Netflix viewers can't believe newly added ‘controversial and highly adult’ series was allowed on TV

Sometimes, it feels like you can get away with anything on Netflix – if it’s a streamer who do they have to worry about right?

Despite this, and terrestrial TV’s far more rigorous censors due to advertisers, sometimes an old show or movie will be added to Netflix that will have viewers asking ‘wait they allowed this to air on TV?’

Sometimes that will be a negative, but in the case of a new series added to Netflix this week – that is a massive, massive positive.

The show is raucous, with one review on IMDb describing it as ‘controversial and highly adult’. Check out the incredibly 00s trailer and see for yourself:

Between Billie Piper hot off the end of her Doctor Who run and even a baby Matt Smith – the trailer may feel like a bizarro version of the BBC drama, but the ITV show is far racier than that.

The show is Secret Diary of a Call Girl, following Piper as a sex worker desperate to keep her personal and professional lives separate.

One fan posted on X (formerly known as Twitter): “Secret Diary of a Call Girl is on Netflix and upon rewatching it, I can't believe this was a proper show on ITV”.

Others were rejoicing at the show finally making it to Netflix in the UK, with the series having rocketed straight to number three in the charts, behind only the heavily pushed Eric and Bridgerton.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl stars Billie Piper. (ITV)

Another viewer said: “Secret diary of a call girl on Netflix omg , we are so freaking BACK”.

Some even reckon that Secret Diary of a Call Girl, which began airing in 2007, predated and inspired some iconic British TV that came to follow.

A fan watching in Ireland, where the show was also recently added, posted: “Secret Diary of a Call Girl invented Fleabag's ribald Londoner breaking the fourth wall: things I'm learning from Irish Netflix”.

The show was inspired by real blog posts about the life of a sex worker who went by a pseudonym by the name of ‘Belle De Jour’.

As well as potentially inspiring Fleabag, a-listers like Matt Smith and Gemma Chan appeared on the show pre-fame. (ITV)

Piper's sex worker alter-ego was also named Belle.

The real life woman’s identity wasn’t revealed until the show had aired for two years, but was revealed to be a woman by the name of Dr Brooke Magnanti.

Her identity was revealed by the Daily Mail, with her saying that she had come public to get rid of the ‘massive secret’ that had been hanging over her life.

More than a decade on, and her blogposts and the subsequent show is still finding enjoyment in viewers.