I Hate Suzie is a bold, edgy, entertaining drama about that moment in life when the mask slips. Former teen pop star turned actor, Suzie Pickles has her whole life upended when her phone is hacked and compromising photos are leaked online. Aided by her best friend and manager, Naomi, Suzie tries to hold her life, career, and family together in the face of being exposed for who she truly is. But who the hell is that?

The hacked photos send shock waves through Suzie’s career and personal life. Suzie and Naomi go into crisis management mode. The photos aren’t of Suzie at all, they’re fake. The photos are of Suzie but they were taken a long, long time ago.... When no excuses stick, Suzie is forced to own it all and so begins a public shaming and private take down of Suzie.

I Hate Suzie follows Suzie through eight stages, from Shock to Acceptance, as she tries to process the exposure, the trauma and the reflection of herself. What if she just does everything everyone else tells her to like she always has since she was plucked from obscurity to become a short-lived teen pop star? Every step of her life, Suzie has happily worn whatever mask was required of her but when exposure comes this hard and fast, Suzie finds there isn’t anywhere to hide from herself.

Billie Piper may have originally come to prominence as a teenage pop star, but she was always an actress. And this is mirrored in the show. I’ve always thought that she was a very talented, if underrated. Her performance as Rose Tyler in Dr Who was faultless and her turn as the title character, Belle De Jour, in the Secret Diary of a Call Girl was easily as groundbreaking and impressive as Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City.

I Hate Suzie is written by Lucy Prebble who also wrote the story of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, so the creator and actor are reunited and given the chance to revisit their previous excellent relationship that saw them score a hit TV show. Expect nothing less from I Hate Suzie.

Piper performs in every scene, she can seemingly switch between anger, sadness or pain to happiness or sexiness with ease. She may not be the most regular actor on our screens but she has honed her craft to a very impressive point. It would certainly be very interesting to see her performances in the theatre, where I think she would be extremely well suited. She is professional and talented, but also comes across as honest and raw. I really feel her performances.

It might feel that having episodes mirror the eight stages of grief would suggest that this is a limited series. But the DVD release states Season One on the front. The show performed well on Sky so I think we should safely be able to look forward to a second season at the very least. The coronavirus pandemic may slow down production so perhaps we shouldn’t expect a follow up until 2022, but when it does arrive on our screens, contrary to what you might have heard (suggested in the title) Suzie will be very welcome indeed.

Author : Kevin Stanley