STEVE COOGAN: ‘We made the new set deliberately awkward’

Steve Coogan, 53, on bringing back his comedy creation Alan Partridge to front new BBC magazine show This Time

Is the new series improvised?

Not while the cameras are rolling. It [the dialogue] looks random, but every little bit of it is planned. It’s quite surgical, actually. We laugh at it in the writing room and after that it just becomes joyless [laughs].

So, Alan’s back at the BBC [following a stint on Sky Atlantic with Mid Morning Matters]…

We had a very long extended sabbatical at Sky, but we are back and it feels right. I enjoy doing him; he’s funny and it makes me laugh.

Do you do any Alan prep?

There’s no real ritual – it feels like second nature now. The downside is you’re doing something people have seen before and you’re competing against yourself, but the upside is the audience know who he is, so there’s no groundwork.

Any favourite moments from this new series?

I play an Alan Partridge lookalike in one episode. We cast around and settled on me to play him!

Is it all set in a studio?

Essentially, yes. We do go out on little forays, but we made a decision to have Alan on camera as he’s going to be aware he’s being watched and you can see him modifying his behaviour. That gives you a lot of comedy. We also had meetings about making the studio awkward on purpose; the steps are a bit too high – you can’t walk up them smoothly...

Lynn [Alan’s PA, played by Felicity Montagu] is back, too…

Years ago, we decided to make her slightly racist. She is fiercely protective of Alan, even though he treats her badly.

Is Michael [Alan’s only friend, played by Simon Greenall] dead?

Watch this space – we’ve got plans for Michael…