Aha! Alan Partridge returns with his new trailer for This Time with Alan Partridge
18th February 2019The trailer for the new Alan Partridge series is here, and he is taking on the One Show in his own parody.
The character of Alan Partridge has been around for a long time, yes, it is hard to believe that Alan Partridge is just a made-up character created by Steve Coogan to parody ‘little Englanders’. Since his debut in 1991 on BBC Radio 4’s On the Hour, the British people have watched his career twist and turn with TV, Radio and his two autobiographies. When I was younger, I used to think Partridge was real and Steve Coogan was made up.
Here’s a run through of the Partridge story so far:
It all started on Radio 4’s ‘On the hour’, a news parody show hosted by Chris Morris (Brass Eye) on which Partridge was a regularly occurring character being the sports presenter – he was pretty useless and it was evident he had no idea what he was talking about. The character proved popular with listeners, leading to Partridges getting his own radio show Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge. Named after the ABBA song Knowing Me, Knowing Uou, which is Partridge’s favourite band. The show was a radio chat show, featuring many different guests, who were all characters and Partridge tried his best not to insult them.
Both these series then moved to television with ‘On the hour’ becoming ‘The day today’ in which Alan reprised his role as sports commentator; and Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge in 1994 (Available on Netflix), however things did not go well for Alan’s career as he accidentally shot a guest and attacked the commissioning editor at the BBC which promptly ended his television career.
The series ‘I’m Alan Partridge’ is a mockumentary that follows Alan who is now stuck in a dead-end radio job on North Norfolk broadcasting, whilst living in a hotel. Here he attempted to break back into the television industry coming up with ideas to sell to the commissioning editor. He offends everyone he comes across and alienates his audience, calling out farmers for having giant genetically mutated chickens in their sheds, to offending those who work in the local supermarket. The show featured cameos from the likes of Chris Morris, Simon Pegg, Graham Linehan and Stephen Mangan. The show ended in 2002.
Partridge then returned in a few internet shorts called ‘Mid-Morning Matters with Alan Partridge’ shot from the webcam of North Norfolk digital. The show Alan’s ranting about matters from cyclists to wine, however, he always goes off topic either to remind people about his past career in tv or to grovel at the fact he is no longer at the BBC.
His final appearance was in the 2013 film, Alan Partridge Alpha Papa, in which he has to play negotiator with the police after the radio station is bought by a network and fires DJ Pat Ferrell, who comes back and takes everyone hostage. Alan attempts to calm the situation by co-operating with Pat but only escalates it when it is revealed that Alan had told the Board to ‘JUST SACK PAT’. Ending in a shootout, Partridge keeps his show on the station but it is unknown what the character has been up to since then.
Now he is back on the small screen in a One Show style show. Coogan himself said it was the ‘right time for Partridge to make a return’ as he hopes he reflects the attitude of many of the Brexit voters.
View the trailer below:
