Morgana Robinson fronts this seven-part mockumentary as Vincent Mann, a slippery agent whose entire client list, from Adele to Danny Dyer, is also Robinson in prosthetics and wig. The camera crew trail Mann through his glass-walled office while his stars, each a brittle caricature, submit to humiliating rebrand meetings and botched commercial shoots. The format lets Robinson swing from Joanna Lumley’s drawling grande-dame to Russell Brand’s feral yoga guru without pause for breath, trusting the physical comedy to paper over the thin plots.
BBC Two tucked the series into a late-autumn slot in 2016, pairing it with repeats of W1A to extend the lampoon of media narcissism. Writers Jack Bayles, Miles Chapman and Matt Morgan keep the dialogue brisk, but the real engine is Robinson’s gift for catching the flutter of a mouth or the slack stare that turns familiarity into ridicule.
Critics praised her precision: Lucy Mangan in The Guardian called the show “just what we need in this strife-streven year”, while The Telegraph handed it three stars and admired the venom beneath the latex. No second run was commissioned, leaving the seven episodes as a cult calling card for Robinson’s shape-shifting talent.
Production Details
BBC Two / 1 Season / 7 Episodes / 2016
Created by: Morgana Robinson
Writer(s): Miles Chapman, Matt Morgan
Producer(s): Jack Bayles
Main Cast
Morgana Robinson as Vincent Mann / Various Characters
