A year and three Logie nominations (including Most Outstanding Drama Series) later, things are different. "People didn't want a bar of it as soon as they heard 'prostitutes,'" says producer Andy Walker at the Melbourne studio where Series 2 is being filmed. "It's much easier now."

Also less difficult are the confronting sex scenes. "We were all so scared the first time," says Diana Glenn, 34, while having cobalt glitter eyeliner applied in the makeup bus. "It was terrifying but liberating. Now I think, 'This is who I am and what I look like,' and I'm not so critical and self-conscious." For Madeleine West, 28, mum to Phoenix, 2, and Hendrix, 8 months, the show "is about celebrating women in all shapes and forms. And celebrating our sexuality and freedom of choice."

As research, the cast visited brothels and talked to prostitutes, which made Kestie Morassi, 30, realise "they are doing a huge service to the community, and it's so good to give them more dignity through this show."

It's not so easy for the male cast, particularly the actors who appear in a single scene as a client. "One, I could hear his heart beating like mad," says Glenn. "I was saying, 'It's OK.' I feel like an old hand at it now!"

As 232's first male hooker, new cast member Dustin Clare says he wasn't fussed by the nudity or graphic sex scenes. "You know that going into it," says the ex-McLeod's Daughters star. "I don't have anyone to pass it by except my mum. She said, 'That's OK if it works for the role.'" Besides, he adds, "She's seen me naked plenty of times!"