AOL Interviews Billie Piper On Showtime's "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" Season 3

[JamesG]

Seductive, sultry and living a double life: Belle is back and hotter than ever when Secret Diary of Call Girl returns tonight to Showtime at 10PM ET.

The series, now in its third season, is based on The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, the memoir of real-life escort Belle de Jour. It's won fans and critics alike with its no-holds-barred portrayal of Hannah Baxter (Billie Piper), a down-to-earth London woman who secretly works as an escort (under the pseudonym Belle) for high-end clients.


Last season, Secret Diary's heroine suffered heartbreak when she realized that she couldn't bring herself to give up her profession for a relationship. Ben (Iddo Goldberg), her ex-boyfriend and best friend, convinced her to write about her experiences and, voila! She became a best-selling -- and anonymous -- author.

As the titular escort, Piper had a few life changes of her own in season 3. The British actress -- who began her career as a teen pop star -- chatted with AOL TV about her experience executive producing Secret Diary for the first time, how new motherhood affected her approach to playing a prostitute and what "outrageous encounters" Belle may be be trying in the episodes ahead.



How would you describe where season 3 picks up, and where Belle is in her life?

She's now a published author, so she's having to manage that new part of her life. Having to [see] everybody else enjoying her work, and not really being able to enjoy it herself, because she has to live an anonymous existence. And then -- she's slightly reluctant to fall for anyone after her last experience, so that's hanging over her.


Her editor [Duncan, played by James D'Arcy] is a new figure in her life, and he is very excited by her, impressed by her, and all of these things are attractive to her. He is kind of forcing her to fuel her stories by having more and more outrageous encounters with men, and so we cover new ground this year, in terms of clients and fantasies and sexual desires.

She's feeling pretty self-assured, with the book's success, and she now has the second one down the line.





Is it possible that his pushing will backfire?

I think they definitely reach that level of encouragement, [but] when they're talking about sex, and the nature of what she's writing about, I think it's inevitable that that relationship becomes slightly icky.




That's too bad. I like him so far!

It's quite a twisted affair at the end-- it's strange. I don't think I've ever witnessed two people acting that way in a drama before. It's quite compelling, their little story.





In addition to Belle's main story line, I love the direction that Ben is taking with Belle's wacky sister Jackie [Joanna Bobin].

Is Jackie sticking around for a while?

She's not there for the whole season, but she kind of overstays her welcome. She's so much fun, it's hard to resist her.

And the fact that Ben, and ex of Belle's, and her best friend -- you can imagine it's just hideous. But it makes for some very funny moments. [Belle is] trying to hide the fact that she's a call girl, and her sister's reading her book.

It's very tense-making for everyone, really...





For you personally, between the kinds of things Duncan pushes her to try in bed and this new interpersonal dynamic, what kinds of challenges did you face shooting the season?

The whole thing was a challenge, because it was my first job back since I had a child. I was dealing with being away from my son for the first time, and the obviously, the nature of the show is quite tricky anyway, but that combined with newfound hormones, and nursing ...

But I managed to have a lot of fun as well, which I wasn't expecting. I felt I would just find it too heartbreaking to be away from my family, but in fact, I'm so much more involved with the show this year; I executive-produced it. I find it really inspiring and thrilling to be part of.

It was nice to get back to work, and I felt like I had the best of both worlds.





Did being a new mother have any impact on your view of Belle or your approach to the role this season?

Well, she's strangely mothering anyway, with her clients. She's sexual, but she's also intimate with them and tactile, in a way that's not predatory. I wonder if that side of her just came out more this year.

I had to just switch off when I went to work. I didn't have my son down on set. I think it's too much of a shift emotionally to have him in the back of your mind all day, and be playing that kind of role. I had to make an active choice to live two lives.





What was it like stepping into a producer's role this season?

I absolutely loved it, and I would love to do it more. I think it's so exciting to be around when people are looking to young, up-and-coming talent, and it's just a very exciting part of production. And then to feel it all come to fruition -- I just love it.

I love having that creative force around you, and introducing one creative force to the other, and hoping it works. Trying to find a team of people that are all insanely talented as individuals, and that collaborative experience ...

You get to meet so many brilliant people -- I mean, you get to meet some real s--ts as well. It's fascinating.





One of the themes that's raised early in season 3 is this idea that Belle and her editor discuss, about how she's unapologetic about her desires and enjoys her sex life -- which is unusual to see in entertainment.

What's your perspective on that?

I've met the real Belle de Jour, and she's incredibly unapologetic about what she does. It's really rare to find that in a woman, and I think she's ... a feminist in so many ways, and she's quite the man in other ways.

It is interesting to see a female part in drama -- it's so rare that you ever get to play someone with that kind of guts and free-thinking, and sexually liberated attitude.





Is there a price to be paid for that?

You're juggling some of the main components of a woman's life, from motherhood, to being a partner, to a professional. Can women have it all?

I think we can have it all, but it comes at a price. We can't just sail through life, conveniently balancing things... . Every element of your life can't be as good as the next. something will suffer.

It's impossible, I think, to manage it all -- and I think that if it is possible, at some point there will be some kind of downside.




Do you see Secret Diary going on beyond this season?

We're discussing at the moment. It's a tough time for shows, because [of the] money, and the formats are changing. So I'm not entirely sure... .

People are talking about it now, but the stories have to be as good. It has to come up with some new tales.

http://insidetv.aol.com/2010/01/25/s...n-season-3-mo/