Do you like me doing that?Do you erShall I er, move on to the other one?Oh that's lovelyThat's first classThat is superbOh, there you go, it's all happeningI'm afraid I have no sheathesProphylactics, you know, rubber johnniesActually, er, being your age and everything, there's probably no needDo you mind if I talk?I'll be honest, I'm dead against itHave you ever been the Far East Michael?Oh well er, only Manilla, Hong Kong and Bankok likeBankok?AyeUm, so what did you see in Bankok?Oh I saw the Golden Temple man, beautiful it wasEr, well there's a river market, all the little boats... Michael Michael come on!Tell me about the Lady Boys!You know, they're disgusting, I kept awayOh God yeah, yeahFasinating creatures thoughLaughterLooks like a lady, but really it's a manI don't find them attractive, it's just confusingAny messages?Just the one, from Bill OddieDid he leave a message?NoNo he never doesRight well, I'm afraid Susan, I've got some very bad newsI'm leaving you you cow!Sorry, bit of a joke there, backfiredAfraid soThird timeScum, subhuman scumI'll level with you, I'm really scaredIn fact, I think I'll goNo, stay! Don't go!What do you want to do?I think that's a great ideaDo you really?I think it's the best idea in the worldAnd I'll, be Alan PartridgeNot my face, I'm doing a photoshoot for Vision Express!I can't breathe! I can't breathe!Uh, Nottingham?OhOh, I ate a scotch eggI thought it would have broken down by now, but I think I'm slightly constipatedSurprising really considering the circumstancesBest friendsPretty much, yeahNoNo way you big spastic, you're a mentalist!Sunday bloody SundayBloody Sunday is actually about a massacre in Derry in 1972Massacre, ew, not playing that againMorning Mr PartridgeEr, bit of a job for youEr, unfortunately, some vandals have sworn all over my car againVandals, you know, makes you wonder what it's all abootAboot?Aye, you know, vandalsWhat is it all aboot?Oh, about! SorryWhat?If they had themselves proper jobs, then they wouldn't do it, a lot of them are from broken homesSorry, that was just a noiseAnd a broken home is not an excuse for evilYou, look at you, do you go round drawing peep hole bras on the wall?I was in the army when I was 17Well there you go, they taught you a tradeThat and killingI've seen some terrible things mindWhat like, three men burning in a tank?I'll be honest, I'm pretty curiousAnd then make a programme about itREO SpeedwagonUmOne thousand two hundred and thirty to twelveTen past fiveI love you in a way, ahAnd now it's time for Alan's fact of the dayCrab sticks do not actually contain any crabAnd from 1993, manufacturers have been legally obliged to label them 'crab flavoured sticks'Another one of those same time tomorrowWould you go out with me if I was younger and more attractive?Yes I think I probably wouldOkIt's mineI know you're a DJ, but I've heard your showI've got a broad taste, from the britpop bands like UB 40, Def Leppard, right back to classic rock like WingsYeah, so do ITough oneSo er, so who's your favourite singer then?Frank SinatraKurt CobainWho's he?NirvanaBlew his head off with a gun?Why?He was depressedWhy, were they not very good?Someone should have told himBang and OlusenOh hahahaha!Hahahaha! UnbelievableI'm joined by Alice, who's not going to shrink me into a little bottle, she's going to tell me about Hamilton's holiday breaksYou regularly book don't you?And do you do that with your boyfriend?What, you book alone?How old are you?What do you do on a boat alone?Read a book, relax, look at the sceneryNo, she sounds weirdSorry, thank you loveAlright Chris?Hello Alan, didn't know you'd moved inYeah, just moved invI'd love toDo you mind if I bring my guitar?Do you like mini kievs?I love emBut my wife's vegetarianDoesn't matter, she can have fishNo, she won't eat that eitherOh forget itAquaWhich is French for waterUh, you blonde bastard, from the futureAs I see it, God created Adam and EveHe didn't create Adam and SteveUmI didn't quite kill him, that was the tragedy, I had to go back and finish him off with a jackLynn, I'm not driving a mini metroIt's a build-up of fatty deposits just above the belt linevWell I can't talk, I've got a fat backI'll have a pint of bitter!Shoestring, Taggart, Spender, Bergerac, MorseWhat does that say to you about regional detective series?A bit of a maverickAlan, I want you back on the tellyJurassic ParkKommenz zie bitte, und listen to KraftwekListen to this, it'll blow your socks offThere's more to Ireland dan disOk, there will be no telephone Cleudo todayBecause of a threat of a court injunctionI got really drunk last night, I was sick everywhereShe was certainly first in the queue when God was handing out chestsOoo, I'd love to have it off with herOhh, sexThis is a romantic tributeWhy do birdsSuddenly appear, that's too highWhy do, why do, no that's not going to workWould you like a Cuban cigar?Yes pleaseRolled on the thighs of a virginAhOh I like this, yesCertainly enough room to swing a tiger in hereI didn't want to be sick on the roadHe got scared and ran awayHe was in the army, and I think he saw people being blown upI wasn't trying to steal a traffic coneTo an innocent bystander, it could may look like traffic one theftAnd I'm an innocent bystanderTo me it looks like traffic cone theftKing RoadTenI'm going to go home, and probably just go straight to bed, just keep out of troubleEr, well I won't be on in the morning, because I'm doing nights, I won't be on until about 2 o'clockWhen the boat comes inYou're not in the army anymoreAyeLet's get back to cockadoodle whoCockadoodle WhoIgnorant and offensiveWho invented the skipTongue, who eats tongue for goodness sake, imagine tongue sticking out a sesame seed cobYou ignorant shitHello, have you got a brain, or is your head just full of shitMooOh you ignorantI'm 43 you cheeky gitAlan Gordon Partridge is a fictional television and radio presenter portrayed by English comedian Steve Coogan. A parody of both sports commentators and chat show presenters, the character has appeared in two radio series, three television series and numerous TV and radio specials, including appearances on BBC's Comic Relief, which have followed the rise and fall of his career.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Character
* 2 Fictional biography
o 2.1 Early years and career
o 2.2 Radio career
o 2.3 The Day Today
o 2.4 Knowing Me, Knowing You
o 2.5 I'm Alan Partridge
o 2.6 Anglian Lives
o 2.7 Alan Partridge The Movie
* 3 Recent Activity
* 4 List of appearances
* 5 References
* 6 External links
[edit] Character
Whereas many of his personality defects are apparent in his appearances in shows such as The Day Today and Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, it is largely from I'm Alan Partridge onwards that his creators began to explore his personality in depth, and most of the observations that follow originated in that show.
