CHECK TO SEE IF SEASON 1 OF DIRTY LINES IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY!
Netflix has released Dirty Lines! Continue reading to find out if Dirty Lines is based on a true story. Frank and Ramon Stigter, brothers from Amsterdam, start a sex hotline in Dirty Lines. The concept is simple: for the cost of a regular phone call, men can speak with an attractive woman.
Workers on the other end of the line are paid by the minute, and if they are good at their jobs, they can earn a lot of money. Read this to find out why Season 1 ended the way it did.
In Amsterdam, it’s the late 1980s. The Netherlands is about to transform. Amsterdam, which has a thriving and free-spirited underground scene, appears to be immune to the darker political undercurrents that pervade Western governments. Read on to learn when Season 2 will be released.
But, as you might expect, this isn’t just about phone sex. The series also serves as a reminder that, despite all of the changes in recent years, one thing remains constant: sex sells, and capitalism is always looking for new ways to make money. If you’re wondering if Dirty Lines is based on a true story, we’ve got you covered!
ARE DIRTY LINES BASED ON A REAL-LIFE STORY?
Dirty Lines is, in fact, based on a true story. The show is based on Fred Saueressig’s 2016 novel ’06-Cowboys,’ which tells the story of Teleholding, a real-life pink phone service. Teleholding, like Teledutch in the Netflix production, was Europe’s first erotica hotline. The company was founded by brothers George and Harald Skene in the mid-1980s.
George Skene, who had just gone bankrupt due to the failure of his clothing business, learned about payphone services when he was 28 years old. He launches his new company with the help of his brother Harald, who assists him with the technical aspects. Bob Ebbens and Henk Philipsen, regulars at the Lusthof café on Van Baerlestraat in Amsterdam, join them.
Teleholdings first leased 25 lines from the PTT for its services. The Dutch national daily De Telegraaf published an announcement. The massive number of incoming calls on the day of the newspaper’s release unnerved the business’s owners. Because all of the lights were turned on, the brothers assumed the device was “broken.”
Hank put most of his money into the business, but it quickly became profitable. In 1988, the company reported a monthly “turnover of two and a half million guilders” (the Dutch currency at the time). Fred Saueressig joined Teleholdings as a public relations manager at this time and later became responsible for international expansion.
As of 2020, Fred and Teleholdings were still fighting over the company’s Swiss expansion and 1.2 million Swiss francs after an eight-year legal battle. This is how Saueressig describes the rise and fall of Teleholdings and other companies involved in this field in his book “06-Cowboys.” This is the same book that serves as the basis for the Netflix adaptation’s story.
