Emily in Rome? Macron joins campaign to stop Netflix heroine from deserting Paris

It is shameless fantasy, from high heels on cobble stones to sanitised streets free of litter and dog mess, a suspiciously blue river Seine, no homelessness and a main character so cut off from reality that French media refer to her as "the overdressed American".

- Angelique Chrisafis

But the hugely successful Netflix series Emily in Paris - for all its stereotyping about a Chicago girl's culture clashes in French marketing - did bring hordes of tourists to France, boost trade and increase inquiries to estate agents in the capital.

Now its departure to Rome for series 5 has become a political issue, with the president, Emmanuel Macron, announcing he will fight hard to keep it in France.

Macron told the US showbusiness magazine Variety: “We will fight hard. And we will ask them to remain in Paris! 'Emily in Paris' in Rome doesn't make sense.”

Macron's wife, Brigitte, a 71-year-old former teacher, has a cameo appearance in the show's fourth season, in which, during a chance meeting in a restaurant, she says she follows Emily on Instagram.

Previously she was mentioned in the first series, sharing Emily's Instagram post about how disappointing it was that the French word for vagina, le vagin, is masculine. Cast members said Brigitte Macron was “so game” to appear and was allowed to improvise and wear her own clothes.