Some people (men) think female sexuality was invented the minute that Fleabag got out her laptop and had a good old go over Obama. So if they watch I Hate Suzie, the utterly divine new show from Succession writer Lucy Prebble and Billie Piper, they will probably have about seven heart attacks.
Its first episode sees child-star-turned-actress Suzie Pickles (played by Piper) caught up in a celeb nude photo hack, from which point her life rapidly begins to fall apart. The entire fourth episode revolves around Suzie trying to silence her internal self-loathing with self-
pleasure. (Because why not? Her life is falling apart.) Let me tell you, the only thing more enjoyable than watching it is imagining Prebble and Piper coming up with it. And not because I’m a perv, but because these two are actually the Chekhovs of w***ing. I like to imagine the ghosts of besuited TV execs rattling their chains as the pair mischievously giggle: “Let’s do an entire 45 minutes of masturbation interwoven with a philosophical commentary on female desire in a patriarchal world!”
What they have created has taken us far beyond the “woman has vagina and — shock — actually enjoys it” territory that we still only reached relatively recently. No disrespect to those who came before (no pun intended). The montage of Aimee from Sex Education getting familiar with herself still felt momentous, given that the idea of female pleasure remains a revolutionary concept for some and obviously needed to be introduced in increments. (Not least Suzie’s husband, who, in her fantasy, suggests doing something I’m not going to write in a family newspaper. “No, I’m not going to do that, because that’s not going to work,” Suzie replies.)
The only thing more enjoyable than watching it is imagining Prebble and Piper coming up with it
Lying back in her leopard-print pyjamas, Suzie tries to think of something that genuinely arouses her. In most of her fantasies she ends up being degraded, called names or serving men’s pleasure instead of her own. Naomi — her manager, best friend and general feminist conscience, played by regular scene-stealer Leila Farzad — pops up every so often and interrupts. “Everything you think is sexy is based on what men have told you is sexy for thousands of years. What part of that do you think is about your desire, your lust? Where do you go to when it’s coming from you?” she asks.
It’s a very good question. For the sake of women everywhere, I hope there’s more to come.
