Whatever the reviews, Billie Piper's sexy new series The Secret Diary of a Call Girl certainly brought in a phenomenal amount of viewers last night (September 27th).

The saucy tale of Belle de Jour, the call girl behind the international bestselling blog-come-book titled The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, was watched by 1.8 million viewers.

The debut episode of the new ITV2 series brought in the biggest audience ratings for the channel since it began in 1998 and the show scored higher audience numbers than programmes on BBC Two, Channel 4 and Five showing at the same time.

Piper played the lead role as the high class London call girl, also known as Hannah, a legal secretary with a double life.

Even though she admitted that filming the raunchy part at times was "embarrassing" she definitely decided to throw herself into the role.

"This was a chance to be shockingly sexy," the 24-year-old told the Mirror.

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