Billie Piper’s drama I Hate Suzie is lauded by fans as star stuns with her portrayal

Billie Piper’s dark comedy, Sky Atlantic drama I Hate Suzie, has received widespread acclaim from fans since its debut on Thursday.

The Swindon-born star, 38, was lauded for her brooding portrayal of former popstar  Suzie Pickles, who has her life thrown into disarray when intimate photos of her in a compromising position with a man who isn’t her husband, are leaked online.

Billie co-created the eight part drama with her Secret Diary of a Call Girl writer Lucy Prebble – with viewers praising the star’s performance and the gripping storyline.     

One fan wrote: ‘Binge watched all but the last episode of I Hate Suzie and at 2:55am I have to be sensitive. Billie Piper is impeccable and I couldn’t take my eyes off her, what an INCREDIBLE actress and BRILLIANTLY told story.’

Another wrote: ‘The first part of #IHateSuzie is so intense. Billie Piper is so watchable – could be a good one. So far.’

A third typed: ‘Binged watched #IHateSuzie and can safely say, it’s been the best day of my life.’

While another wrote: ‘#IHateSuzie is AMAZING I’ve missed @billiepiper so much’ with another view heaping praise on Billie’s performance, saying: ‘Okay this is brilliant and @billiepiper is amazing in it.’  

One more fan wrote: ‘Just binged watched the whole series of @billiepiper’s new series ‘I Hate Suzie.” on Sky. 

‘It is Fantastic. Clapping hands sign The acting in this is something else. 100% go watch!     

The show follows Suzie as she slowly begins to unravel after the photos are published, the effects of which ricochet into every area of her life.  

As the episodes go on, the audience follows Suzie as she goes through stages of shock, denial, fear, shame, guilt, anger and eventually, acceptance. 

Suzie is seen in the programme enjoying family life with her husband and child before this is interspersed with the horror she feels when she learns the secret images of her have been made public.

As the fallout continues, Suzie and  her best friend and manager Naomi (Leila Farzad) try to hold her life, career and marriage to Cob (Daniel Ings) together. 

The singer-turned-actress burst onto the pop scene back in 1998 at the tender age of 15 with her debut chart-topping hit Because We Want To. 

The mother-of-three has looked back over those days in I Hate Suzie.

Earlier this month, she told the Radio Times of tapping into her character: ‘I know exactly what that feels like and I’m sure it feeds into my performance. I’m only coming to terms with a lot of it right now.  

‘In my 20s a lot of my stress from that period was buried, and I still struggle to remember a lot of it. I don’t regret it. I love what I do and where I’m at personally.

‘But I certainly wouldn’t want my children to go that way. There’s an anxiety of me as a child that I probably on some levels smother my children with.’ 

 Billie shares sons Winston, 11, and Eugene, eight, with ex-husband Laurence Fox, and has 19-month-old daughter Tallulah with Johnny Lloyd  

Co-writer Lucy insisted that while viewers may be led to believe that some elements of the titular character may have been drawn from Billie’s life, they actually drew inspiration from other stars who found fame as young girls.

‘We talked a lot about Lily Allen, Charlotte Church, Britney Spears,’ said Lucy, ‘people who suddenly became visible and were quite psychologically affected by it. So it’s not even Billie we’re drawing on, it’s looking at it in quite a winking way.’

When asked if she now feels like she’s finally getting to know herself now, Billie responded: ‘Yes! I do. And it’s both enlightening and really terrifying but it’s happening now.    

‘As a woman, you are so many things to so many people, it takes a long time to find your way back to yourself. The last few months have been bonkers and we’re tired… But I do feel fulfilled and I’m looking forward to feeling it a bit more.’