Dirty Lines: Is It Inspired From a Real Life Story?

‘Dirty Lines’ is a Dutch period drama about Teledutch, the world’s first pornographic phone line, which was established in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in the early 1900s. Joy Delima (Marly Salomon), an undergraduate psychology student, is the protagonist of this erotically charged series, which tells the narrative of the phone sex business and the people who helped to build it. Marly chooses to make an audiotape for Teledutch, despite her self-admitted prudence, in order to earn some money and get out of her parents’ house as soon as possible. Things take a dramatic turn, however, when her involvement with Teledutch becomes public knowledge, and she joins forces with the company’s founders, Frank (Minne Koole) and Ramon (Ramon Stigter).

As the company grows and becomes more well-known, the Stigter brothers are forced to confront their own sexual desires, and Marly starts on a voyage of self-discovery of her own. The show, which takes place in 1980s Amsterdam, illustrates the changes in Dutch society that occurred during the closing years of the Cold War. Using themes of sexual awakening and societal pressure, ‘Dirty Lines’ presents an era-appropriate story that depicts the real struggles that come with starting a new business, especially one that is based on a novel and popular concept. As a result of the show’s historical backdrop, it’s only natural for fans to speculate whether the plot is based on actual events. Now you don’t have to wonder any longer because we have the answers you want!

Dirty Lines: Is It Inspired From a Real Life Story?

Yes, the storyline for ‘Dirty Lines’ is based on a factual incident. The show is a television adaptation of Fred Saueressig’s 2016 novel titled ’06-Cowboys,’ which tells the story of a real-life phone sex service named Teleholding, which is based on the characters in the book. Teleholding, like Teledutch in the Netflix production, was the world’s first sexual phone line, operating throughout Europe for over a decade. The company was founded in the mid-1980s by two brothers, George and Harald Skene, who are now retired.

At the age of 28, George Skene, who had just emerged from bankruptcy as a result of a failed clothing business, learned about paid phone services, which were being offered by the PTT. He started the new business with his brother Harald, who helped with the technical aspects. Joining them were Bob Ebbens and Henk Philipsen, their regular after-work drinking buddies at café Lusthof on the Van Baerlestraat in Amsterdam. In June of 1986, things were set up for the run. An audio message was recorded by a girl to be played for the customers using an answering machine built from two old car radios.

For their services, Teleholdings initially leased 25 lines from the PTT. An ad was run in the Dutch national daily newspaper De Telegraaf. “The sexophone, sex stories, 50 cents a minute,” the newspaper printed, advertising Teleholdings to the general public. The day the newspaper came out, the massive number of incoming calls threw the business owners for a loop. The brothers saw all the lights were on and assumed the device was “broken.” However, they quickly found out that the lines were actually engaged. “We are rich,” they celebrated, given the millions of calls made in the initial days to enjoy the services of the “Sexophone.”

Talking about it, Co-founder Henk Philipsen shared, “George and I were the pillars of the business, the creatives. Harald took care of the tech and Bob, um, mostly came for lunch.” The business was started mostly on Hank’s money but soon reaped profits. The company saw a “turnover of two and a half million guilders” (the currency of the Netherlands at the time) per month in 1988. The revenue was used to expand the company as much as possible. An office building was purchased on JJ Viottastraat in South Amsterdam.

With expanding domains and increasing phone lines, the company welcomed more people to smoothly run the business. Fred Saueressig joined Teleholdings at this point as a PR official and was later charged with foreign expansion. “A wonderful time,” Saueressig reminisced. “We worked hard, drank a lot, and laughed even more. There was always something crazy.” However, Saueressig’s stay within the organization ended on terrible terms. As of 2020, Fred and Teleholdings were still engaged in an 8-year-old court struggle involving the company’s swiss growth and 1.2 million Swiss francs.

Thus, Saueressig published ’06-Cowboys,’ documenting the rise and fall of Teleholdings and other enterprises participating in the business. That particular book is the basis of the narrative of the Netflix production. The character of Frank Stigter in ‘Dirty Lines’ is directly inspired by George Skene. Ramon Stigter, on the other hand, is based on Harald Skene, who passed away on February 4, 2020. With extra components reflecting the ongoing socioeconomic difficulties in the 1980s Amsterdam, the Netflix show is loosely based by real occurrences. It depicts the path of the first-ever phone sex service in Europe and the people engaged in its making.

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