In these shows, Partridge is characterised as being an insecure, superficial and narcissistic 'wally', concerned largely with the status and level of his public profile and, to a lesser extent, the possessions this allows him to acquire (such as his beloved Rover and Lexus cars and Bang & Olufsen stereo systems). Despite being a professional broadcaster, Partridge is a socially incompetent and awkward character, who is prone to social faux pas and often displays deep insensitivity to social norms and a thoughtless, selfish lack of interest in anything or anyone outside of his own needs and desires; as a result, he is often depicted as a highly-flawed and unsympathetic character, disliked by many of the people with whom he comes into contact. Among the character’s few "friends" that are depicted in his appearances are Lynn Benfield, his put-upon and long-suffering personal assistant, and Michael, an emotionally tortured ex-soldier from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is notable, however, that he treats even these people with little more than disdain, despite expecting complete loyalty from them in return; in the first series of I'm Alan Partridge he does not even seem to be on first-name terms with Michael (who exclusively addressed him as Mr. Partridge throughout the two series). Bizarrely, Alan appears to have a close friendship with Bill Oddie, who even sends him birthday presents. Partridge is otherwise depicted as being unable to forge genuine friendships or connections with other people, who are often turned off by his unpleasant, self-obsessed personality, and frequently comically banal interests and topics of conversation.
Partridge is depicted as being a sexually repressed and prudish man, uncomfortable and awkward with overt (or even subtle) displays of sexual or romantic feelings, or what he views as being ‘perverted’ sexual practices. He is particularly discomfited by homosexuality, and despite describing himself as "homosceptic" at one point appears to possess some hidden homoerotic or bisexual tendencies. This is the subject of numerous running gags in I’m Alan Partridge, in particular his numerous efforts to deny his interest in Bangkok "lady-boys" (whom he describes as ‘fascinating creatures’ whilst insisting that he is merely confused by them and not attracted to them) and a recurrent gag in which he will daydream about performing an erotic dance in a peephole Pringle jumper and a vulcanised rubber thong for a selection of men (usually those who can help further his career in some way, such as Tony Hayers). He is also quite misogynistic, displaying a tendency to objectify and patronise women (who usually view him in some disdain). Despite this, in the second series of I’m Alan Partridge he manages to sustain a romantic relationship with Sonja, a scatterbrained 33-year-old immigrant from Ukraine who is quite devoted to him. Even this relationship, however, is marked by Alan’s open contempt for her, and it is apparent that her affection towards him is largely unreturned and that his relationship with her is mainly based on the boost to his ego that their 14-year age gap provides (which he is frequently heard boasting about).
No member of Partridge’s family is shown on any of the series that he appears in; however, his dysfunctional relationship with them informs much of the background of the show. In his early appearances, Alan was married to Carol, a never-seen character, and their relationship appeared to be under a lot of strain. In the Christmas special Knowing Me, Knowing Yule, Alan attributed his rash and erratic behaviour to the fact that Carol had left him on Christmas Eve. By the time of I'm Alan Partridge, Alan and Carol are divorced, and while Alan lives in a Travel Tavern, Carol remains in their home with her new boyfriend, who Alan describes unflatteringly as "a narcissistic sports pimp" who apparently enjoys protein drinks. During their marriage, Alan and Carol had two children – Fernando (apparently named after the song by ABBA) and Denise – neither of whom are ever seen or heard on-screen. During the run of Knowing Me, Knowing You, Alan states that Fernando is studying at Christ's College, Cambridge. The next references to Alan's children are made in "I'm Alan Partridge", in which Fernando hangs up on one of Alan's rambling go-nowhere telephone conversations, and in which a staff member at the Travel Tavern mentions that Denise has an oddly similar appearance to Alan. It is also revealed that Denise has a pierced navel, and that Fernando seems to spend much of his time in bed with a succession of girlfriends. The final mention of Alan's children is an offhand comment in the second episode of the second series of "I'm Alan Partridge", in which Alan glibly states that he has access to his children, but that they have no desire to see him.
Outside of his all-consuming quest to be on television, his various appearances often demonstrate that Partridge does not possess a particularly rich or detailed personal life. In I’m Alan Partridge in particular, he is often shown to occupy himself with pointless or needless tasks, seemingly just to give himself something to do; this is particularly demonstrated in the first series episode ‘Basic Alan’, over the course of which he walks to a petrol station to buy 12 bottles of windscreen washer fluid for no apparent reason, spends time driving repeatedly around a ring road and buys tungsten-tipped screws he has no intention of ever using. Most of the interests he is depicted as having show him as out of touch with modern society in general; he describes Paul McCartney's band Wings as "the band The Beatles could have been" (his favourite album is, of course, Band on the Run). In ‘Towering Alan’ he claims to have a broad taste in music, he is a fan of Kate Bush, the Electric Light Orchestra, UB40, Def Leppard and particularly ABBA, the music of which is a recurrent theme in Knowing Me, Knowing You With Alan Partridge. In the second series episode ‘I Know What Alan Did Last Summer’ he enthusiastically plays "air-bass" to the Gary Numan song "Music for Chameleons", and in ‘Never Say Alan Again’ is seen drumming along inside his Lexus to the theme of "Return of the Saint". The few hobbies he is depicted as indulging in include driving, rambling, birdwatching and collecting celebrity memorabilia. Partridge is politically conservative, and his favourite newspaper is the Daily Mail, a right-leaning publication which he claims is "arguably the best newspaper in the world". He is very pro-law and has a strong stance on criminality, viewing hoodlums and miscreants as "sub-human scum". He also favours the death penalty for treason and murder. Despite these professed views, however, he appears to have no strong moral compunctions; in one episode he exploits an "all you can fit on a plate" breakfast deal at the Travel Tavern by bringing in a slightly larger plate of his own, a "scam" of which the staff are in fact fully aware but tolerate with amusement. He has commented on the troubles in Northern Ireland stating that he believes both Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness to be very clever men, however he does not trust either of them as he believes Adams looks like a deputy headmaster and McGuiness looks like a clown without make-up. He has admiration for former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and believes she was betrayed by her own party when she was forced out of Downing Street. Alan once caused a security alert at Choristers Country Club by booking a room under the name "The Real IRA".
