Bird's Eye View

Every 4 seconds someone buys – what?

Guilty Pleasures

If you’re anything like us, you’re thinking a car, or a house, or even a cinema ticket… Well guess again. Every 4 seconds someone buys a Mills & Boon novel. Yes, really.

But should that actually come as a surprise? According to Julie Moggan’s brilliantly playful Guilty Pleasures, indulging in the odd moment of romantic novel escapism is a best kept secret for more of us than you might think – and only last year the Daily Mail reported that the rise in e-book devices has prompted more and more people, especially 30-somethings, to sneak a quick peak.

Guilty Pleasures – which was Britdoc’s best pitch of 2009 and a smash hit at the 2010 London Film Festival – crosses continents to probe Mills & Boon’s fantasy world of seductive mistresses and available billionaires: from middle-aged author Roger (pen-name ‘Gill Sanderson’) to feisty Indian princess Shumita (off to re-ignite an old flame) and hunky American model Stephen (dust jacket cover star but unlucky in love). Birds Eye View met director Julie Moggan to find out more about how she came to make a documentary rom com… Guilty Pleasures itself screens at the ICA on March 13, and for exclusive Bring a Baby screenings at the Lexi and Rio cinemas on March 14 and 15 – click here for full details.