Francophiles rejoice! French cult comedy Call My Agent! is getting a British remake, and judging by the cast it’s set to be just as good as the original.
Developed by BAFTA award winner John Morton, the show – titled Ten Percent – will premiere in spring 2022.
Set in the offices of busy talent firm ASK, the French-language original show Call My Agent! follows the lives of the agents and staff who worked there and their attempts to keep their clients happy after the sudden death of their founder.
The original show also boasted appearances from an extensive list of celebrity cameos, including stars Monica Belluci, Gerard Depardieu, Léa Seydoux and even Sigourney Weaver.
Prime Video has dropped the details of some new cameo appearances for Ten Percent, as well as fresh details about the remake for fans to get excited about.
Who can we expect to see tread the boards in London’s very own answer to ASK?
Cameos
Best known for her star turn as Diana in Netflix drama The Crown, Corrin has since been making waves ahead of her upcoming appearance in Lady Chatterley’s Lover and My Policeman.
Himesh Patel
Love me do! Patel has starred in everything from light-hearted Beatles-themed film Yesterday to the upcoming dystopian thriller Station Eleven - but most people will know him as Tamwar Masood, the character he played in Eastenders from 2007 to 2016.
David Harewood
A titan of British and American television, Harewood has been carving out a flourishing career across the pond in shows like Supergirl and Homeland, and recently opened up about his troubles with mental health in the BBC documentary David Harewood: My Psychosis and Me.
Clémence Poésy
French native Poésy is perhaps best known in the UK for playing Fleur Delacour in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but never made a cameo in the original French-language series. Clearly, she was saving herself for this.
Needs no introduction. The famous muse of director Tim Burton, Bonham-Carter has been in so many films since her breakout role of Lucy Honeychurch in the Merchant Ivory drama A Room with a View that it’s impossible to name them all (though younger viewers will of course know her mainly as the barking mad Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter films). Perfect training for the biggest role of her career: a challenging celebrity client.
Nigerian-British actor Oyelowo has experience both behind and in front of the camera: together with wife Jessica, he founded production company Yoruba Saxon, which recently partnered with Will Smith to adapt Nigerian novel Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun for film.
TV darling West has starred in The Wire, The Affair and even Les Miserables over the course of his very varied career – and is soon to take on the role of Prince Charles in The Crown.
Phoebe Dynevor
Dynevor shot to fame in 2020 after racy period bonkbuster Bridgerton became a streaming sensation. She’s returned to the show for its second season last month, and recently played opposite to type as working class pottery design genius Clarice Cliff in The Colour Room – after all that, appearing in Ten Percent should be a breeze.
Kelly MacDonald
Scottish actress MacDonald has been carving out a thriving career for herself since her debut in Trainspotting aged 19. Our favourites: her turn as Merida in Brave, and as DCI Joanne Davidson in recent smash hit Line of Duty.
The top cast
Jake Davenport
Pirates of the Caribbean alumnus Davenport will be playing Jonathan, in a role that’s said to be loosely based on that of Mathias Barneville in the original show. Given that Mathias’s storylines included his developing relationship with his illegitimate daughter due to an affair, as well as (subsequent) divorce and being fired, it’s safe to say that this iteration of the character has quite a journey in store.
Lydia Leonard
Leonard will be taking the stage as Rebecca, in a role that’s loosely based on Andréa Martel, the top agent played by fan favourite Camille Cottin in the original Call My Agent! In the series, Martel was gay - but it’s not yet known if Rebecca will also be. One thing’s for sure though: she’ll be sarcastic as hell.
Though nothing has been confirmed for certain, Broadbent is listed in the credits as an agent at the talent firm. Our guess? He’s filling in for Samuel Kerr, the firm’s boss in the French-language series, who dies on holiday after swallowing a wasp in Brazil. C’est la vie.
Prasanna Puwanarajah
The Doctor Foster star’s character Dan seems likely to fill the slot of the original series’ Gabriel Sarda (played by Grégory Montel), though whether, like Gabriel, he’ll embark on a relationship with the receptionist is as yet unclear. The trailer shows Kelly Macdonald, playing herself as one of Dan’s clients, pouring a green juice over his head, so clearly things aren’t going to go that well.
Maggie Steed
The 75 year-old actress, seen recently on the big screen in Fisherman’s Friends but also known for her stint on Eastenders as Joyce Murray, will fill the role based on veteran agent Arlette Azémar, played in the French series by Liliane Rovère. Her character’s name is Stella, and in the trailer she’s seen trying to butter up her superstar client Dominic West with the words “I thought I’d say hello to my favourite client.” “Why, what happened?” replies West, tartly. “Did Jude Law die?”
Who else?
Also on board will be Hiftu Quasem (Killing Eve); Fola Evans-Akingbola (Black Mirror), Rebecca Humphries (The Crown) and Harry Trevaldwyn (The King) as agents scrambling to keep their A-list clients happy and business afloat after the sudden death of their founder. Edward Bluemel (Killing Eve), Tim McInnerny (Game of Thrones) Eleonore Arnaud (Nu) and Natasha Little (The Night Manager) also star.