[edit] Fictional biography
[edit] Early years and career
Within his fictional world, Partridge was born on April 2, 1955 in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, and spent his childhood in Norwich. He was often bullied at school, as we find out in an episode of the original Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge radio show when Alan is hypnotised and regressed to his childhood, and reveals he was called "Smelly Alan Fartridge". Also, in the second series of I'm Alan Partridge recounts a story about a time he was once caned for having a chalk penis drawn on the back of his school blazer by another student, an incident about which he still feels bitter. He appears to have had a lonely childhood, and in a 'Rural Alan' special feature (found on the DVD release of Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge) recounts how he would ramble about the Norfolk countryside in solitude, singing his favourite pop songs. He later married Carol, who gave birth to Alan's son Fernando and daughter Denise. Carol left Alan for a fitness instructor (whom Alan claims to be an "idiot"), and took the children with her.
[edit] Radio career
Alan worked his way upwards from a position as a DJ on Radio Smile on St Luke's hospital radio, until he left, after arguments with patients. He then began presenting the drive time Traffic Buster show on Radio Norwich, where he stayed for five years and was named sports reporter of the year in 1988. He then became a presenter on the BBC's Scoutabout programme, where he entered into the top eight of BBC sports reporters. Alan soon garnered a slot presenting sports news on BBC Radio 4's On the Hour programme (1991) presented by Chris Morris. On that show Alan suffered from a severe lack of any sporting knowledge and developed a notable talent for mixed and/or nonsensical metaphors.
Alan got his first starring role in 1992 as host of BBC Radio 4's Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge (a spoof chat show with fictional guests). He managed to offend people on his show who would then attempt to disgrace the host. During his tenure on the show, Alan hit a child genius, unknowingly took cocaine, bribed rent boys, lost his wife's car in a bet, was openly homophobic, forced the resignation of a junior government minister and, in the series finale, his guest Lord Morgan of Glossop died of an apparent heart attack.
There was also a one off spoof-documentary about the show called Knowing, Knowing Me, Knowing You. It provided a behind-the-scenes look at how the show was put together and the antagonism between Alan and those who worked for him, as well as giving insight into the problems with his marriage to Carol.
[edit] The Day Today
On The Hour transferred to television as The Day Today in 1994, where Alan continued as the inept sports reporter ("This is Sports Desk... I'm Alan Partridge"). Here he bungled his way through a feature on the 1994 FIFA World Cup, gave a colourful report on the previous sporting season, made a complete mess of reporting the recent horse racing tournament, and was beaten up by a female martial-arts instructor.
[edit] Knowing Me, Knowing You
The transition to television was to be a success for Alan and was swiftly followed by a television version of Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge. The format was largely the same as the radio show, with the addition of a house band under the directorship of Glen Ponder (played by musical comedian Steve Brown). In the sixth episode, Alan accidentally shot dead one of his guests (Forbes McAllister) on air while examining one of Lord Byron's duelling pistols. He was cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal BBC investigation. The show featured an Alan Partridge tie and blazer badge set which, like the Alan Partridge face mask, was produced but never marketed - instead the famous "Tie and Blazer Badge Set" was included as part of a Boxed Set of videos released towards the end of the 1990s.
In reality, KMKYWAP was a huge success; in the fictional world of Alan Partridge, it suffered from terrible ratings. This was because of "poor scheduling" (The show was aired at the same time as the News at Ten) and Alan's PA, Lynn, claimed that "the show started badly and went downhill from there". In the end the show was taken off the air at the end of the first series.
In 1995, Alan hosted a Christmas special of KMKYWAP, humorously titled Knowing Me, Knowing Yule. One of his guests was the (fictional) director of programming at the BBC, Tony Hayers (later to become Alan's nemesis, played by David Schneider). Alan, with a characteristic lack of subtlety, was seen probing for a new series of KMKYWAP. However, the show was an unmitigated disaster for Alan, as his attempt at product placement was blatantly exposed, and the show climaxed with Alan punching both a man in a wheelchair and Tony Hayers (twice) with his hand inside a turkey. After punching Hayers for the first time, Partridge begged "please don't take my chat away from me", then after punching him a second time declared "I'll never work in broadcasting again". Mick Hucknall of Simply Red then played the show out. It was clearly the beginning of the end of his time at BBC television. He was "kept on the books", as it were, for a short while, but after a particularly harrowing meeting with Hayers at the BBC cafeteria (which involved assault by cheese) he was left in no doubt that his BBC TV career was over.
[edit] I'm Alan Partridge
Partridge next appeared in I'm Alan Partridge (1997), a look behind the scenes of his rapidly failing career. In this television series, he is seen having gained a slot on the fictional Radio Norwich. He continues to cause offence, this time mainly to his listeners. He also has a bad relationship with his colleague Dave Clifton (played by Phil Cornwell), Alan occasionaly insults him while introducing him on his show (for example in ‘Alan Attraction’ Alan says "Here's a man who indeed won't be infecting with syphillis"). However Dave usually gets the better of Alan except in ‘Basic Alan’ where he tells Dave to "f*** off" after he torments him over a recent incident with a cone, Dave is stunned by this and lays into Alan by claiming that "dead-air is a crime and that it is terrible that he has to fill it with swearing on his show". Alan's comeback refers to the correct time (07:01 a.m.) and that it is Dave's show and he is merely a guest whom Dave has failed to control, he then says "Read the smallprint on your cone-tract". By this stage in his life Alan been kicked out by his wife and, after wandering around a John Menzies for five hours in a state of depressed homelessness, Alan had been forced to take up residence in the equally fictional Linton Travel Tavern, which he chose because it is "equi-distant between London and Norwich". The first episode featured Alan meeting Tony Hayers, begging for a new series on the BBC. Hayers was not impressed, and Alan had to wrap up his production company Peartree Productions, firing all its staff including Jill (whom he had feelings for and had one-night stand with; albiet unsuccessful). During his time at the Linton Travel Tavern, we discovered more about Alan's failed marriage, his children and his obsession with "Bangkok Chick Boys". In ‘Watership Alan’ he was crushed by a dead cow after insulting farmers on his show. And in ‘To Kill a Mocking Alan’ he was nearly kidnapped by his "number one fan", a crazed lunatic called Jed Maxwell.
