Coogan’s curse of Partridge

DESPERATE to be taken seriously as an actor, Steve Coogan admits he was left ‘spitting blood’ after being overlooked for an ITV drama because producers couldn’t separate him from his comic creation, Alan Partridge.

‘Charles Sturridge wanted me to play the lead,’ he claims of The Scapegoat, but the role ended up going to Matthew Rhys. ‘They said, “We just don’t want him because of who we think he is. It just seems wrong. He’s Alan Partridge”. I was so angry — I was spitting blood.’

Maybe the audition just didn’t go as well as he thought?