In Revue: Alan Partridge

Bouncing Back: Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge in 2002.

The character of Alan Partridge began his career on the BBC Radio 4 satirical program 'On The Hour' in 1991 as the Sports Desk reporter who had no idea about any sport. Then he got a TV series all of his own on BBC2 in 1994 'Knowing Me, Knowing You....With Alan Partridge' where he had graduated to a chat show host and which only ran for one series and included a horse crapping on the set, Alan trying to convince everyone that Roger Moore was going to be on his show, the show being taken to Paris and Alan being extremely racist towards the French, Alan doing illegal advertising on the BBC and, in the last episode, accidentally shooting and killing a guest. He returned for two series of 'I'm Alan Partridge' in 1997 and 2002 which was a look at Alan's life after his disastrous tenure at the BBC.



He is now a early morning Disc Jockey on Radio Norwich and living in a Linton Travel Tavern (series 1) and a static caravan while his house is being built (series 2). His life is essentially run for him by his PA Lynn Benfield who shows unwavering loyalty to Alan despite him constantly belittling and making derogatory comments about her. He also befriends Tavern staff member Michael from Newcastle who is an ex-soldier who saw action in Bosnia and has a very probable case of undiagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. In series 2 we see Alan in a relationship with a Ukraninan immigrant called Sonja who is scatterbrained and described by Alan as "Mildly Cretinous".

Alan Partridge was created by Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan and portrayed by Steve Coogan. Since 2003's 'Anglian Lives' program, Alan hasn't featured in any TV series of his own, but that's all about to change with the announcement of Alan returning to BBC Two in 2018 as a 'Pro-Brexit Voice'. 

Alan is a very complex and tragic comedy character. Lacking in self awareness and being unrepentant and incompetent in ordinary society, we see many sides to Alan in his struggle with the world. As Iannucci described him, "Alan's future is brighter in his head than in reality". That's what seems to keep the character going rather than throwing himself off the Clifton Suspension Bridge. That bridge is a known suicide spot and Alan's constant mentioning of it could be viewed that he has actually given some thought to Suicide but will never do it because his self-importance factor is too high to even consider ending his own life. His fantasies are in conflict with what he portrays in life, He has a bit of an obsession with the idea of a horrible death and the details of it. In particular, his questions to Michael about his army days and whether he killed anyone and his questions to an ex-SAS bloke who proceeded to tell him how he killed people on 'Mid-Morning Matters', the story that he begs for always ends up repulsing him and horrifying him rather than fascinating him but he still wants to hear about it. As a woman once told him, He has a lot of issues.....

"Yeah....Of 'What Car?' magazine!"

Alan also seems to go on about mundane things in life. His interests range from Rover & Lexus cars to the pedestrianization of Norwich City Centre (which is a fascinating subject for Alan in the middle of a rather unsuccessful one night stand) and this is another reason why people make fun of him and can't stand to be around him. His very few friends are Lynn, who i think if she wasn't being paid by Alan she wouldn't be there. Michael has a lot of problems of his own and would be friends with anyone who was interested. It's also alluded to that Alan is good friends with Goodies member and Ornithologist Bill Oddie, but Oddie never made an onscreen appearance. The fact that in real life Bill Oddie suffers from depression may be an influence to Alan.

Alan's had a nervous breakdown somewhere between the first and second series of I'm Alan Partridge where he drove a Vauxhall Vectra to Dundee in his bare feet and gorged himself on several Toblerone bars. He was inspired to write his autobiography "Bouncing Back" after this breakdown and during the second series we see he hasn't really bounced back at all. After Lynn accidentally spills Sunny Delight over his James Bond VHS collection he takes several cereal boxes outside and begins destroying them. In this we see that Alan may be actually going through a constant nervous breakdown fuelled by childhood experiences of bullying, his wife leaving him and his children wanting nothing to do with him.

In 2013, the movie 'Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa' was released in cinemas, becoming a huge hit in the UK and opening at number one at the box office, the film saw Partridge acting as negotiator when a fellow DJ (Colm Meaney) takes hostages in order to avoid losing his job at North Norfolk Digital.

I think there's much more of the story of Alan Partridge that we have yet to see and I hope that Steve Coogan and Armando Iannucci keep the character going until they find a way to bring a natural end to the character.