Secret Diary of A Call Girl - Response

Response

Belle turns to the camera and says, "Sex is really a numbers game. Group sex is complicated, but that's mechanics. For me, the hardest numbers have always been one plus one. Can never seem to make them add up." If that voice sounds familiar, it's because you heard Carrie Bradshaw use it in every episode of Sex and the City. The show also uses London in somewhat the same way Sex and the City used New York – we see a lot of bright lights, fancy restaurants, and expensive apartments – though there is a sadder, more wistful quality to the photography here, as if Belle were living in a kind of London fog, which, of course, she is.

The New Yorker, noting the similarities between the two shows.

The series was mainly well received by critics, with Tim Goodman of The San Francisco Chronicle saying, "there's surprise at how much you've underestimated its quality." It was graded A− by Entertainment Weekly, which said, "you will find a rather fascinating drama." Entertainment Weekly also commented on Billie Piper's portrayal of Belle, saying, "Piper is extraordinary, intermittently talking right to the camera in a straightforward, conspiratorial manner, the way a prostitute who's really good at her job would talk to a client." It was less well received, however, by The New York Times, which said, "Secret Diary has amusing touches, but not enough to sustain an entire series."

Whilst reviewing Series 3 of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Gerard O'Donovan of The Telegraph opined that the show focuses too much on Piper's character, saying "All the characters, apart from Belle (Piper), are about as two-dimensional as cardboard cut-outs – and no more engaging."