![Morgana Robinson's The Agency. Morgana Robinson. Copyright: Happy Tramp Productions Morgana Robinson's The Agency. Morgana Robinson. Copyright: Happy Tramp Productions](https://cdn.comedy.co.uk/images/library/comedies/300x200/m/morgana_robinson_agency_lumley.jpg)
Morgana Robinson's The Agency
- TV sketch show
- BBC Two
- 2016
- 6 episodes (1 series)
Impressionism sketch show starring Morgana Robinson as the stars of talent agency Mann Management. Also features Cavan Clerkin, Gemma Whelan, Perry Benson, Seb Cardinal, Rebecca Humphries and Claire Skinner
Episode menu
Series 1, Episode 2
Further details
Vincent receives news of a huge audition for EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy opposite a Hollywood A-lister. For Natalie this is a dream come true, but with her dad unwilling to look after himself, Natalie must come up with a faultless plan for dad before she can get to the casting.
Meanwhile, Joanna Lumley is hemorrhaging the filming budget while on her travelogues. With this in mind, Vincent has concocted a solution by keeping 'Jo Jo's' far flung travels much closer to home.
Also in this episode, we meet pop star Cheryl Cole and the new love(s) in her life, and Danny Dyer is up for an unlikely but flattering award.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Monday 3rd October 2016
- Time
- 10pm
- Channel
- BBC Two
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
Morgana Robinson | Various |
Cavan Clerkin | Vincent Mann |
Gemma Whelan | Kat Cassidy |
Perry Benson | Mr Cassidy |
Seb Cardinal | Tim |
Rebecca Humphries | Rachel |
Claire Skinner | Narrator |
Lolly Adefope | Essex County Council Official |
Gabby Best | Mariola |
Asim Chaudhry | Trevor |
Natasia Demetriou | Receptionist |
Nish Nathwani | Carpet Salesman |
Tony Way | Carpet Salesman |
Toby Williams | Essex County Council Official |
Terry Mynott | Morgan Freeman (Voice) |
Jack Bayles | Writer |
Matt Morgan | Writer |
Sarah Morgan | Writer |
Nico Tatarowicz | Writer |
Neil Webster | Writer |
Miles Chapman | Writer |
Mark O'Sullivan | Writer |
Steven Burge (as Steve Burge) | Writer |
Tom McKay | Director |
Jack Bayles | Producer |
Neil Webster | Executive Producer |
Kate Daughton | Executive Producer |
Ben Palmer | Executive Producer |
Morgana Robinson | Associate Producer |
Mark Henson | Editor |
Alex Beverly | Production Designer |
Rosalie Clayton | Casting Director |
Lynsey Moore | Costume Designer |
Oli Russell | Director of Photography |
Jo Jenkins | Make-up Designer |
Chris May | 1st Assistant Director |
Video
Cheryl's new love
Cheryl introduced us to her new love, Buster.
Featuring: Cavan Clerkin (Vincent Mann) & Morgana Robinson.
Press
'Natalie Cassidy' is the star of the show again this week. Morgana Robinson obviously knows she's her best impression and she's not afraid to milk it. Tonight, Natalie's agent rings her with some fantastic news: Morgan Freeman is auditioning female actresses for a role in his new film and she's been invited to attend. The role is perfect for her: she's to play a cockney astronaut. But she can't find anyone to look after her grumpy old dad (he's actually my favourite character in tonight's show) so she'll have to take him with her to meet Morgan Freeman, but he's stuffed in his armchair, refusing to "go up London". We also see Cheryl Cole who's through with worthless men and is trying to find a new soulmate with various pets, but neither the cute wee dog nor the tortoise can seem to understand her emotional needs.
Julie McDowall, The National (Scotland), 3rd October 2016This mock doc - following a talent agency's celeb clients, all of whom are played by Robinson - seems on the surface to be subtler than most impression shows. In its second episode, though, it suffers familiar diminishing returns. Each character has one weekly variation on their one basic joke: if that's not funny, the whole thing's a grind. Tonight, Mel and Sue (though you couldn't tell it was supposed to be them) decide to try some time apart.
Jack Seale, The Guardian, 3rd October 2016In Morgana Robinson's The Agency impressionist imagines that all of the celebrities that she mimics are represented by the same agent. The agent in question is Vincent Mann (Calvin Clerkin) who runs the wittily titled Mann Management and looks constantly exasperated by his client base. Those of us who'd watched Robinson's previous shows such as The Morgana Show and Very Important People will recognise the majority of the impressions here with Fearne Cotton, Adele and Cheryl Cole being some of Vincent's many clients. However the main focus of the first episode of this mockumentary focused primarily on Eastenders actress Natalie Cassidy as she prepared for the National Television Awards. I felt Morgana did well in crafting a story for the put-upon Cassidy who tried her best to look after her family whilst at the same time being a famous soap actress. Robinson's performance presented the fictional Cassidy in an incredibly sympathetic light and I felt she was also able to impersonate her mannerisms perfectly. The same can't be said for Robinson's impression of Danny Dyer which certainly wasn't nearly as nuanced and instead involved her shouting in a cockney accent. The story in which Dyer also tried to become a children's author wasn't that amusing and most of the gags were pretty obvious. It didn't help that Robinson's Danny Dyer sounded incredibly similar to her Gregg Wallace and if she wasn't made up to look like each of them then I think you'd struggle to spot the difference. The other prominent storyline in this first episode saw Vincent try to secure some stage work for Miranda Hart to broaden her range. Unfortunately Miranda couldn't deal with the Pinter material without launching into her comedy routine, irritating both the director and her co-stars in the process. Whilst I found Robinson's Miranda impression to be quite impressive, the story itself was quite obvious and as an audience member I knew exactly where it was going. Overall I found The Agency to be incredibly hit-and-miss and if hadn't been for the well-imagined Natalie Cassidy segments I may not have made it through the entire episode. Although I do feel Robinson is a talented impressionist, I don't think The Agency works as well as it should and as there's six more episodes to go I can't see myself sticking around for any more.
Matt, The Custard TV, 2nd October 2016