In the final episode, Tony Hayers died after a fall from a roof, and one of Alan's old friends, Chris Feather, took over as head of programmes at the BBC. However, at the decisive moment when the new executive was about to sign a five-year contract, he keeled over and died, forcing Alan to forge the dead man's signature.
(Note: in the fictional world of Alan Partridge, this was not a documentary, but actually a "post-documentary". In the commentary on the DVD, Alan explains that all the events depicted in the series actually occurred, but everyone in the show, apart from himself and his personal assistant Lynn Benfield (played by Felicity Montagu who went on to play a vicar's wife in Nighty Night (2004)), were actors hired to portray the events in the Linton Travel Tavern "after they had actually occurred".)
Alan's next appearance was in a 1999 half-hour special filmed for Comic Relief in which Alan started to lose the plot, foreshadowing his mental breakdown in the second series of I'm Alan Partridge. A simulcast between BBC Two and Radio Norwich, Alan appears incoherent and incapable of keeping track of the format of his own show. A second Comic Relief appearance followed in 2001, showing him interviewing a boxing manager, played by Peter Kay. Eventually, this resulted in Alan taking on one of the boxers in the ring and being beaten by the boxer, the manager and his friend Michael.
Coogan was apparently reluctant to continue playing the character, but returned for a second series of I'm Alan Partridge in 2002.
In the second series Alan was temporarily living in a caravan while waiting for his new house to be built. Despite his five-year contract with the BBC, Alan claims to his old school teacher "Sweaty" Frank Raphael in ‘The Talented Mr. Alan’ that there was "bad blood" between them and they were "bitter bastards" plus every profession has its "shits", so they had to let him go.
Alan returned to radio, securing the "third best slot on Radio Norwich", presenting Norfolk Nights, a big leap from his former timeslot of 4am to 7am, when he presented Up With the Partridge. Alan also presents a military-based quiz show called Skirmish on the (fictional) cable station UK Conquest, and has a deal with Meteor Productions to make the Crash! Bang! Wallop!... What a Video/Scum on the Run series of car-crash videos.
In the period from his time at the Linton Travel Tavern to his residence in the temporary "static home", Alan suffered a mental breakdown and put on weight, or as he put it, was "clinically fed up" and "repellent to women for two years". This collapse culminated in Alan driving a Vauxhall Vectra to Dundee in his bare feet while gorging himself on Toblerone (in a similar incident, Alan recounts throwing all his tax receipts off a ferry). However, by 2002, his life was firmly back on track, save for the odd glitch. He even had a Ukrainian girlfriend called Sonja, who was 33 years old — 14 years younger than himself (a point Alan emphasises with the smug exclamation, "Cashback!"). This period in Alan's life is documented in his autobiography Bouncing Back, which Alan claims has been described as "lovely stuff" by entertainer Shakin' Stevens.
Memorable moments of this series include Alan dry-vomiting his way through a speech about fireplaces; mistakenly getting involved with swingers; attacking a six-foot stuffed Beefeater bear; his summing up the entire opening of The Spy Who Loved Me in less than a minute; Lynn's baptism at her Baptist church and, of course, the sad pulping of his autobiography which, despite taking up four weeks of his life to write, simply wasn't selling well (partly because every anecdote ended with the phrase "Needless to say, I had the last laugh".) Unfortunately, Alan tells us, it seems the public was more concerned with buying gangster autobiographies like Bad Slags.
The second series saw a move away from the dryer and more realistic style of the first, a move that was at odds with more recent sitcoms, most notably The Office. This led it to be less well received than the first. Surprisingly, producer and co-writer of the series, Armando Iannucci states in the commentary to his own DVD of The Armando Iannucci Shows, that he had recently re-watched the second series of I'm Alan Partridge, and describes it as "terrible". On the DVD commentary of the second series of I'm Alan Partridge, Steve Coogan appears surprised at the over-the-top style he used to play Alan in the 2002 series, calling it "big acting".
[edit] Anglian Lives
In 2003, Alan again returned to our screen in a half-hour special of Anglian Lives, a fictional regional BBC show. This was presented by Ray Woollard (Peter Baynham) and "Digital Dave", and was basically a sycophantic look at Alan's career, past and present; the credits listed it as being executive produced by Alan himself. It shed more detail on Alan's hatred of London, his Toblerone addiction, and his future.
[edit] Alan Partridge The Movie
On April 2005, it was revealed that a big screen outing was planned for Alan Partridge.[1][2] It was later revealed the film would involve an al-Qaeda siege. Due to the sensitivities of such a storyline after the 7 July 2005 London bombings, the project was put on hold,[3] but in November 2007, further details of the film were released.[4]
The plot of the film has Alan Partridge attempting another comeback from local radio, only to have his ambitions thwarted when Middle Eastern terrorists hijack the BBC offices. Coogan has written some dialogue, but has said he is not sure whether he wants to revisit his most famous creation. ‘Part of me wants to do it, part of me wants to do other things,’ he said in a recent interview.Playwright Patrick Marber, whose early collaborations with Coogan included The Day Today, has also been working on the script, but the pair put their plans on hold following the London bombings, for fear the screenplay would appear in bad taste. Actress Felicity Montagu, who plays Partridge's PA Lynne, said last year: ‘There was a lot of talk about it, but then the London bombings happened and it got put to one side. I'm sure Steve will write an Alan Partridge film eventually. But for the moment I don't think it's happening.’ And back in 2005, Armando Iannucci, who helped Coogan create Partridge, said he did not want to be involved in any movie spin-off, saying: ‘Steve wants to do an Alan Partridge film, but I couldn't bear to go through that again. For me, the idea of spending two more years in a room with that voice is more than I can take.’
In May 2008, it was revealed that a film adaptation of "I'm Alan Partridge" had been in pre-production "for an age" and that Victoria Beckham will be replacing Felicity Montagu as Lynn, as Felicity refuses to participate in a Hollywood production.[5] This may mean that the film will be shot in the United States.
