The Girlfriend Experience

Explore the relationships between exclusive escorts and their clients, for whom they provide far more than just sex. Known as GFEs, they are women who provide “The Girlfriend Experience”—emotional and sexual relationships at a very high price.

The Girlfriend Experience (2016-2021) is an American premium cable drama series created by Amy Seimetz, Lodge Kerrigan and Anja Marquardt for STARZ. Riley Keough plays Christine Reade, a law student who works as an exclusive escort in present-day New York City, where she meets wealthy clients who want far more than physical companionship. Anna Friel co-stars as Erica Myles, a veteran escort whose hard-earned instincts shape Christine's choices, while Paul Sparks plays David Tellis, a client whose needs complicate her carefully managed boundaries. Across three seasons and thirty-seven episodes, the show follows the tension between emotional performance and genuine feeling, with each episode built around an encounter, a negotiation, or a fragile bond that threatens to cost her more than money. The tone is cool, restrained and often unsettling, with long, quiet scenes that linger on silence and glances rather than spectacle. Its atmosphere sits between erotic thriller and character study, a sober look at intimacy, power and secrecy in the city's upper echelons. Fans of Hung, Call Girl and Mr. Robot will find a similar appetite for morally uneasy, carefully observed storytelling.

Viewers find the series mixed, with its realistic portrait of escort relationships and Riley Keough's central performance offset by unlikable characters and a bleak, cold tone.

• Hungadult sexual drama with an intimate character focus and a morally ambiguous lead
• Call Girlstylized prestige drama about a high-status sex worker's double life in New York
• Mr. Robotslow, atmospheric psychological drama centered on a withdrawn protagonist in an urban setting

Created by

Amy Seimetz, Lodge Kerrigan, Anja Marquardt

Release Date

2016-04-10

Episode runtime

27 min

Rating

6.9 / 10 (460)

What is The Girlfriend Experience about?

A high-end New York escort navigates intimate, transactional relationships with her exclusive clients while juggling a second life.

What is The Girlfriend Experience like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Girlfriend Experience as slow, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.

Is The Girlfriend Experience violent?

Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Girlfriend Experience as mild.

What did critics think of The Girlfriend Experience?

Viewers find the series mixed, with its realistic portrait of escort relationships and Riley Keough's central performance offset by unlikable characters and a bleak, cold tone.

Which shows are like The Girlfriend Experience?

Shows with a similar feel include Hung, Call Girl, and Mr. Robot.

How long is The Girlfriend Experience?

The Girlfriend Experience: 3 seasons, 37 episodes.

Is The Girlfriend Experience still running?

No, The Girlfriend Experience has ended.

Where can I watch The Girlfriend Experience?

In United States, The Girlfriend Experience is available to rent or buy from Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home.