Hannah Baxter
Encyclopedia
Hannah Baxter is the lead
semi-fictional character
and protagonist of the British
ITV2
television series Secret Diary of a Call Girl
. Hannah secretly has a double life as a high-class call girl
as her alter ego Belle, for which she acknowledges and comments
directly to the audience, throughout each episode. The character Hannah Baxter is based on the real life published memoirs of former London call girl Brooke Magnanti, who is better known by her pseudonym, Belle de Jour. She is portrayed by actress Billie Piper
.
graduate with a degree
in English Literature
, Hannah chooses a career as a call girl for the sake of the money, for which she reveals that she makes a yearly turnover of £105,000 (though, she claims, it takes £20,000 "to be Belle"). She further claims her career is ideal since she is "fundamentally lazy", in control, and also because she genuinely enjoys the pleasures of sex
(in a video blog she reveals with some degree of satisfaction that she lost her virginity
to her 40-year-old chemistry teacher ). Open minded and truly a professional when it comes to her role as a high end prostitute, Hannah has gone as far as considering a breast augmentation to better appeal to clients, and will likely attempt a variety of fetishes and bedroom scenarios
with them. Furthermore, Hannah wants to pride herself on her skills in the bedroom and her ability to size her male clients, such as predicting what kind of lifestyles they lead based on what their sexual interests are and the price, ratings, and styles of the hotels they pay for on "out calls".
It is demonstrated throughout the series that Hannah is very meticulous when it comes to organizing her private life with her work, for which she keeps the two completely separate, and will go great measures to keep her occupation concealed from family and friends, which often means she relies on lying, such as telling others that her occupation is a legal nighttime secretary
. Despite Hannah's discretion and lengthy attempts to keep both worlds apart, the issue of secretly juggling both identities
frequently reoccurs in the series, often resulting in negative inner turmoil for her and feelings of loneliness
. Often Hannah deals with how much balance is placed on either her personal life or work, for which she is, usually, focused on work – leaving her personal life sometimes neglected, such as when she misses the birth of her sister's child. She claims that romantic relationships are typically avoided, since her profession merely complicates them, which is demonstrated in the second series where she develops a relationship with a man that ends badly.
Hannah is typically capable of separating her true self while donning her alter ego while working; however, there have been moments in the series where she's found it difficult, such as when she lets her guard down and reveals to a client in the first episode her real name, has intruding thoughts of family and relationships at times with clients, or when she develops a friendly relationship with a male client only to feel personally betrayed when he chooses to hire a different call girl. Despite the disappointments and emotional frustration that sometimes comes with Hannah's work, she is truly happy with her work, as demonstrated at several points throughout the series when she attempts to get a "normal job".
As a call girl, Hannah believes her looks is important, explaining that "if I'm not in good shape, then neither is my career". On the show there are visual differences between her and her alter ego Belle, for which she maintains a girl next door
image in her real life, and an elaborate sultry one as Belle, which usually includes provocative clothing
and impeccable makeup application.
Actress Billie Piper herself commented on the difficulties of Hannah's wardrobe as Belle since Piper was pregnant during the filming of series two. Piper described Hannah's usual attire worn, explaining, "I wear tight clothes in this show, so it's obvious [her pregnancy]." The crew decided to shoot using ulterior angles, to disguise her baby bump, with Piper noting, "We were shooting around my torso, basically." For the nude scenes, body double
s were employed. In addition, Hannah's wardrobe changed frequently, including the use of accessories such as shawl
s being worn, or on occasion, an entirely loose-fitting outfit.
), and family, who are not aware of what she does for a living.
Eventually, after a couple of incidents where Hannah becomes troubled with work and suffers the burden of secrecy by having no one to talk to, she reveals to Ben what she does. Although Ben is disappointed and angered that she has been deceiving him, he accepts Hannah's choices, counsels her on matters of work, and even joins a foursome with her and a married couple who are her clients. It becomes apparent that Hannah and Ben – who used to be in a romantic relationship two years ago – still may have more than simply platonic affection for one another.
Towards the end of the season Hannah is offered a role as a courtesan
, which she is initially enthusiastic about, but eventually walks away from – despite the luxury – because of the lack of excitement. Instead of returning to her agent
Stephanie (Cherie Lunghi
), Hannah chooses to go independent, with the support from Ben.
