Call My Agent! is coming to the UK: Lydia Leonard and Jack Davenport lead adaptation from W1A creator

Zut alors! Casting for the UK remake of Netflix hit Call My Agent! has been unveiled before filming for the series gets underway this month.

The original French series follows the staff at fictional Parisian talent agency ASK as they attempt to placate their very demanding clients (played by bona fide French stars who are commendably willing to send themselves up) while navigating their own chaotic personal lives and keeping the company afloat.

Though the fourth season of the original Call My Agent! (known as Dix Pour Cent in France) was expected to be the show’s final outing, a fifth series and spin-off film was confirmed earlier this year.

The British edition will be written by W1A creator John Morton, with Lydia Leonard set to take the role of Alexa, loosely based on the character of hard-nosed agent Andréa Martel, played by Camille Cottin in the original.

Jack Davenport will play Jonathan, a character based on top dog agent (and Roger Allam doppelgänger) Mathias Barneville, with Maggie Steed, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Harry Trevaldwyn (whose on-the-nose parody videos will almost certainly have popped up in your Twitter feed over the past few months) and Hiftu Quasem also starring.

Jim Broadbent, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Rebecca Humphries, Tim McInnerny and Eleanor Arnaud will make up the supporting cast.

A report from Deadline claims that a string of British and American A-listers have already signed up for cameo roles as the agents’ clients in the eight-part series, which will take the essence of the French original and add new storylines to incorporate a British sensibility, including a new focus on transatlantic relationships in the industry.

“John went to speak to UK agencies and agents and this adaptation is inspired by stories he heard, as well as by books and interviews,” executive producer Christian Baute told Deadline, who added that the series is unlikely to deal with behind-the-scenes misconduct, despite the industry’s reckoning with #MeToo and Time’s Up.

“Bad behaviour is implicit in the show but not an explicit storyline,” he said. “We see human beings, not only mean executives. It’s in the background, but not the focus of our story.”

A UK broadcaster is yet to be confirmed for the series, which will be filmed in central London and is expected to wrap in September. You’ll find us compiling our list of dream celebrity cameos…

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