Finding work is tough, admits Billie Piper

Finding work is tough, admits Billie Piper
Finding work is tough, admits Billie Piper

Actress Billie Piper has revealed that she is struggling to find work - and has blamed economic woes for the lack of roles available in Britain. The 28-year-old, who recently finished the final series of ITV2's Secret Diary Of A Call Girl, told The Hollywood Reporter she was even considering moving to the US to further her career. "I'm just trying to find a job. We're back to the drawing board," Billie said. "It's frustrating, it's tiring, it's desperate. You lose your mind. You have no confidence, then you have too much confidence. It's an endless frustration. "That's the nature of the beast. You have to suck it up and get on with it." The actress - whose Secret Diary series is being screened on the US channel Showtime - admitted she was thinking of looking for work across the Atlantic. "There's not a lot of work in the UK - that's why everyone's moving to America," she said. "It's where the work seems to be. But it definitely feels like a lot more of a slog to get a gig these days. "I suppose that's a lot to do with our current climate and financial messes. People seem to have to work harder with a lot less time." And she added that she admired the way US TV shows were made - and that she would love to follow in the footsteps of fellow Brits Eddie Izzard and Hugh Laurie and score a role on a long-running small screen hit. She told Hollywood Reporter magazine that she admired the way Americans made TV shows. "I like the way that if you're on a long-running show and you know it inside-out, you often have an option to produce or direct." "If the right show comes along and I get the opportunity to be cast in it, then I'd love to do that."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.