The Girlfriend Experience is a show you’ll want to watch alone.

Streaming on Australian service Stan, the series is particularly uncomfortable viewing thanks to its voyeuristic look into one young woman’s most private moments.

Elvis Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough stars as Christine Reader, a law student struggling to pay her school fees and living expenses whilst still maintaining a career and social life.

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Seemingly devoid of emotion, it’s clear from the start of the show that Christine is a young woman who will do anything to achieve career success.

It’s this ruthless ambition that leads her to moonlight as a high-class escort for extremely wealthy older men on the suggestion of her similarly inscrutable friend Avery.

Avery and Christine don’t just offer their clients sex, they offer them the illusion of a relationship. They live in their homes, answer their late-night calls, send them selfies and use their credit cards to buy clothes and food.

Beautiful and vacant, Christine traverses two very different worlds, spending her days working as an intern in a prestigious law firm and attending university lectures and her nights in the company of the kind of men she hopes to one day work alongside.

Talking to Rolling Stone about her unique character, 26-year-old Keough said: “[Christine]’s the type of girl that you go to school with that you’re threatened by their sexuality and ability to steal your man.”

In one scene, she approaches a stranger at a bar and announces her desire to sleep with him. She then proceeds to do so but never contacts him again, coolly shutting down his ensuing advances.

But make no mistake – while this may be a show about sex, in no way is it sexy.

Christine’s manner is almost clinical, as is the production, dialogue and direction, a characteristic typical of executive producer Steven Soderbergh’s prior work.

Soderbergh actually directed a 2009 film of the same name, starring porn star Sasha Grey as the Christine figure. That movie didn’t receive great reviews, but it piqued enough interest to warrant a spin-off series with a bit more creative oomph.

For that task, Soderbergh recruited indie film darlings Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz to direct.

It paid off – Kerrigan and Seimetz, along with the eerily beautiful Keogh, leave you wanting more by holding you at arm’s length throughout each 40-minute episode.

Although they give you peep show-like access to Christine’s more sordid exploits, they never allow you true insight into her complicated mind.

The resultant effect is one that is both intriguing and unsettling. More than once you’ll catch yourself looking away out of sheer propriety.

Possibly one of the most fascinating things about Christine is that she’s not particularly likeable. Her aloofness means you’re not exactly cheering for her, you’re just observing her. It’s a strange sensation in a world of sympathetic characters like Kimmy Schmidt or Jon Snow.

Aside from Christine, the most compelling figures in the show are the men who seek solace in her services.

There are those that fear commitment, others who are unsatisfied with their marriages and then some who just need someone to talk to.

Christine, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to need much more than cold, hard cash. A thoroughly modern heroine.

THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE will premiere exclusively in Australia on Stan on April 11. The entire season will be available at once.