Secret Diary Again...Billie is about to really take America

[rabid1st]

"What's with the golf? Golf? Gooolf!"

"Will you stop saying golf?"

"Only if you stop playing it."


I know Billie said she wasn't going to move to America. And maybe she's not...but just in case she's tempted...I think the UK needs to give her more work immediately. Give her nice juicy, meaty roles...dripping with heartache sauce...she should play a woman wrongly accused of murder or something equally challenging.

Because I know that in the UK her second season isn't getting the numbers. But I'm also pretty sure the American audience is going to absolutely fall in love with SD Season 2. I saw episode 5...and Billie rocks the house. So does Callum Blue...and Iddo...I mean...WHOA! High level soap opera meltdown and explosion and fallout. All to a nice folksy soundtrack, too. I generally deeply resent having my moods explained to me by a stupid emo song...but the performances here are so understated and amazing...that I didn't even care about the swell of wailing vocals and acostic guitar.

Rae
repeating my advice of a few days ago...if you aren't watching...start!

Comments

[webeh.livejournal.com]

Doesn't Billie have a few projects coming up? I know the other Sally Lockhart book and the Tin Princess still have yet to be filmed.

[kitsune17.livejournal.com]

Silly Rae.

If it does get picked up in the US, they'll hire American actors and redo it. See Life on Mars and Blackpool Viva Laughlin. Oh, and The Office. And Coupling.

I think my point is made.

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

It already plays on Showtime. o_O

http://www.sho.com/site/secretdiary/home.do?content=vip&campaign=m_sdcg1_home_june08_vip

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

Episode 5 made me sad. :( And I felt really bad for the cripple, because it was sweet until... yeah.

<3<3<3 Ben for the things he said, though. (I'm sorry; I'm starved for a woman to discuss this show with.)

[kitsune17.livejournal.com]

:O

Wow. I'm shocked. Well done, HBO. I really think that if they give it the right press, Secret Diary can be biggish in the US.

What Shen said...:grin:

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

It has had massive press. Showtime, not HBO! And it is a big hit currently for S1. I'm saying it will be even bigger in S2. And that Billie might find herself breaking America even if she doesn't mean to do it.

To your credit...they were planning to recast it and redo it American style...but the writer's strike intervened...and Showtime decided to go with a direct buy of the show staring Billie. She's up on billboards in Time Square over here...and featured in a lot of our magazines, too.

Rae

Billie said she's got nothing else planned

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Though, I do know that ITV2 had signed her for a third season of Call Girl...and they probably will go ahead with that as it is doing so well in America and likely to continue to improve off of S2. I haven't heard about Tin Princess...which is odd. The Sally Lockhart book was up in the air at this moment. Just if they are doing it or not, I think. I believe they would stick with Billie on that, if they went ahead.

Billie is just thinking baby, right now. But I imagine she will be back to work again in a few months. She is a real actor...and so not likely to just cash in and be a full time homemaker.

Rae

Re: What Shen said...:grin:

[kitsune17.livejournal.com]

Huh. I really need to read more magazines, apparently. I live in the US and had no idea that it was being shown here. And the gaffe on the HBO/Showtime thing. What's sad is that I totally clicked the link and checked out the site. I think I'm hung up on HBO because of True Blood.

I've only seen Billie in Who, Secret Diary, and period dramas, so I've kinda got her stuck in that Londoner/Victorian Girl role, but I'd like to see her perhaps do a guest spot a la Eccleston in Heroes.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I am starving for someone to talk about it with, too. I can't believe I just waited so long to start watching the new season. I was completely on the fence about it from last season. And Bilie made is sound so trying on her, I fully expected to see her waddling around sweating and huge. And well...yeah...she's more beautiful than ever. <<--notes your icon and nods! :grin:

And man, yes...Ben made me sad. Alex made me angry. And Billie...the way she sort of trembles in the face of any real emotion. People who moralize on about the show...don't learn that Billie is portraying the real consequences of this kind of lifestyle beyond the drugs and abuse that are so much easier to understand. This is about the fear of intimacy at a very core level.

Callum Blue was amazing during his meltdown. I couldn't hate him. I wanted to. I wanted to say..."Listen buddy, who are you to moralize?" But he has his points...and you can understand how betrayed he felt...how much of a fool. And Ben just taking the battering from all sides. Yes, it is a shame this is real life instead of fiction because I do :heart: Ben.

Rae

Re: Billie said she's got nothing else planned

[webeh.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard anything about Tin Princess either, but I'd like it to be made as well. (It's a sequel to the Sally Lockhart series, except it's about the youngest male character a few years down the line. In case you didn't know. :)) It'd seem like a good way to finish off all of these BBC TV movies. Might as well do everything from that fictional world.

Random, but I think it would be just about perfect if Tennant was hired to play the male character in the next Sally Lockhart project. I think his current age is about right for the character. Also, it would allow the BBC to do tons of promoting for this.

I definitely feel David and Billie

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Are planning something...because Bill said David still had a chance to slip her the tongue. Of course, she might mean in the daily course of events around the house...he could give her what for...but my feeling was she meant they would work together again.

My hope, of course, is on Doctor Who...with Rose and the Proper Ten.

Rae

[kammgirl.livejournal.com]

Are the numbers really bad? I thought ratings in the UK work much differently then in the US.

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

8 22-minute episodes a season is tragically short, don't you think?

You're right about Alex. You sit there going, "NOO, sexy Callum Blue, don't bring her stuff to her! Give it a few days!" but at the same time being impressed with how well he pulls it off. Hands on the side of his head like he's going to spend the next few minutes beating his forehead on a wall.

And I'm continually impressed with Billie. Only she can make me want to hug a rich escort because I feel bad for her. Coming back, again, to the idea that the show's not about the obvious or overdone issues with prostitution.

Of course, people who don't realize that it's not supposed to be drugs/violence think it's boring plot with soft core porn. -_- Or they think it glorifies prostitution. ::shakes head::

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Yes, the numbers are rather bad. She has been losing viewers at a marked rate. The last episode was at 800,000. Which is a .8 rating. She started with 1.7. And Doctor Who was in trouble when it fell to 5.4. It is much different there than here...because here you need to get 20 points to be a hit. In the UK I think it really depends on the channel and 10 points is extraordinary.

Some people say the ratings fall is because the nudity is body doubles, implying that people only tuned in for the vicarious thrill. Certainly, if all the punters are there for is to see Billie naked, I could see that, but the show was a mess for most of last year. I neglected watching it because I figured it was still going to be bad. It has improved so much this series. It has humor and emotional honesty and soap opera drama. I think it just had a rocky start...and 8 episodes give you very little development time, as Shen says below.

Rae

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

One thing it DEFINITELY doesn't do is glorify prostitution. I think the people who get all hot about that issue just aren't watching it on moral grounds or whatever. It does show exactly why a woman might go into that line of work. Hannah has serious emotional issues. They just aren't from being abused or from hating herself...which is a harder thing for people to grasp, I think. But if we were honest, we would see that there are a lot of people like Hannah in the world. She just doesn't connect to other people at a deeper level. She supplements this into a profession...much like a counselor might. But then, we see, as we get to know her, that she's not really making a choice. This is what I like about the show.

Hannah is so certain of her motives...still...but Billie obviously is giving her undercurrents that make the whole story so much more interesting. I, too, am constantly impressed with Bill...she really understands how to open up the inner turmoil of a character without making her any less of a bitch. I mean, Hannah is not a really nice person...and yet, yes...you want to hug her. You want to sit down and say...this isn't really as much fun as you think it is. But then, that may be true of any job that pays that well. :grin:

Rae