This Time with Alan Partridge marks the long-awaited return of Steve Coogan’s bumbling broadcaster to the BBC.
It’s more than 25 years since Coogan and Armando Iannucci created the character, and despite being a complete and utter liability, Partridge has somehow managed to get back inside Broadcasting House for a new live chat show…
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Here’s everything you need to know…
When is This Time with Alan Partridge on TV?
The new six-part comedy starts on BBC1 on Monday 25th February at 9:30pm.
What is the format of This Time with Alan Partridge?
The mock-live half-hour programme – which sounds a lot like The One Show – features “a heady mix of consumer affairs, current affairs, viewer interaction, highbrow interview and lightweight froth”.
It has been pegged as “the perfect shop window for a man of Alan’s gravitas” and it’s hoped that the show “will, or should, see him finally recognised as one of the heavyweight broadcasters of his era”.
Is there a trailer for This Time with Alan Partridge?
Who writes and stars in the show?
The new comedy is penned by Coogan and his recent collaborators Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons who co-wrote Mid Morning Matters, the film Alpha Papa and Alan Partridge’s autobiographies.
Coogan is back as Partridge of course, and Tim Key reprises the role he played in the film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa – although this time, instead of being known as Sidekick Simon his character is billed as Simon Denton.
Felicity Montagu will return as Alan Partridge’s assistant – meaning we’re likely to get a glimpse of the goings-on backstage.
Susannah Fielding is also set to star as his female co-presenter Jennie Gresham.
When did we last see Alan Partridge broadcasting live?
In recent times, Alan has been broadcasting on North Norfolk Digital, back in his home county. His exploits at this station were captured in Mid Morning Matters on YouTube and then Sky Atlantic, where he has also made documentaries including Scissored Isle. Before that he spent much of his time on Radio Norwich (with the occasional straight to video gig, and some work on UK Conquest). These times, and his somewhat turbulent life around them are chronicles in two series of I’m Alan Partridge.
He last presented live television in the 90s with chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You but it all ended disastrously for him and the BBC. The fictional show was axed after Partridge accidentally fatally shot a guest live on air.
Much of his life has also been chronicled in two autobiographies, I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan and Nomad.
Where did the Alan Partridge character first appear?
Alan first appeared in 1991 on the Radio 4 satirical news programme On The Hour as an inept sports reporter. It was a character he reprised in the television version of the show called The Day Today in 1994. Both series were created by Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris, and starred Morris alongside Coogan, Rebecca Front, Doon Mackichan, Patrick Marber and David Schneider.
What else has Steve Coogan been working on?
Steve Coogan has been starring in various series of The Trip opposite Rob Brydon, as well as voicing characters in the Despicable Me films and co-writing, producing and starring in the Oscar-winning Philomena.
He’s set to star in a political indie movie about a right-wing radio presenter, Hot Air, and will appear in the forthcoming Laurel and Hardy biopic.
Where can I catch up on old Alan Partridge TV shows and movies?
I’m Alan Partridge and Knowing Me Knowing You are both on Netflix.
And the BBC is hoping to make its entire Partridge output available on iPlayer leading up to transmission in order to introduce a potential new fan base to his previous work.
This Time with Alan Partridge will begin on BBC1 in early 2019
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