[edit] Recent Activity
Anglian Lives was the last time Alan Partridge appeared on TV in his own programme. It is unknown whether he will return, but writer Armando Iannucci says it is "doubtful".
In 2004 Coogan also gave an interview with Now magazine, and when asked "Is it true that you're killing off Alan Partridge?", Coogan replied: "No, not at all. What's he up to at the moment? Well, I'd say he's being cryogenically preserved next to Walt Disney. Don't worry. When the day comes that I feel like I need to do something else with him, I'll defrost him and make him funny again."
This occurred briefly for Comic Relief 2005, when Alan appeared to interview a grown-up, openly gay Milkybar Kid (played by Simon Pegg). This involved a lot of recycled material from previous live appearances. However, there was some bizarre homoeroticism between Alan and the Milky Bar Kid which resulted in Alan agreeing to rent a caravan and go hiking with him.
However in August 2004 a small piece appeared in the Metro newspaper which claimed that: "Steve Coogan got the green light from a US studio to play the spoof DJ on the big screen." Coogan reportedly said: "It's always been my plan to make Alan go global. It's what he lives for really, not just doing the show on Radio Norwich." Other sources confirm the film will be going ahead and ITV has reported that Victoria Beckham will be playing a "demanding diva" in the film. Coogan has since denied that Beckham will appear.
Steve Coogan's profile on the BBC Comedy website talks of another series featuring Alan Partridge, entitled I'm Still Alan Partridge. However this was in fact the provisional title for I'm Alan Partridge series 2.
It has been reported that Coogan will resurrect the character for some planned stand up shows in 2008, alongside some of his other old characters, such as Paul Calf. [1] Also, in a recent interview, Coogan confirmed that Partridge would return at some stage, for either a film or a Television special. [2]
In March 2008, it was confirmed that Partridge will return as part of Steve Coogan's first stand-up tour in ten years. The tour is named "Steve Coogan is Alan Partridge and other less successful characters" and should see the return of some of his other old characters too. [3]
I'm Alan Partridge is a British sitcom. Two series were produced, the first in 1997 and the second in 2002. Six episodes were produced for each series. Co-creator Armando Iannucci has expressed doubts about creating a third.[1] Steve Coogan stars as Alan Partridge.
Both series were written by Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci and Peter Baynham. They starred Coogan as Alan Partridge; Felicity Montagu as his faithful, mouse-like PA, Lynn Benfield; Simon Greenall as Geordie Travel Tavern handyman/BP garage attendant, Michael; and Phil Cornwell as Dave Clifton.
It has been reported that Coogan will resurrect the character for some planned stand up shows in 2008, alongside some of his other old characters, such as Paul Calf.[2] Also, in a recent interview, Coogan confirmed that Partridge would return at some stage, for either a film or a television special.[3]
In May 2008, it was revealed that a film adaptation of I'm Alan Partridge had been in pre-production "for an age" and that Victoria Beckham will be replacing Felicity Montagu as Lynn, as Felicity refuses to participate in a Hollywood Production, therefore assuming that the film is being filmed in America.[4]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Characters
o 1.1 Both series
o 1.2 Series one only
o 1.3 Series two only
* 2 Series One
o 2.1 Episodes
* 3 Series Two
o 3.1 Episodes
* 4 Geography
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links
[edit] Characters
[edit] Both series
* Alan Partridge (played by Steve Coogan). The main character of the series. A former chat-show host on BBC television, Alan was dismissed from the BBC partly for punching Chief Commissioning Editor Tony Hayers in the face with a stuffed partridge and partly because his programmes were of a low standard, delivering ever-declining ratings. In series one, he is divorced from his wife Carol, lives in the Linton Travel Tavern and is reduced to working the graveyard shift on Norwich radio and desperately trying to get back on television in any capacity. By series two - following an off-screen mental breakdown - he has pulled himself up slightly, in that he lives in a static caravan next to the dream house he is building, has a radio show in the evening, a military-based quiz show on digital television and has published his autobiography. Alan is a generally loathsome, narcissistic human being with very poor social skills and a largely empty personal life.
* Lynn (played by Felicity Montagu). Alan's hard-working, long-suffering, personal assistant, Lynn appears to run Alan's life to such an extent that he cannot survive without her organisational skills; despite this, he usually treats her with little more than contempt. Besides dealing with Alan's working-life, Lynn's other duties range from the banal to the truly ridiculous; accompanying Alan to visit a show home, buying medicinal powder for Alan's fungal foot infections, cooling Alan with a hand-fan, and frequently listening patiently to Alan's pointless conversations and endless whining. Lynn is a member of a local Baptist Church, which Alan finds strange but is willing to tolerate. Her mother, whom Lynn possibly lives with, is apparently housebound, but Lynn seems able to balance her life between looking after her mother's affairs and those of Alan. When accompanying Alan, Lynn is very shy and nervous in public, but seems capable of easily blending into social situations when Alan is not present. Despite her intense and frequently ludicrous workload, Lynn receives a paltry £8,000 per year, due to Alan's greedy penny-pinching.
* Michael (Simon Greenall). An all-purpose worker at the Linton Travel Tavern, Michael speaks with a heavy Geordie accent, which Alan barely understands (or claims not to) and, being Alan, never fails to demand clarification. Michael is arguably Alan's only friend, and Alan is glad of his presence when he needs to have a heart-to-heart or, more often, inane chat; their friendship is clearly not on an even basis, however, as Michael only ever refers to Alan as 'Mr. Partridge' and Alan clearly regards Michael with a great deal of disdain. Michael is almost as desperate and neurotic a character as Alan, and is very emotionally disturbed (shown most clearly when Alan looks out of his room window to see Michael tearing at his hair in a state of some distress). Michael frequently tells stories of his time in the army, to the delight of Alan, especially if they are of a salacious, or violent nature. During a period of military placement in the Philippines, Michael married a Filipino woman, and the two moved back to Michael's native Newcastle-upon-Tyne. However, his wife left him and now lives with his brother in Sunderland, possibly shedding light on the origins of Michael's neuroticism. In the last episode, Michael appears at Alan's party already drunk on Scrumpy Jack and proceeds to insult the other guests. He also appears in the second series of "I'm Alan Partridge", where he has left the Linton Travel Tavern and now works in a BP petrol station.