For the second season Hannah deals with the challenge of mentoring young escort wannabe Bambi (Ashley Madekwe
), while entering against her better judgment a blossoming romance with a man called Alex (Callum Blue
), who is unaware what Hannah does for a living. Though Hannah is happy with Alex, and the pair care deeply for one another, their relationship surprisingly does not crumble after Alex discovers Hannah's secret life. However, when given the ultimatum between him and her work, Hannah eventually is caught returning to sex for money, despite earlier promises to him that she would abandon her life as Belle.
With the support of Ben and Bambi, Hannah writes and publishes a memoir
of her adventures and life as London call girl at the end of the series, where she – under disguise – remarks to an interviewer on television that she had once been in love, referring to Alex.
In the third season, Hannah prepares to publish her next novel, for which her first from the previous season was a success. Her publisher, Duncan, encourages her to choose more outlandish clients, with even more odd sexual fetishes, to make an even better story for her next book. Meanwhile, Hannah's sister Jackie decides to crash at Hannah's flat after a fall out with her husband, potentially interfering with Hannah's life as Belle.
As the third season progresses, she becomes involved with her publisher. She tries to deny these feelings and a longing for a relationship, but after he claims to accepts her life as Belle, despite her claim to have been with one thousand and thirty six men, she decides to give it a go (albeit slowly).
During Bambi's wedding, Bambi reveals that she has slept with Duncan who called himself Richard. Hannah confronts Duncan who says that as she sleeps with other men, he can sleep with other women and they never said they were exclusive. Hannah angrily replies that it's her job, it's different, and he said he accepted that. Hannah then breaks up with him. As a form of revenge, she writes the last chapter of her book about him, a man addicted to using escorts, and sends it to everyone at the publishing house.
She then accepts an offer from Stephanie to spend two weeks in Mauritius
with a client. As she is getting on the plane, Ben calls her and says he wants them to be a couple, as he fully accepts her for what she is and always has. He tells her to go off, see the world, have adventures, but come back to him.
When she returns from Mauritius, Hannah has purchased her own townhouse, remarking: "every London girl's dream - my own front door". However, her happiness is marred when Stephanie is imprisoned, resulting in her daughter Poppy having to stay with Hannah for an indefinite amount of time. Hannah also, has to take on Stephanie's role as madam of the business whilst she is away, and continues to be an escort, whilst being in a relationship with Ben. A client, Harry, takes a strong liking to Belle and his predatory, aggressive nature appeals to her. He tells her frequently that she should leave Ben for him as he can fully satisfy her. Ben eventually admits that Belle's career is damaging their relationship and he gives her an ultimatum. In the series finale she realises she cannot leave her job and that Ben deserves a more genuine relationship. Belle breaks up with Ben and walks off into the night, avoiding Harry as she goes and deciding to move on with her life.
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
semi-fictional character
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
and protagonist of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
ITV2
ITV2
ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms. The channel has the...
television series Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Secret Diary of a Call Girl is a British television drama broadcast on ITV2 from 2007-2011 based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous "Belle de Jour," starring Billie Piper as Belle, a high-class London call girl. The series was written by Lucy Prebble, who is also known as the author of The...
. Hannah secretly has a double life as a high-class call girl
Call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who is not visible to the general public; nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency...
as her alter ego Belle, for which she acknowledges and comments
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
directly to the audience, throughout each episode. The character Hannah Baxter is based on the real life published memoirs of former London call girl Brooke Magnanti, who is better known by her pseudonym, Belle de Jour. She is portrayed by actress Billie Piper
Billie Piper
Billie Paul Piper is an English singer and actress.She began her career in the late 1990s as a pop singer and then switched to acting. She started in acting and dancing and was talent spotted at the Sylvia Young stage school by Smash Hits magazine who wanted a "face" for their magazine...
.
Characterization
Hannah is portrayed as a very wise, confident, intelligent, and at times, an outspoken or cheeky character. Although a universityUniversity
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
graduate with a degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in English Literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
, Hannah chooses a career as a call girl for the sake of the money, for which she reveals that she makes a yearly turnover of £105,000 (though, she claims, it takes £20,000 "to be Belle"). She further claims her career is ideal since she is "fundamentally lazy", in control, and also because she genuinely enjoys the pleasures of sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
(in a video blog she reveals with some degree of satisfaction that she lost her virginity
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
to her 40-year-old chemistry teacher ). Open minded and truly a professional when it comes to her role as a high end prostitute, Hannah has gone as far as considering a breast augmentation to better appeal to clients, and will likely attempt a variety of fetishes and bedroom scenarios
Sexual fantasy
A sexual fantasy, also called an erotic fantasy, is a fantasy or pattern of thoughts with the effect of creating or enhancing sexual feelings; in short, it is "almost any mental imagery that is sexually arousing or erotic to [an] individual"...
with them. Furthermore, Hannah wants to pride herself on her skills in the bedroom and her ability to size her male clients, such as predicting what kind of lifestyles they lead based on what their sexual interests are and the price, ratings, and styles of the hotels they pay for on "out calls".
