If there has been one trend in British television during 2020, it has been the rise of the frank 35 minute miniseries.
Three shows by female writers have mesmerised audiences with pacy dramas that all have a brutally honest focus on 21st Century sex and relationships.
First up was BBC3 and Hulu's version of Sally Rooney's 'Normal People' - a sexually explicit examination of a romance between two damaged souls.
Then Michaela Coel tackled the consequences of rape and the issue of sexual consent in 'I May Destroy You,' a hard hitting miniseries for the Tinder generation on BBC3 and HBO.
Now Sky Atlantic have gotten in on the act, with Billie Piper and Lucy Prebble's meta comedy drama 'I Hate Suzie' which dealscwith the downward career spiral of a minor celebrity.
The character in question, Suzie Pickles found fame as a kid singing on a TV talent contest.
And as the show gets underway, it is clear that Suzie is a fictional reworking of Piper's own life - - albeit a more exaggerated one.
Piper, after all, found chart success early at the age of 15 with the Number One hit 'Because We Want To'.
Like Piper in 'Dr Who', Suzie subsequently carves out a career as an actress, earning the adoration of thousands of geeks with a role in a popular science fiction series.
Just like her creator, her private life is the focus of the tabloids.
But that is where the similarity ends because, unlike Piper, within minutes of the euphoria of hearing she is about to land a major role in a Disney film, Suzie's career goes into freefall because of a moment of madness.
As she celebrates, her phone starts going crazy and she soon realises compromising photographs of her are circulating on the Internet following the hacking of her phone.
In a dizzying opening episode, Suzie hosts a fashion magazine photoshoot in her family's when she realises her career is going into a tailspin.
As she tries to shield her husband, Daniel Ings' Cob and their young hearing impaired son by shutting down their Internet devices, we know it is only a matter of time when they discover what's going on.
When it all tumbles out, the consequences are disastrous.
At first, there is the humiliation of being on the receiving end of knowing looks from those involved in the photo shoot.
Then the realisation that the other person in the photo is not her husband results in Suzie being kicked out of the family home by Cob.
Luckily, Leila Farzad's childhood friend who is now her agent, Naomi is there to help pick up the pieces.
But not even she can closet her friend from the fallout from the scandal, as a Q&A appearance at a Comic Con illustrates.
As she tries to salvage her marriage to Cob, the university lecturer insists she must quit her job on the hit sci-fi show if there is to be a reconciliation.
Barely able to conceal his rage, he is anxious to find out who the other person in the photo is.
When the Disney job falls through because of the presence of cocaine in the leaked photos, Suzie faces trying to rebuild a career after a very brutal public scandal.
Prebble and Piper have a whale of a time charting the downward trajectory of their heroine's career.
Each episode is named after an emotion and so we go from "Shock" to "Denial" to "Fear.. Shame.. Bargaining.. Gulit.. Anger.." and "Acceptance".
Suzie is frequently the architect of her downfall, engaging in reckless behaviour on the fringes of Comic Con with Dexter Fletcher's coke addicted actor Benjamin Detroit or putting her foot in it as she does in a phone call with a Disney executive.
But for all her flaws, it is clear her creators still have a deep affection for her and we also see those around her regularly falter.
Cob initially rants and rages about being betrayed by his wife until it eventually becomes clear that some of this is for selfish reasons.
Naomi turns a blind eye far too often to her client's recklessnessss and her heart appears not to be in the job.
Suzie's parents - Phil Daniels' Phil and Lorraine Ashbourne's Karen - milk their daughter's career for their own gain.
In one episode, her estranged dad specifically cashes in on the tabloids' interest in her very public shaming.
Nathaniel Martello-White's silver tongued Carter, the showrunner for the sci-fi series, turns out not to be a man of his word.
Piper and Prebble are probabky best known for their cheeky ITV escort drama 'The Secret Diary of a Call Girl'.
As 'I Hate Suzie' gets underway, it is evident they are not only comfortable collaborators but are partial to cheeky gags about sex, men and gender dynamics.
However as fun as 'I Hate Suzie' often is, it is far from perfect.
After three strong opening episodes, Prebble and her directors Georgi Banks-Davies and Anthony Nielsen struggle to keep up the pace, only for the series to regain momentum again in the final two episodes.
While it is amusing to see Piper take elements of her own fame and twist it, sometimes the show is a little too meta for its own good, delivering obvious nods and winks.
Nonetheless Piper turns in a strong performance as Suzie, eagerly embracing a character who far too often is her own, foul mouthed worst enemy.
Farzad and Ings also impress, fashioning characters prove to be effective foils for Suzie.
Therecare decent performances too from Martello-White, Daniels, Ashbourne, Fletcher and, in a smart piece of casting, Piper's real sister Elle playing her fictional sister Archie.
Taken alongside 'Normal People' and 'I May Destroy You,' 'I Hate Suzie' is by a considerable margin the weakest of the three.
However it is the easiest to visualise developing as a long running series.
Given the critical acclaim it has acquired, it seems inevitable that a second series will come.
And while it is not perfect, 'I Hate Suzie' is unquestionably entertaining and earns the right for at least one more set of Suzie Pickles misadventures.
('I Hate Suzie' was broadcast on Sky Atlantic from August 27-October 15, 2020)
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