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This Time with Alan Partridge is a BBC comedy series whose first episode aired on 25 February 2019. The comedy is a spoof of The One Show starring Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge.

Character background

Portrayed by Steve Coogan, Alan Partridge was created for the 1991 BBC Radio 4 comedy programme On The Hour, a spoof of British current affairs broadcasting, as the programme's hapless sports presenter. Coogan had performed a similar character for a BBC college radio station at university. On The Hour writers Armando Iannucci, Patrick Marber, Richard Herring and Stewart Lee wrote much of Partridge's first material, although Herring credits the creation to Coogan and Iannucci. Iannucci asked Coogan to do a voice for a generic sports reporter; according to Iannucci, "Someone said, 'He's an Alan!' and someone else said, 'He's a Partridge!' Within minutes we knew where he lived, we'd worked out his back story, what his aspirations were."

The character transferred to television with appearances in The Day Today, and subsequently featured in Knowing Me, Knowing You. In the series finale, Partridge accidentally shoots a guest and, in the Christmas special, attacks a BBC commissioning editor, which ends his television career. He becomes a radio host, with appearances that include television series I'm Alan Partridge, web series Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge, and feature film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. Coogan felt that it was the right time for Partridge to return during the Brexit negotiations, as "There might be a missive at the BBC saying that a certain area of the viewing audience had been disenfranchised … Alan potentially represents that. You can imagine them thinking we might as well give this guy another bite of the cherry."

Reception

This Time with Alan Partridge was met with widespread praise, with critics hailing it as a "magnificent return." Lucy Mangan of The Guardian wrote that "the differentiation of This Time With Alan Partridge's layers and escalation of every exchange is precision-engineered: beautiful things and a joy forever." Tim Glanfield of The Radio Times felt it was "some of the best Alan Partridge ever made". Sean O'Grady of The Independent gave it five stars, and found it "a consistently strong creative achievement".

Characters

• Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge
• Susannah Fielding as Jennie Gresham
• Tim Key as Simon Denton
• Felicity Montagu as Lynn Benfield

Episodes

Episode 1

Alan Partridge is hired to present BBC One magazine programme This Time after one of the regular hosts falls ill. The episode covers seal pups, handwashing and cyberterrorism.

References

1. Raeside, Julia (17 February 2019). "'We've had a love-hate relationship': Steve Coogan on bringing Alan Partridge back to the BBC". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
2. Holmes, Jonathan (25 February 2019). "'Mick Jagger, what do you think about otters?' Sorry, Alan Partridge –The One Show is beyond parody". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
3. "Steve Coogan brings Alan Partridge back to the BBC". BBC News. 26 February 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
4. ^ Husband, Stuart (5 August 2013). "Alan Partridge: the 'A-ha!' moments". The Telegraph. Retrieved 14 September 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
5. Connelly, Brendon (4 January 2013). "Richard Herring On Co-Creating Alan Partridge, His Rasputin TV Show And Dave's New Comedy Competition - Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movies and TV News and Rumors". Bleedingcool.com. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
6. Huddleston, Tom (1 August 2013). "Armando Iannucci interview - Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa - Time Out Film". Time Out. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
7. Thompson, Ben (4 September 1994). "COMEDY / Knowing him, knowing us, ah-haah: Alan Partridge, smarmy master of the crass interview, is bringing his chat show to television. Ben Thompson meets the gauche celeb's comic creator, Steve Coogan". The Independent. Retrieved 14 September 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
8. "BBC - Alan Partridge - Anglian Lives". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
9. Abbott, Kate (14 February 2019). "Part David Cameron, part Piers Morgan – Alan Partridge returns in time for Brexit". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
10. "Alan Partridge returns to BBC with five-star reviews. A-ha!". BBC News. 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
11. Mangan, Lucy (25 February 2019). "This Time With Alan Partridge review – an excruciating white-knuckle ride". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
12. "This Time with Alan Partridge first-look review: quite simply some of the best Partridge ever made". Radio Times. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
13. "This Time with Alan Partridge on BBC1 is a consistently strong creative achievement". The Independent. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
14. "This Time with Alan Partridge: Episode 1". BBC. Retrieved 26 February 2019.

External links

• This Time with Alan Partridge at IMDb
• Official website on the BBC

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