Later that year, she made a four-part series called Extreme Wife for Channel 4. In the first programme, Dawn Porter: Free Lover (2008), O'Porter travelled to San Diego, California, to investigate polyamory, then she travelled to former Germany to visit ZEGG in Belzig, a German free love commune. The programme highlighted the world of free love, such as ritual sensuous oil sessions with naked people covered in warm olive oil, and included discussions with the people who lived in the commune. It premiered with 1.75m viewers (10.7% share). In the second programme, Dawn Porter: Mail Order Bride, O'Porter travelled to Odesa, Ukraine, with a group of American men in their search for a partner. The third programme, Dawn Porter: Geisha Girl, saw O'Porter travel to Kyoto, Japan, and spend a week in a geisha house. In the fourth and final programme, Dawn Porter: Polygamist's Wife, O'Porter investigated women who are prepared to share their husbands with other women. This included a stay in Centennial Park, Arizona, US.
In 2009, O'Porter narrated the BBC Three series Undercover Princes. In 2009 she presented documentary, The Booby Trap, exploring breast cancer, for Sky1. The show aired on 6–7 July 2009, under the title My Breasts Could Kill Me. It premiered with 181,000 viewers (0.9% share).
In 2011, O'Porter made an appearance in Derren Brown – The Experiments entitled "The Secret of Luck" and later filmed six episodic advertisements for Andrex Washlets. She appeared in E4 drama Skins and has appeared on the television show Balls of Steel.
In 2012, O'Porter organised an Oxfam "get together" alongside friend Gemma Cairney, and raised money for Oxfam by selling clothing previously owned by celebrities.
Writing
O'Porter writes for many publications, on feminism and aspects of women's lifestyle.
In 2006 she published Diaries of an Internet Lover. In May 2013 she released her first novel, Paper Aeroplanes, the fictional tale of an intense female friendship loosely inspired by her own childhood in Guernsey.
Her publication, The Cows, was released in 2016 and has since been featured on the Sunday Times Best Sellers list. In 2019, HarperCollins published her novel, So Lucky. In 2022 HarperCollins published another of her novels, Cat Lady. In 2024, HarperCollins Canada published HoneyBee. In June 2026, HarperCollins published in hardback, Hungry Eyes: A Memoir of Appetite, Ambition and the Odd Bag of Wotsits for Dinner.
Personal life
In 2012, Porter married Chris O'Dowd and changed her name to Dawn O'Porter.
In 2015, O'Porter gave birth to a son. In 2017, O'Porter gave birth to a second son.
O'Porter was one of the founding members of the charity Help Refugees (now called Choose Love).
