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Billie Piper in 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl'
If you’re a passionate devotee of all things Doctor Who, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the actors and actresses who get to appear in the show, particularly as assistants or — be still my beating heart — Doctors, are pretty much set for life. That they’d be fighting off job offers with a cricket bat, forever.
Well, that’s not quite the case, as Billie Piper (you all know who she is, right?) has been explaining. Her role in the hit ITV series Secret Diary of a Call Girl has now come to an end, and as it’s unlikely that she’ll be reprising her days as Rose Tyler with Matt Smith, the quest is on to find something new to do.
She told the Hollywood Reporter: “I’m just trying to find a job. We’re back to the drawing board. It is what it is. It’s frustrating, it’s tiring. [Laughs] It’s desperate. You slightly lose your mind. You have no confidence and you have too much confidence. It’s an endless frustration, really. That’s the nature of the beast. You have to suck it up and get on with it.”
The problem is, as far as she’s concerned, it’s getting harder to find an it to get on with, in Blighty at least: “I think, for actors. There’s not a lot of work in the UK. I mean, that’s why everyone’s moving to America because that’s where the work seems to be. But it definitely feels like a lot more of a slog to get a gig these days. I suppose that’s a lot to do with our current climate and financial messes. I certainly see that people seem to have to work harder with a lot less time.”
The good news is that nowadays, there are quite a few decent roles for women out there, if you can get the part: “The subjects of things people are talking about, the stories are wanting to tell, that’s really changed…There is a pool of work that is really, really thought-provoking and really real.”
“It’s the same way with TV. Thanks to cable because that’s where our TV show sits. The TV shows get racier and racier and more thought-provoking. There are really good roles for women in them and they often have female leads and that’s really good for a girl.”
Who’d like to see Billie in a US TV drama, and which one? Tell us here.
3 Comments
I’d like to see her in anything, really. I had never heard of her, before she was Rose Tyler, but I fell in love with her immediately, in the first episode. I must admit I’ve never seen an episode of ‘Diary of a Call Girl’, but have heard she was brilliant in it. I’d rather see her in another well written British show though, something adventurous, something with a bit of humor.
Good luck Billie, hope to see you on a television screen soon!
I would love to see Billie find steady work that takes advantage of how raw her emotions can be, something that stretches her as an actress. She didn’t get too many chances to shine in Secret Diary, but she did make the most of those chances when they came. I want her to find something meaty and well written so she can really show off her maturity as an actress. I have given some thought to where I would cast her and I think I would go for something with a strong ensemble cast. She’d make a fine lawyer I think, or newspaper reporter. Something a little different from the sex-kitten roles. Though I don’t know, she would probably be great in something like Desperate Housewives.
I don’t think Billie will be out of work for long. Call Girl was a hit, she’s still carrying goodwill from Doctor Who, and her resume includes costume dramas as well as stuff like, well, Doctor Who. And if all else fails she was a top recording artist in the UK back in the 1990s, after all. She’ll do fine.