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REVIEW: Billie Piper’s beleaguered Suzie Pickles is back.
Still picking up the pieces from the fallout of a cellphone hack which revealed intimate photos of her in a compromising position, the former teenage popstar-turned-television actor is attempting to “change the narrative” while also negotiating her divorce from second-husband Cob (Daniel Ings).
As the three-part I Hate Suzie Too (now streaming on Neon and coming to Sky TV’s SoHo this week) opens, she’s taken the advice of her other ex-hubbie Bailey (Douglas Hodge) and joined him on reality competition Dance Crazee.
However, despite throwing herself into her performance, the opening night has not gone well, viewers responding with an embarrassingly low score which seems destined to send her packing first, even before anyone else has even graced the stage.
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Although her agent Sian (Anastasia Hille) praises her for “not doing the obvious thing out there”, Suzie is devastated, her mood not helped by Cob’s “tell-all interview” appearing online the same evening.
“When you tell the story with the facts – he gives good reasonable,” is not the assessment she desires from her own team either.
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Billie Piper plays the beleaguered Suzie Pickles in I Hate Suzie Too.
Things soon go from bad to worse, when the battle over finances and custody of their Deaf son Frank (Matthew Jordan-Caws) begins.
Shocked to discover that Cob is representing himself, Suzie agrees to let him have the marital home and half of her assets, but is dismayed when he wants to renege on a plan for Frank to spent Christmas with her.
Then there’s the constant bombardment of texts detailing her failings as a wife and mother, a barrage that puts her hard-fought sobriety under threat.
“I’ve stopped being able to look at my phone,” she confides to best mate Naomi (Leila Farzad).
Angered at her friend’s plight, Naomi decides to seize control, “reverse Cyrano de Bergerac” Cob and exploit her inside-knowledge about one or two of the Dance Crazee contestants to revive Suzie’s fortunes.
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I Hate Suzie Too s a blackly comedic drama filled with raw emotions, intimate scenes, frank observations and some clever use of vision and sound to draw you into the story.
Like the magnificent first series, Hate is an inventive, fabulously told parody of celebrity and Piper’s own struggles earlier in her career.
Reuniting with her Secret Diary of a Call Girl collaborator Lucy Prebble, she delivers a truly provocative and bravura performance which will shock those who remember her as Doctor Who’s Rose Tyler.
This is a blackly comedic drama filled with raw emotions, intimate scenes, frank observations and some clever use of vision and sound to draw you into the story.
Even if you haven’t watched the original 2020 show, this is easy to get into and become quickly engrossed in, particularly as it offers up a delicious “inside look” at what might really go on behind the scenes of a celebrity dance competition.
Currently available to stream on Neon, I Hate Suzie Too will debut on SoHo at 8.30pm on February 23.
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