* Dave Clifton (Phil Cornwell). A fellow Radio Norwich DJ. Because his programme begins at the end of Alan's "graveyard slot" show, it is seen (by all concerned) to be of "higher status", a fact which clearly perturbs Alan. During the handover every morning, Alan always engages in witty banter with Dave, but their chatting fails to disguise the bitter rivalry between them, and is only thinly veiled by their jocular chit-chat. Alan usually gets the better of Dave, on one occasion Alan won their daily battle of one-upmanship (by swearing on what was technically Dave's show). Dave is an alcoholic and has a driving ban, according to Alan. Much to Alan's surprise and chagrin, Dave is a friend of Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley. Dave also appears in the second series of "I'm Alan Partridge", where he now works the graveyard shift (after Alan's shift) and appears to have resumed drinking - nevertheless, he still usually manages to get the upper hand in his rivalry with Alan.
[edit] Series one only
* Susan (Barbara Durkin). The manager of the Linton Travel Tavern. Susan appears to be a stereotypical front-desk worker, with a dazzling smile and sickly sweet manner, but even these forced skills are not enough to deal with Alan's clumsy, half-hearted flirting and mindless anecdotes. Alan frequently makes tactless comments to Susan about her appearance (once suggesting to her that she "could have been throwing up all night" but that her smile would not falter). In reaction to these comments, Susan's painted-on smile is sometimes momentarily replaced by a look of shock and bemusement. Susan displays a general dislike of Alan, becoming increasingly bored of his feeble attempts at conversation as the series progresses, and at one stage being terrified by Alan's poorly-planned practical joke in which he dresses as a zombie and creeps up on her at reception. Nevertheless, she never says a harsh word to Alan - at least, until the end of the last episode, in which she finally tells Alan what she thinks of him at his going-away party.
* Sophie (Sally Phillips). A recently-employed receptionist at the Travel Tavern, Sophie is also rarely without a smile - however, in her case it is normally due to the fact that she is suppressing a laugh over Alan's antics. While Susan brushes off Alan's social faux pas with a smile, Sophie is rarely able to control her laughter at Alan's appalling lack of social skills, and often has to leave reception to prevent laughing in his face. Much to Alan's annoyance, he is sometimes aware that Sophie often jokes about him behind his back.
* Ben (James Lance). Another member of staff at the Travel Tavern and Sophie's boyfriend. Alan is jealous of Ben's romance with Sophie, and does his best to sabotage their romantic trysts. In later episodes, Alan attempts to forge a friendship with Ben, despite Alan's earlier irritation at Ben's informal and somewhat laid-back manner. Predictably, Alan's attempts to befriend Ben are clumsy and unsuccessful.
[edit] Series two only
* Sonja (Amelia Bullmore). Alan's thick-accented Ukrainian girlfriend. Sonja, who is 14 years Alan's junior, possesses a very excitable, scatterbrained personality which leads Alan to describe her as 'mildly cretinous.' Easily amused, she delights greatly in pulling lame practical jokes and showering Alan with cheap (and unwanted) gifts such as London souvenirs and personalized coffee mugs and cushions emblazoned with their faces. She is very devoted to Alan and clearly treasures him, despite the fact that he demonstrates little genuine affection for her in return and clearly bases their relationship solely around the ego-boost produced by their 14-year age difference.
[edit] Series One
In this series, the former chat show host Partridge has been divorced by his wife, Carol; has distanced himself from his children and ended up living in the Linton, a cheap motel equidistant between London and Norwich. At this stage of his life, Alan's career consists of broadcasting his own radio programme, "Up with the Partridge" on the fictional "Radio Norwich" during dead time (4:30am to 7 am), and occasionally making corporate appearances for various low-profile local businesses. Alan's personal life is shown to be crushingly empty; he has separated from his wife Carol, and his only interaction with other people consists of chatting mindlessly to his personal assistant, Lynn, the staff of the Linton Travel Tavern, and receiving infrequent phone calls from Bill Oddie.
Throughout the series, Alan displays his usual sexism, racism, homophobia, and general bigotry to everyone he comes into contact with, and via his radio show broadcasts.
Two unusual plot devices used during the series surround Alan's somewhat neurotic personal life. One consists of glimpses into Alan's mind, depicting a fantasy night-club, which Alan seems to think of often and at the most inappropriate moments. In his club fantasies, Alan is a table dancer, dancing for whichever television authority he aims to please (usually Tony Hayers, but also two Irish TV executives he meets on one occasion). Even in these fantasies, Alan retains his unbearably boring and socially inept persona; he dances in a rubber thong but this is offset by wearing his jumper, shirt and tie in addition to his "erotic" apparel, and in his fantasies, Alan launches into his trademark dull and inane conversations. The second plot device used throughout the series revolves around a drawer in Alan's hotel room. The viewers never see what is in the drawer, but the contents are occasionally glimpsed by other characters; Lynn becomes speechless when seeing the contents, Sophie bursts into a fit of giggling, and Alan himself goes to extreme lengths to keep the drawer closed when people are in the room.
Series one was released on DVD in the United States for the first time on 24 October, 2006.
[edit] Episodes
* Room with an Alan: Alan and Lynn view a show-home, where Alan displays his usual behaviour, and manages to both confuse and bore the estate agent. Later in the day, Alan attends a luncheon at the BBC headquarters with Tony Hayers (played by David Schneider), the fictional programme commissioner of the BBC, about the possibility of a second series of Knowing Me, Knowing You. Apparently unaware of how low his chances really are, he puts the nail in the coffin by desperately offering a range of ridiculous, badly thought-out ideas for new programmes that bore, bewilder, and eventually upset Hayers. When he is told that he is not to be re-commissioned, Alan attacks Tony Hayers with a lump of cheese and flees the restaurant while shouting "I've got cheese, this is cheese!". After a heart-to heart with Lynn, Alan returns to his hotel room, attempts to order an Irish coffee, and gives himself a black eye while attempting an athletic leap from his bed.
