Review of 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' - Series 3

Another piece of coursework, this time written in the style of The Times 2. I didn't pitch this one.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl – ITV2 (one star out of five)

Last night’s finale of series 3 for Secret Diary of a Call Girl brought an end to what has been a dismal run for everyone’s favourite escort.

The episode revolved around the wedding of fellow working girl Bambi (Ashley Madekwe) and Belle’s (Billie Piper) discovery that her perfect publisher-boyfriend, Duncan (James D’Arcy) has been seeing other women.

Yet any attempt to expose Belle’s vulnerability fell short as her heartbreak was fleeting and she was soon jetting off to see her next client.

In fact, as series 3 has progressed both the plot and characters have remained static and it has been a tedious repetition of the same motions.

Belle is still as narcissistic as ever and oblivious to anything beyond the next appointment. While Ben (Iddo Goldberg), Belle’s ex-boyfriend and best friend, has become all the more frustrated and lovelorn as his unrequited feelings linger on.

He spends most of the series apologising for drunkenly insulting her new beau. Then there is doe-eyed Bambi whose naivety is matched by her equally clueless and eccentric aristocratic fiancé Byron (David Dawson).

The only new element on the latest outing with Belle is the relationship with her publisher but even this seems stale given her previous attempts to find love which have proved to be disastrous.

At the end of the last series Belle’s book was published anonymously and for the follow-up novel Duncan pushes her to seek out clients with all manner of kinks. But apart from some Sploshing (sex involving food), role play and a bit of cross-dressing thrown in for good measure only the most superficial of glances is given to sexual fetishes.

Unlike its predecessors, series 3 fails to delve further into the little-known world of high-class prostitution instead much of the charm and intrigue have been replaced with soap opera storylines.