Alan Partridge is back! Plus, an award-winning drama on RTÉ & screen news
Twenty-five years after he first appeared on TV, Norwich’s most famous broadcaster, Alan Partridge, is back on our screens. He mightn’t have had much luck convincing the BBC brass to give him a third season when Knowing Me, Knowing You finished up in 1995 (that’s what happens when you fatally shoot a guest live on air), but you can’t keep a good man down. This Time with Alan Partridge will see Alan (Steve Coogan) handed a career lifeline – the chance to stand in as cohost on This Time, a weekday evening magazine show. It’s the perfect opportunity for this king of chat, who describes his style as “equidistant between chitchat and analysis,” to finally be recognised as one of the heavyweight broadcasters of his era.
What could possibly go wrong?
Penned by Steve Coogan with his regular writing team of Neil and Rob Gibbons, This Time with Alan Partridge will see the great man reunited with some familiar colleagues, including Sidekick Steve (Tim Key) and his redoubtable PA, Lynn (Felicity Montagu). Joining Alan on the sofa each week will be his co-presenter, Jennie (Susannah Fielding); who, like the rest of us, is not quite sure what to expect from Partridge at any given moment. This is, after all, the man who once began a movie interview with the immortal observation: “Hollywood. Hollywood is more than nine big letters on a hill...”
It’s chat, Jim; but not as we know it.