It is demonstrated throughout the series that Hannah is very meticulous when it comes to organizing her private life with her work, for which she keeps the two completely separate, and will go great measures to keep her occupation concealed from family and friends, which often means she relies on lying, such as telling others that her occupation is a legal nighttime secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
. Despite Hannah's discretion and lengthy attempts to keep both worlds apart, the issue of secretly juggling both identities
Double Life
Double Life is a 2-CD compilation album of songs by Värttinä. It includes the entire 6.12 live album, and songs from studio albums Seleniko, Aitara and Ilmatar...
frequently reoccurs in the series, often resulting in negative inner turmoil for her and feelings of loneliness
Loneliness
Loneliness is an unpleasant feeling in which a person feels a strong sense of emptiness and solitude resulting from inadequate levels of social relationships. However, it is a subjective experience...
. Often Hannah deals with how much balance is placed on either her personal life or work, for which she is, usually, focused on work – leaving her personal life sometimes neglected, such as when she misses the birth of her sister's child. She claims that romantic relationships are typically avoided, since her profession merely complicates them, which is demonstrated in the second series where she develops a relationship with a man that ends badly.
Hannah is typically capable of separating her true self while donning her alter ego while working; however, there have been moments in the series where she's found it difficult, such as when she lets her guard down and reveals to a client in the first episode her real name, has intruding thoughts of family and relationships at times with clients, or when she develops a friendly relationship with a male client only to feel personally betrayed when he chooses to hire a different call girl. Despite the disappointments and emotional frustration that sometimes comes with Hannah's work, she is truly happy with her work, as demonstrated at several points throughout the series when she attempts to get a "normal job".
As a call girl, Hannah believes her looks is important, explaining that "if I'm not in good shape, then neither is my career". On the show there are visual differences between her and her alter ego Belle, for which she maintains a girl next door
Girl next door
The cultural and sexual stereotype of the girl next door or the All-American girl is invoked in American contexts to indicate wholesome, unassuming femininity, as opposed to the culture's other female stereotypes such as the tomboy, the valley girl, the femme fatale, girly girl, or the slut. The...
image in her real life, and an elaborate sultry one as Belle, which usually includes provocative clothing
Fetish fashion
Fetish fashion is any style or appearance in the form of atype of clothing or accessory, created to be extreme or provocative. These styles are not usually worn by the majority of people on any regular basis. They are usually made of materials such as leather, latex or synthetic rubber or plastic,...
and impeccable makeup application.
Actress Billie Piper herself commented on the difficulties of Hannah's wardrobe as Belle since Piper was pregnant during the filming of series two. Piper described Hannah's usual attire worn, explaining, "I wear tight clothes in this show, so it's obvious [her pregnancy]." The crew decided to shoot using ulterior angles, to disguise her baby bump, with Piper noting, "We were shooting around my torso, basically." For the nude scenes, body double
Body double
A body double is a general term for someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character in any recorded visual medium, in shots where the character's body is shown but the face is either not visible or shown indistinctly, or in shots where the image of the credited actor's face is joined,...
s were employed. In addition, Hannah's wardrobe changed frequently, including the use of accessories such as shawl
Shawl
A shawl is a simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular or square piece of cloth, that is often folded to make a triangle but can also be triangular in shape...
s being worn, or on occasion, an entirely loose-fitting outfit.
Character history
The first season serves as an introduction to Hannah's double life as Belle, her variety of clients, rules, and methods of juggling her separate worlds while trying to please her clients, and her sometimes unsuccessful attempts to remain connected to her best friend, Ben (Iddo GoldbergIddo Goldberg
Iddo Goldberg is an English-Israeli actor.Goldberg was born in Haifa, Israel. He has had several notable roles, including playing Ben on the television show Secret Diary of a Call Girl. He also appeared in the 2008 war film Defiance, starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.-Actor:-External links:...
), and family, who are not aware of what she does for a living.