* Alan Attraction: Without a second series of his programme, Alan is forced to fire all of the staff at his company, Peartree Productions. However, when the staff ask him if he has a second series, Alan panics, and tells them that he has been successful. While the staff prepare a party, and Jill, his ageing, chain-smoking, divorcee receptionist goes out to buy some snacks, Alan tries to extricate himself by firing staff members for various "offences"; leaving an unwashed coffee cup on the table; rolling eyes, and being a woman. While locked in his boardroom, the staff leave. Jill returns, wondering where everyone has got to (he doesn't tell her) and the two go on a date to a nearby owl sanctuary, where Alan's attempts at conversation bewilder Jill. In the evening, the two attend a Valentine's Day dinner at the Travel Tavern, where Alan makes a fool of himself by singing a song for her with the hired band, and Lynn repeatedly attempts to sabotage Alan's evening with the uncouth Jill. Alan and Jill return to Alan's room, and in one of the most memorable moments of the series, Alan attempts to make love to Jill while providing a running commentary and attempts a discussion of the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre. After Jill's attempts at eroticism leave the room - and Alan - covered in chocolate mousse, Jill leaves and Alan goes to work, where he tells Jill over the radio that she is sacked.
* Watership Alan: After making various unsympathetic comments about farming on his radio show, Alan becomes an object of hatred for local farmers. But he doesn't have time to worry about this as he is more concerned with shooting an advertisement for a small boating-holiday company. In the Travel Tavern's bar, during an initial interview with the video executives, Alan panics and invents the ladyboy drink combination, the effects of which result in him phoning his ex-wife Carol, where he tries to insult her partner's car. On his radio show, Alan interviews the leader of the local Farmers' Union (played by Chris Morris), but instead of apologising, enrages local farmers even further by making increasingly insane comments about farmers. On the day of the video-shoot, Alan attempts to blend in with the hard-drinking crew and again displays his chronic lack of basic social skills. During the shoot, riddled with examples of Alan's pathetic ineptitude, he is crushed by a dead cow thrown from a bridge by local farmers. Alan returns from hospital with a neck brace and broken fingers, and is forced to humiliate himself by phoning reception and asking them to reconnect the satellite receiver on his television which he had previously switched off because the staff discovered he was watching pornography.
* Basic Alan: There are major refurbishments taking place at the Linton Travel Tavern, during which the hotel is closed, leaving Alan as the only guest. Throughout the episode, he is desperately bored and does various things to pass the time, including dismantling a trouser press, walking along a dual-carriageway to a petrol station to buy several bottles of windscreen washer fluid, driving round the ring-road three times, buying some tungsten-tipped screws he never intends to use and dressing up as a zombie in a poorly planned practical joke. His boredom culminates with an incompetent attempt to steal a traffic cone, with Michael and Lynn.
* To Kill a Mocking Alan: Alan hosts "An Afternoon with Alan Partridge" at the Travel Tavern which is attended by his self-confessed "biggest fan", Jed Maxwell. He is also visited by network executives (played by Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews) who are considering giving him a show on Irish television. Naturally, they are less than impressed by Alan, though they do get along very well with Lynn. Through a series of mishaps, the three of them end up at Jed's house, where Alan finds out that Jed's fandom is of a somewhat extreme nature.
* Towering Alan: After a depressing afternoon hosting a small village fayre and judging the vegetable competition, Alan is delighted to discover that Tony Hayers has died and his successor, Chris Feather, is a man who had actually always supported, and liked Alan. Attending Hayers' funeral (he knows Feather will be there) he immediately snaps up the opportunity to finally win his sought-after second series, but not before another shock death threatens to throw his dream into tatters.
The series ended with a party in Alan's room as Alan and Lynn tidied up to the theme from The Adventures of Black Beauty, after all the guests have prematurely left. The series ends on a surprisingly upbeat note, with Alan pretty pleased with himself.
[edit] Series Two
By series two, we catch up with Alan five years after he left the Linton Travel Tavern. Despite winning a five-year contract at the end of the first series, bad blood between himself and the BBC forced Alan to leave once again. He himself admits that in the intervening time he'd been "clinically fed up", which culminated in him putting on a lot of weight and driving a Vauxhall Vectra to Dundee in his bare feet whilst gorging on Toblerones. By the start of this series, he believes himself to have "bounced back", titling his poorly-selling autobiography "Bouncing Back". As well as his book, he has Radio Norwich's 3rd best slot (his rival from Series 1, Dave Clifton, again follows his show, but this is now a 'graveyard' midnight slot), a military-based game show called Skirmish on fictional cable TV channel "UK Conquest" and has released a video called "Crash, Bang, Wallop, What a Video!"
Alan now finds himself living in a static caravan outside his partially built dream home. He is flanked by his friend Michael, who has left his job at the travel tavern to become a cashier at a local BP garage (this recalls Alan's odd question in the first episode of the first series to the estate agent, when he asked if there were any petrol stations near the house with minimarts - 'scaled down supermarket, fits inside a petrol station'). Alan now has two women in his life, not only is he still tended to by his personal assistant Lynn but he has a Ukrainian girlfriend, Sonja, played by Amelia Bullmore.
[edit] Episodes
* The Talented Mr Alan: While visiting Michael at the petrol station, Alan has a chance meeting with his old teacher Frank "Sweaty" (or "Cacky") Raphael. Alan convinces Raphael to let him give a talk to the sixth formers at the school where Raphael is now headmaster. Whilst at the school, Alan bumps into an old schoolmate of his who is now a teacher. They try to reminisce over old times, but Alan still holds a grudge against this schoolmate, who once drew a penis on the back of his school blazer in chalk; Frank Raphael had caned Alan for this prank. Later Alan begins his talk to the students which, of course, all goes wrong; and Alan ends up insulting Frank Raphael for caning him when he was younger and also insults his schoolmate for "getting the lab assistant pregnant, and never sees the kid." All of this results in Alan receiving a stern talking-to in the headmaster's office. Towards the end of the episode, the reviled schoolmate comes into the petrol station; Alan, thinking he has come to fight, tries to threaten him with an apple turnover. The schoolmate apologises to Alan and hopes that they can be friends again, but as the schoolmate leaves the petrol station a customer tells him that he has got something on his back: Alan got Lynn to draw a chalk penis on his back. The episode ends with Alan being besieged in the petrol station.
