The Diary of a Nobody the first, "The Diary of a Somebody", is a direct reference to the Grossmith original. Reviewing this volume in "The Spectator", Benny Green points out several parallels with the original, in both character and event. Matthew's book, says Green, is amusing, but the Grossmiths' book is superior; it is "affecting as well as comical, in a way that the Matthew pastiche is not". In 1982 came the first appearance of Sue Townsend's teenage creation, Adrian Mole, whose passage into young manhood and early middle age is charted in a long series of diaries. The more middle-aged he becomes, says Morton,
Episode 1.1 (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) with people at all... Not allowing herself to "get close" or be "the real me" isn't a call girl's rule for Hannah (like it was for Julia [Roberts] in "Pretty Woman"), it's a twisted compulsion. And that's why I love the show." D'Arminio also praised Showtime, "Secret Diary of a Call Girl"s American broadcaster, for not simply buying format rights, saying "I'm just thankful that Showtime imported "Call Girl" without recasting it like its sister network CBS is doing with "Worst Week of My Life" or ABC did with "Life on Mars"." Episode 1.1 (Secret Diary of a Call Girl)