Dame Kristin Scott Thomas is to join the cast of critically-acclaimed comedy Fleabag for its second series.
The darkly comic show will also welcome Shakespearean actress Fiona Shaw for the new run, which already includes Oscar-nominated talent Olivia Colman.
Fleabag was written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who also plays the title role and has been showered with praise by her incoming co-stars.
Dame Kristin hailed the “sledgehammer brutality” of Waller-Bridge’s creation, and revealed that she binge-watched the first series of the BBC show.
She said: “Phoebe Waller-Bridge cannot be ignored. She manages to hit core issues with sledgehammer brutality as she trips along with a spring in her step.
“I laughed helplessly as I binge-watched the first brilliantly funny series and enjoyed being aghast at times. I was very flattered to be asked to be in Series 2.”
Waller-Bridge joked: “They literally begged me to be in it. Begged me. Begged. One of them was crying.”
The show follows the relationship struggles of a woman, Fleabag, suffering in the aftermath of trauma and trying to navigate modern life in London.
It features the lead character negotiating death, masturbation, failed personal connections, and empty sexual encounters.
Shaw said of the writing on the show: “Phoebe’s mind is like nothing else.”
Set a year after the first series, Fleabag’s second instalment begins with a religious encounter which alters the thinking of the lead character.
The series will see her once again grapple with her fraught personal relationships, including with her godmother, played by Colman.
The show began as Waller-Bridge’s one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, before she adapted it for the small screen.
The forthcoming second series is due to premiere on BBC Three and Amazon Prime Video in the spring.
