Sky has renewed I Hate Suzie, its comedy drama co-created by Succession writer Lucy Prebble and produced by His Dark Materials outfit Bad Wolf.
Starring and co-created by former Doctor Who actress Billie Piper, a second season will begin filming next year. Sky tweeted the announcement after the show was nominated for a Broadcasting Press Guild Award.
The eight-part series followed a famous woman (Piper) whose life is upended when her phone is hacked and graphic pictures are published of her extra-marital affair.
Each episode followed her through the stages of shock, denial, fear, shame, bargaining, guilt, anger, and acceptance as Suzie and her best friend and manager Naomi try to hold her life, career, and marriage together.
I Hate Suzie was acquired by HBO Max in the U.S. It is sold internationally by NBCUniversal Global Distribution on behalf of Sky Studios.
Filming is expected to begin Spring 2022.
In the few first minutes of I Hate Suzie, an actress’s life absolutely craters. Suzie Pickles starts at the top of the world, celebrating an offer to play a Disney princess (even though she thought “it was just villains from now on”), and then suddenly discovers that photos of herself having sex with a man who is apparently not her husband have leaked online. Things just continue to spiral further out of control from there — as the season continues, Suzie embarrasses herself at a sci-fi convention, lashes out on her husband and son, has a vicious bout of stress IBS, does lots and lots of hard drugs, and sabotages pretty much every relationship in her life. As the show’s star Billie Piper puts it, “I think I had adrenal fatigue by the end.”
I Hate Suzie, an extremely dark, extremely funny British comedy, hits HBO Max today after premiering on Sky TV in the U.K. earlier this year. Piper created the series with her longtime friend and collaborator, writer Lucy Prebble (of Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Succession). Speaking with Vulture over the phone, Piper talked about how a show they’d originally conceived as about female friendship eventually took the form of an immersive panic attack, her love of musicals, and why they were glad the show didn’t get compromised. “There wasn’t an I Hate Suzie-lite,” as Piper said. “It has to be a hot mess!”
The first few episodes of this show, when Suzie’s phone is hacked, really throw you into this visceral panic she’s experiencing. I’ve read you describe it as trying to be an intentionally “immersive experience.” What did that mean to you?
I felt strongly about it being a very sensory experience, as if it was happening to the viewer. For the first few episodes, we were like these should feel like literal panic attack. So when we were talking to the director, Georgi Banks-Davies, we found the person who had that instinct as well, and wanted to lean into that, even though it’s not always that easy.
Billie and Johnny were seen in London with Tallulah last week. HQ candids have been added to the gallery below:
