'Ten Percent' on Amazon Prime

Is this the English-language version of Call My Agent - which is a brilliantly funny French series on Netflix (I think).

I binge-watched the UK version from Amazon Prime and it's utterly charming. And it starts great with Kelly Macdonald as herself being turned down for a role in a blockbuster franchise for looking too old and being encouraged to get plastic surgery.

DL has a thread about the original French series.

Yes, that's it, R1.

I binge-watched the first six (of eight) episodes over the weekend - I'll probably finish it tonight. I like that it's not afraid to go a bit dark every now and then, but I'm still hoping for a positive outcome for Stella.

There is a weird dynamic between Jonathan and his assistant Julia, like they have an affair at the beginning, and he is trying to hide from his mistress (julia) and his wife that Misha is his child.

Love Tim McInnerny in this as Simon who seems like a good and compassionate friend, but lets everybody down professionally by sabotaging his career.

I didn't get the impression that Jonathan and Julia are having an affair, though I think Julia would absolutely love that. 😄 She's so possessive of him! I totally get it... he's handsome and pretty successful.

I agree with you, R5. Simon is a troubled soul, but seems to have a heart of gold.

Is this an exact copy of Call My Agent?

[quote] I didn't get the impression that Jonathan and Julia are having an affair, though I think Julia would absolutely love that. 😄

What is odd is how Jonathan interacts with her early on, like when she gives him those pastries. It's like he's sorry for something, and is walking on eggshells. Stories like that usually start with the boss being completely oblivious of what is going on with their assistant. They basically ignore them and behave rather cold and distant. And the pastries scenes remind me of Ted Lasso where Rebecca warms up to Ted, because he brings her home baked pastries.

I've just finished it - thought it was great! I hope there's going to be another series.

Funny you mention this show - /s

Someone is clearly doing a full court press to get viewers.

I've been seeing this show mentioned EVERYWHERE for the past day.

This was a lot better than expected.

A bit jarring to see Miles and Rachel (IT WASN'T ME) happily married after 25 years. The PAs are all great - Julia is a cross between Olivia Colman and Theresa May - but they really do have a tiny number of staff considering the number of actors they have.

I knew David Oyelowo was married to an actress but I don't think I've ever seen her in anything before now.

Maggie Steed has been around forever and great to see her playing against type as a grand old dame. Her role in Michaela Coel's Chewing Gum couldn't be more different.

And after Last Christmas and Gentleman Jack, Lydia Leonard plays lesbian again.

Very enjoyable, very funny. Hoping Anna Rampton gets a job there for series 2.

I watched the first episode with Kelly Macdonald last night. At the end, I was kind of "eh" and am not sure I'll stick with it. It seems like an almost literal remake of the French show, but without the same energy or weird French humor. It's, essentially, the Anglo-washed copy of "Call My Agent", with the same characters but with something missing in the mix. Can you imagine what kind of mess the UK version of Hicham will turn out to be?

It was a show that found it's footings episode by episode. I liked it and then loved it by the end. Much like the French version, yet different too. It's not often they lift a concept and don't fuck it up. This time they didn't. (Read a story awhile back the French version will be revived and there's talk of a film on it, too.)

I thought they did a good job adapting this. Making the founder of the firm the father of the top agent was a great move, as was giving the older woman agent more screen time.

It could have gone very wrong, as did Call My Agent: Bollywood, which was awful.

I didn't realise John Morton adapted Ten Percent from Call My Agent - it's not surprising its W1Aish as he also created that and Twenty Twelve. Yes, absolutely, yes.

And Rebecca Humphries who plays Rebecca is most famous for being the girlfriend of Seann Walsh, the comedian who was on Strictly and then was photographed kissing his dance partner Katya Jones. Funny that Lorraine! uploaded the show but blurred out all the photos showed, presumably for copyright and privacy reasons.

R12, stick with it. I thought the same thing but it frequently goes its own way. And it's got a marvellous feel to it.

I went from hating Kirsten, the new American boss, to loving her. I thought her story was well thought out and written (not to mention very well-acted), and it was an arc absent from the French original, so Ten Percent isn't an exact copy.

How did you all watch the entire first season? I have it on Amazon Prime through an AMC+ subscription, which so far has only made three episodes available.

All 8 episodes were released on Prime in the UK. They're also available to download from all good pirating sites.

I saw it on Prime Canada all at once.

I am watching it and it is very different than the French original. It is much more interested in the regulars' personal relationships. The French is more tightly focused on the business so the guest stars feature more prominently in the episodes and have more fully developed stories.

^^^In the British version the "stars" are almost never seen in scenes without the agents present. In the French version, they often are.

The Indian guy is very difficult to look at.

I've read that it's a hard-to-watch translation of Dix Pour Cent/Call My Agent!, but I do like Kelly MacDonald and so I may watch it.

It's funny to read people's interpretation of the 'possessive' relationship between the boss and the woman who works there knowing the French show...it really sounds like the story is an exact copy.

I loved the original very much and hope for a new season soon.

I loved the French series and watched the first episode in the English version but it seemed like a literal translation so I immediately knew who the boss's daughter was, who was going to die, etc., so it seemed pointless watching it again.

It does deviate a lot from the French version as time goes on. It's definitely worth a watch.

I'm still waiting to hear news about the next series.

I love the French version and just watched the first episode of this one.

I found it dreadfully boring, and not just because I knew what was going to happen. Seemed to have none of the charm of the original. And some of the things that made sense in the original (i.e., the way Camille accidentally spilled the beans about Cecile De France being passed over for a role on account of her age) didn't make sense in the remake. Moreover, the way that same character (Misha in the remake) ended up recovering her job after being fired strained credulity.

I am not totally fluent in French, but strangely enough, I think I understood the French dialogue in the original better than the English dialogue in the remake. I couldn't understand what the hell they were saying half the time.

Lastly, that trite trope at the end where Jonathan announces the devastating news about his father, followed by the cut to the credits with the ironically festive music, made me want to barf.

[quote]It does deviate a lot from the French version as time goes on. It's definitely worth a watch.

One big difference: the old lady agent has a lot more to do in the British version and definitely seems like a active founding partner.

They needed bigger stars for this. The UK has so many great stars and this lot is all they could come up? Really?

Netflix also has a Bollywood version of the show which took me a while to get into it because I kept comparing it to the original but then I came to like it.

Okay, I’ll give it a shot. I know this is just some PR tactic to get people watching, but it worked.

That final episode really sucked.