr. Who from 2005 to 2006.

Piper, 26, returns as the high-class call girl who takes London by storm, with the maiden episode of its sophomore run tackling a lot of Sex and the City-like themes, including family, friends, and relationships couched in storylines that revolve around Belle's trysts.  Critics maintain that the series is fast-paced and glossy.  Just make sure the kids are asleep when it stars, which should be the case, as it airs 11:30pm on Showtime.

The season two opener uselessly titled Episode 1 will see a journalist trying to blackmail Belle when he spots her with a client who turns out to be a politician.  She also finds some trouble with Bambi, a girl who also aspires to become a high-class escort.  According to some critics, the sophomore season will shape up to be another fantastic season, as Piper will look even better and better.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl also stars Iddo Goldberg as Hannah's best friend and ex-boyfriend from her university days Ben, Cherie Lunghi as cynical Madame Stefanie, and Callum Blue as Belle's boyfriend Alex.

Previously, Showtime considered just buying format rights to Call Girl to recast the roles with American actors then later reconsidered just adapting the original because they thought it was already “fantastic.”


- Glenn Paul Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Showtime, IGN.com, AZStarnet.com
(Image courtesy of Showtime)