Billie Piper becomes the world's highest paid 'prostitute' as she signs a £400,000 deal to reprise her role as Belle de Jour

By Daily Mail Reporter

Expensive: Billie Piper, in her role as high-class escort Belle de Jour for which she'll be paid £2m to do a fourth series


Vice has its virtues for Billie Piper. The actress has joined the ranks of Britain's best paid TV stars after agreeing a £400,000 deal to reprise the role of Belle de Jour.

Her commitment to a fourth series of The Secret Diary Of A Call Girl for ITV2 will see her earn £50,000 an episode.

In total, it is considerably more than the £100,000 which Brooke Magnanti - the real-life Belle whose diary inspired the TV series - says she earned in her time as a £300-an-hour prostitute.

Miss Piper's bumper pay packet puts the 27-year-old former singer some way ahead of most soap stars, and has surprised some because Secret Diary does not even air on ITV's main channel.

However, the series has been a ratings hit and when it debuted in 2007 it recorded an impressive 1.8million viewers, one of the biggest audiences for ITV2 since the digital channel was launched.

The fourth series is said to follow the character as she continues to juggle her double life as an author and an escort.

Filming for the show will begin later this year and ITV2 is hoping to screen the series from January 27, 2011.


Raunchy: Billie as Belle de Jour in the first series of the show in 2007


Billie has won awards for her role in the drama series which is based on the blog and the books by the pseudonymous Belle de Jour.

But after series three finished in March, she admitted that she did not know where the programme could further take her character.

Billie who is also well known for her role as Rose Tyler, the assistant to David Tennant’s Doctor Who, also said it was difficult to balance the demands of motherhood while trying to play Belle de Jour.


source :dailymail