Sacré bleu! The French hit series Call My Agent (Dix Pour Cent) has had a British makeover, or should I say a London makeover, and arrived on Amazon Prime as Ten Percent. The series follows the trials, tribulations and love affairs of talent agency Nightingale Hart, with cameo appearances by Helena Bonham Carter, Clémence Poésy, Olivia Williams, Jim Broadbent, Dominic West, Phoebe Dynevor and Emma Corrin, all playing themselves. But the reigning star of this merry show is London, and if you’re wondering where it was filmed, follow me for the Ten Percent filming locations in London. Allons-y.
Ten Percent filming locations in Fitzrovia
Let’s begin with the all-important location: the offices of Nightingale Hart, at 15 Rathbone Street in Fitzrovia. One of the most prominent landmarks in this area is the BT Tower, which you will see hovering above throughout the series. Nearby is pretty Charlotte Street with its shops, restaurants and cafés, and the Charlotte Street Hotel, owned by Firmdale Hotels. Fitzrovia is the central hub for much of the series, which is fitting as it’s the capital’s media nerve centre. Make sure you check out the Fitzroy Tavern, frequented by the likes of Dylan Thomas and Jacob Epstein, and the jaw-dropping Fitzrovia Chapel.
Ten Percent filming locations in episodes one to three
Episode one: Regent’s Park, Primrose Hill and the Dorchester
In the opening episode, Kelly Macdonald is struggling to land a role in the next big flick. She’s considered too old thanks to the smallest of frown lines, and she is pressured into seeing a doctor-who-will-fix-it. You’ll see Kelly hanging out with her agent Dan (Prasanna Puwanarajah) in The Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill.
Both belong to the Royal Parks. The Regent’s Park is one of London’s largest and is famous for London Zoo, Queen Mary’s Gardens and the Open Air Theatre. Primrose Hill was once Henry VIII’s hunting stomping ground. The surrounding area is also called Primrose Hill, with its pastel-coloured houses, independent shops and restaurants. It’s also home to Paddington Bear, but I have yet to spot him.
Later in the episode, our agents are off to The Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane to toast owner Richard Nightingale’s lifetime achievement. The Dorchester is famous for its celebrity clientele, most notably Michael Jackson, who dangled his baby son from a balcony window. The hotel has also been the subject of controversy over its ownership by the Sultan of Brunei, and some celebrities have boycotted it in the past.
Episode two: Scarfe’s Bar and the Old Red Lion
Disaster looms for agents Jonathan (Jack Davenport) and Rebecca (Lydia Leonard) when they discover that Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Williams are up for the same role. They meet with the celebrities at Scarfe’s Bar in the Rosewood Hotel, Holborn. Gerald Scarfe is one of the country’s best-known cartoonists and illustrators (you may recognise his artwork for Pink Floyd’s The Wall).
Later we see agent Dan head over to the Old Red Lion Theatre Pub in Angel. The theatre sits on top of a pub by the same name, thought to be one of London’s oldest watering holes, with roots that are said to go back to 1415. William Hogarth was a fan and included it in one of his works, Evening. James Thomson, remembered for The Seasons as well as for the lyrics to Rule, Britannia!, was also said to be a regular in the 1720s. He was also a fan of The Dove pub, which we see later in episode eight. Oh, and Samuel Johnson was also a patron, but was there any London pub Johnson didn’t frequent frequently?
Episode three: the Apollo Theatre and Theatreland
Dominic West takes centre stage, literally, in episode three, manifesting a crush of stage fright during his enactment of Hamlet. Much of the action takes place at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue.
You’ll also see fleeting scenes of Theatreland, J. Sheekey (best restaurant in town if you ask me), Trafalgar Square, and Mayfair’s Shepherd Market and Curzon Street.
Ten Percent filming locations in episodes four to six
Episode four: Soho Square and Norma
Emma Corrin and Himesh Patel play the lovestruck duo in episode four, but the episode is also about brother and sister act Misha (Hiftu Quasem) and Luke (Edward Bluemel). They meet in Soho Square to discuss his script.
Soho Square was once known as King’s Square after Charles II, and you can still see his statuesque likeness there. At the centre of the square is a mock Tudor building, erected in 1926 to hide an electricity substation. In the 1670s it was one of the most fashionable addresses in London. By the eighteenth century it was the place where all of London flocked for the infamous masked parties chez operatic soprano Teresa Cornelys, whose lover was Casanova. The sumptuous parties became so famous that Parliament is said to have adjourned early to enable members to attend one of her masquerades in February 1770.
In the meantime, Jonathan is getting itchy feet at the agency, and has lunch with the competition at Norma on Charlotte Street. Part Italian, part Moorish, the restaurant serves up small plates and pastas.
Episode five: Whitfield Gardens, Hampstead Heath and Kenwood House
Episode five opens with the BT Tower again, looking over the famous Fitzrovia Mural in Whitfield Gardens.
Bridgerton fans will be thrilled to see Phoebe Dynevor making her appearance. She stays at the Covent Garden Hotel, a Kit Kemp designed boutique hotel with its own screening room.
She goes jogging in Hampstead Heath, one of London’s most beautiful green spaces and said to have inspired C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series. She ends up having an altercation with both Rebecca and Dan, who have been stalking her outside the glorious Kenwood House, an English Heritage property with some seriously drop-dead interiors and art. You may also recognise Kenwood from the scene in Notting Hill where Hugh Grant goes to meet Julia Roberts during her filming of the Henry James film.
Later, we’re back at the Dorchester Hotel, where Jonathan and Phoebe talk shop and sip on bellinis, apparently the best in the city.
Episode six: One Marylebone and the Rathbone Hotel
There’s a big film premiere in town with real husband and wife team David and Jessica Oyelowo on the red carpet. If you’re wondering where the fancy pants party takes place, it’s at One Marylebone, a Grade I listed building designed by John Soane. He’s the architectural genius behind Sir John Soane’s Museum and the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and the mausoleum he designed for his wife is said to be the inspiration for the iconic red phone box. One Marylebone can also be hired for events.
Poor Jonathan sets up home at the Rathbone Hotel on, you guessed it, Rathbone Street. It’s a tad closer to the office than his pre-separation residence on Richmond Green.
Ten Percent filming locations in episodes seven and eight
Episode seven: Pineapple Studios, Little Venice and Upper Mall
Bonjour Clémence Poésy, she of In Bruges and Harry Potter fame. She’s just given birth and is overwhelmed with maternal guilt as Rebecca tries to drag her back to star in a film about prima ballerina Anna Pavlova. Clémence strikes a ballerina pose at London’s Pineapple Studios, a famous dance studio complex in Covent Garden.
Misha and Luke meet up again in a café in picture-perfect Little Venice. There are some charming cafés and restaurants along the capital’s Venetian waterways, or you could be daring and skipper your own self-drive boat from Little Venice to Camden.
Heading out of town to Sussex is the perfectly formed Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway, which was also used as a shooting location for Downton Abbey.
Back in London, Rebecca and Margaux say their goodbyes on Upper Mall in west London’s Hammersmith, where I lived for many years. You’ll catch a glimpse of the Dove pub, one of London’s most famous, with a cracking view of the River Thames. Would you like to use Margaux’s eclectic house for your next shoot? Here you go.
Episode eight: Rambert and the rain
Misha pays a visit to Jonathan’s wife, Rebecca, who teaches at the world-famous Rambert School of Ballet in Twickenham. Check the Rambert School website for their events.
The essence of London finally makes its appearance in the concluding episode of the first series: rain. About time too.
If you enjoy exploring London through the screen, you might also like my guide to alternative museums in London.