Billie Piper Is Back!
The former child pop star and DoctorWho actress is back on our screens in a gritty new drama where art mirrors life…
no stranger to probing tabloid headlines. Her 2001 wedding to Chris Evans was under constant media scrutiny, mostly because Billie was 18 and Chris was 35 when they wed in Las Vegas after a few months of dating. Despite the media pressure, the pair seemed to enjoy a happy union for three years before divorcing, with Billie stating for the record, “I’m not taking a penny from him.”
She’s also very private about the two children she has with actor ex-husband Laurence Fox, and her youngest child who she shares with long-term boyfriend Johnny Lloyd, frontman of the band Tribes.
“IHateSuzie is not autobiographical, but a lot of my own feelings are there as a woman in her thirties,” Billie says. “My photos have never been hacked, for example – but setting it in the world of being an actor creates a lot of drama, fun and entertainment.
“Everyone has a profile now, whoever you are, if your phone is found it could be so incriminating. Your entire life could be destroyed by a few innocent texts. It doesn’t have to be anything huge to take someone apart these days.”
For this latest project Billie has reunited with SecretDiary ofaCallGirl writer, Lucy Prebble, who says of her friend, “I’ve never worked with an actor whose radar for emotional truth is as good and as honed.”
In the series, Billie’s character is married to Cob, played by Daniel Ings ( The Crown and TheEnglishGame), who works as a university lecturer. They live with their child Frank, 7, who’s deaf, and who starts to pick up on the drama surrounding his famous mum. Suzie is helped through the scandal by her best friend and manager Naomi – played by Leila Farzad, who appeared in Innocent with Hermione Norris – but their approach to damage limitation isn’t always successful.
The eight episodes of IHate Suzie follow her emotional rollercoaster as she deals with the fallout of the hacking: shock, denial, fear, shame, bargaining, guilt, anger and acceptance.
Speaking about filming, Billie says, “Even though the day was so tough, I enjoyed the end of episode one, dancing down the street in the village, singing. I’m happy letting everyone know through the work that I’m actually a bit weird and everything came together with that.”
“As a woman you put on many hats, and Suzie has a lot of personalities”