Eventually, after a couple of incidents where Hannah becomes troubled with work and suffers the burden of secrecy by having no one to talk to, she reveals to Ben what she does. Although Ben is disappointed and angered that she has been deceiving him, he accepts Hannah's choices, counsels her on matters of work, and even joins a foursome with her and a married couple who are her clients. It becomes apparent that Hannah and Ben – who used to be in a romantic relationship two years ago – still may have more than simply platonic affection for one another.
Towards the end of the season Hannah is offered a role as a courtesan
Courtesan
A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
, which she is initially enthusiastic about, but eventually walks away from – despite the luxury – because of the lack of excitement. Instead of returning to her agent
Talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, film directors, musicians, models, producers, professional athletes, writers and other people in various entertainment businesses. Having an agent is not required, but does help the artist in getting jobs...
Stephanie (Cherie Lunghi
Cherie Lunghi
Cherie M. Lunghi is an English film, television and theatre actress. She is probably best known for her role as Guinevere in the 1981 film Excalibur, as football manageress Gabriella Benson in the 1990s television series The Manageress and for starring in a series of adverts for Kenco coffee. She...
), Hannah chooses to go independent, with the support from Ben.
For the second season Hannah deals with the challenge of mentoring young escort wannabe Bambi (Ashley Madekwe
Ashley Madekwe
Ashley Madekwe is a mixed Nigerian-Swiss-British actress best known for portraying 'Bambi' on ITV's Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Marissa Delfina on the canceled The CW drama series The Beautiful Life. She has also been seen in programmes such as Drop Dead Gorgeous, Teachers and others...
), while entering against her better judgment a blossoming romance with a man called Alex (Callum Blue
Callum Blue
Daniel James Callum Blue , better known as Callum Blue, is an English film and television actor, best known for his roles on the Showtime series The Tudors and Dead Like Me as well as for his role as Zod in the American television series Smallville and British...
), who is unaware what Hannah does for a living. Though Hannah is happy with Alex, and the pair care deeply for one another, their relationship surprisingly does not crumble after Alex discovers Hannah's secret life. However, when given the ultimatum between him and her work, Hannah eventually is caught returning to sex for money, despite earlier promises to him that she would abandon her life as Belle.
With the support of Ben and Bambi, Hannah writes and publishes a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
of her adventures and life as London call girl at the end of the series, where she – under disguise – remarks to an interviewer on television that she had once been in love, referring to Alex.
In the third season, Hannah prepares to publish her next novel, for which her first from the previous season was a success. Her publisher, Duncan, encourages her to choose more outlandish clients, with even more odd sexual fetishes, to make an even better story for her next book. Meanwhile, Hannah's sister Jackie decides to crash at Hannah's flat after a fall out with her husband, potentially interfering with Hannah's life as Belle.
As the third season progresses, she becomes involved with her publisher. She tries to deny these feelings and a longing for a relationship, but after he claims to accepts her life as Belle, despite her claim to have been with one thousand and thirty six men, she decides to give it a go (albeit slowly).
During Bambi's wedding, Bambi reveals that she has slept with Duncan who called himself Richard. Hannah confronts Duncan who says that as she sleeps with other men, he can sleep with other women and they never said they were exclusive. Hannah angrily replies that it's her job, it's different, and he said he accepted that. Hannah then breaks up with him. As a form of revenge, she writes the last chapter of her book about him, a man addicted to using escorts, and sends it to everyone at the publishing house.
She then accepts an offer from Stephanie to spend two weeks in Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
with a client. As she is getting on the plane, Ben calls her and says he wants them to be a couple, as he fully accepts her for what she is and always has. He tells her to go off, see the world, have adventures, but come back to him.
When she returns from Mauritius, Hannah has purchased her own townhouse, remarking: "every London girl's dream - my own front door". However, her happiness is marred when Stephanie is imprisoned, resulting in her daughter Poppy having to stay with Hannah for an indefinite amount of time. Hannah also, has to take on Stephanie's role as madam of the business whilst she is away, and continues to be an escort, whilst being in a relationship with Ben. A client, Harry, takes a strong liking to Belle and his predatory, aggressive nature appeals to her. He tells her frequently that she should leave Ben for him as he can fully satisfy her. Ben eventually admits that Belle's career is damaging their relationship and he gives her an ultimatum. In the series finale she realises she cannot leave her job and that Ben deserves a more genuine relationship. Belle breaks up with Ben and walks off into the night, avoiding Harry as she goes and deciding to move on with her life.
External links
- Secret Diary of a Call Girl at Showtime