Billie Piper will star in and co-create a new drama series about a celebrity who falls victim to phone hacking.
The Sky original drama is called I Hate Suzie and reunites Piper with the creator of Secret Diary Of A Call Girl Lucy Prebble, who has penned the series and has joked about having the actress do “terrible things on screen again”.
The eight-part series is described as a “bold, funny, bracing drama about the moment in life when the mask slips, asking if any us can survive being well and truly ‘known’.”
Piper plays Suzie Pickles, a celebrity whose star is on the wane and whose life is turned upside down when her phone is hacked and a photo of her emerges in a compromising position.
The show will follow Suzie as she goes through the stages of shock, denial, fear, shame, bargaining, guilt, anger and acceptance while being supported by her best friend and manager Naomi as she tries to hold her life, career and marriage together in the face of being exposed for who she is.
Piper said: “It’s taken years to finally get Lucy – my long-term GF and favourite writer in London – to work with me again.
“We feel we’ve created something timely and not for the faint-hearted. If you too suffer with anxiety, shame, compulsive lying but like a laugh, please tune in at some point.”
Prebble said: “At last I get to make my best friend Billie Piper do terrible things on screen again. It is all I live for.”
Cameron Roach, Sky Studios director of drama, said: “We couldn’t be more excited about I Hate Suzie – a truly unique show, from the brilliant, long-standing creative partnership of Lucy Prebble and Billie Piper.
“Lucy’s scripts promise a vital, moving and darkly funny portrayal of the thirty-something woman, and the prospect of Billie bringing Suzie to life is thrilling.
“Following in the footsteps of Patrick Melrose, Save Me, and Chernobyl, I Hate Suzie’s commission underlines our belief in backing truly original drama and Sky Atlantic as the home for the most innovative storytelling and ideas.”
Piper starred in the popular drama series Secret Diary Of A Call Girl from 2007 until 2011, which was adapted by Prebble from the book of the same name by the pseudonymous Bell de Jour.
Prebble’s other works include HBO series Succession and the plays Enron and The Effect.