* The Colour Of Alan: Michael comes to stay for a few days after his front door is stolen; Alan is asked to present a sales conference for "Dante's of Reading," a company that supplies coal-effect fires and fireplaces. Dante's Piet Morant (played by Steve Brody), a South African, visits Alan's partially-built house. Whilst Alan buys time, taking Piet for an hour-long pub lunch, Lynn and Michael improvise some make-shift furniture in the empty house: they balance a toilet door on a Black & Decker Workmate for a table and attach several torches to a bicycle wheel for lighting. This fails to impress Piet Morant, who's even less impressed by Alan's attempt at a South African accent. Nevertheless, Alan is awarded the job, but tragedy ensues when Alan tries to climb over a country club's fence and impales his foot on a metal spike. Lynn tells him to stay in hospital but Alan is completely adamant about doing the speech for "Dante's of Reading." Unfortunately, his vomiting and foot pain turn his speech into a disaster.
* Bravealan: Alan makes a new friend at the BP garage, Dan (played by Stephen Mangan). They both like the same beer, use the same deodorant, and drive Lexi ("the plural of Lexus"). Dan owns "Kitchen Planet" and arranges for Alan to present the Colman's Mustard Bravery Awards. Alan's attempts to converse with Karen Colman are hugely unsuccessful; he even admits to her that he had mental health issues. She strikes up an instant rapport with Sonja, however, later inviting her back to her house without Alan. On hearing that the Colmans' family motto is "Too much mustard gets up your nose," Alan tries to impress her by eating a big spoonful. Later, at Dan's home, Alan finds out that Dan and his wife enjoy a deviantly spicy lifestyle; to his great discomfort, they show him a tape of them having intercourse.
* Never Say Alan Again: Alan plans a Bond-athon for the bank holiday weekend with Michael. Lynn reveals to Alan that she has a new friend, Gordon, an ex-policeman who threatens Alan for mistreating Lynn at times. The Bond weekend all goes pear-shaped when Lynn accidentally destroys his Bond movies after spilling Sunny Delight over them. Alan is about to give her the full force of his anger when Gordon stands up next to her: Alan panics, backs down, and gives her a cash raise and tells her not to worry about the videos. When he discovers that Michael has another friend, Tex (played by Peter Serafinowicz), he becomes jealous and falls out with Michael, un-inviting him to the Bond-athon. Alan targets John the builder for his new friend/protector-from-Gordon. After patching things up with Michael, Alan discovers that Tex has taped over the one undamaged Bond film with an episode of "America's Strongest Man." Because of this, he declares himself "Norfolk's Maddest Man" and decides to give the group a physical run-through of the entire opening sequence of The Spy Who Loved Me.
* I Know What Alan Did Last Summer: The Inland Revenue are due to call and carry out a random investigation on Alan's business affairs, causing him to worry. The Inland Revenue people arrive earlier than the set time, catching Alan dancing around in his caravan to Gary Numan's "Music For Chameleons." During the investigation, Alan makes a fool out himself several more times, including trying to walk like R2-D2, raising his legs, and accidentally farting right next to the Inland Revenue people. This leads to him having a minor argument with Sonja, which is all seen by the tax people. In order to make things up to her, he takes her to Bono's house (really Blickling Hall), after falsely claiming to be a personal friend of his; Lynn also gets a friend of hers from the Baptist Church to pretend to be Bono]], even giving him her mother's cataract glasses to wear in hope that Sonja would be convinced he is Bono. Alan is rumbled by Sonja and by way of apology for the deception and for stabbing a giant teddy bear beefeater that Sonja bought him (with a receipt spike; on entering the static caravan, he mistook the bear for a burglar), he grudgingly consents to take her to London.
* Alan Wide Shut: The building work on Alan's house is finally complete and Sonja is angling to cohabit. Alan however, has other ideas and tries to "come to some arrangement" with her. He is interviewed on a radio show called Prayer Wave, where his insensitive comments result in one of the guests (Julia Davis) walking out. After this, he attends Lynn's christening at her church where he simulates blowing his head off with a shotgun and assaults one of the guests (Rob Brydon) who questions Alan's anecdote-writing ability. Meanwhile, with "The Windmills of Your Mind" playing on the soundtrack, the remaining 14,000 unsold copies of Alan's book, "Bouncing Back," are pulped. Alan takes some away with him in a plastic bag as mementoes.
[edit] Geography
All the places name-dropped in I'm Alan Partridge are real locations in East Anglia. Linton and Longstanton are in Cambridgeshire, though neither has a Travel Tavern nor a spice museum. Spalding is in Lincolnshire; Swaffham is a market town in Norfolk, Spixworth and Hemsby are real Norfolk villages which feature in the show as the home location of phone in guests, and of course there's the city of Norwich. The (Great) Ouse and the Waveney are major rivers, as referenced in Radio Norwich's ident. Linton really is equidistant between London and Norwich (about 95 km (60 miles) in each direction). Not all Norfolkers are happy with the association though.[5] Tiptree is mentioned in Radio Norwich's ident even though it lies in the heart of Essex. On a similar vein, Felixstowe is also mentioned even though it is in East Suffolk.
[edit] See also
* Monkey tennis
* Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge
[edit] References
1. ^ Never could say goodbye | Focus | The Observer
2. ^ British Sitcom Guide - News - Steve Coogan contemplating stand-up return
3. ^ BBC Steve Coogan interview: Part 2 - Steve Coogan News - www.coogans-run.co.uk - The man who thinks he's it
4. ^ Victoria Beckham to play Steve Coogans assistant - Steve Coogan News - www.coogans-run.co.uk - The man who thinks he's it
5. ^ BBC NEWS | England | Partridge character 'damaging' Norfolk
Car Park Catchphrase with Roy Walker - BBC Radio 1
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
George W Bush - State of the Union 2006
Tim Canterbury (from The Office UK)
Ned Smanks (Nathan Barley series)
Jonatton Yeah? (Nathan Barley series)
David Brent (from The Office UK)
Dan Ashcroft (Nathan Barley series)
Gareth Keenan (from The Office UK)
Claire Ashcroft (Nathan Barley Series)
Doug Rocket (Nathan Barley series)
