Alan Partridge is returning to the BBC after 15 years in limbo (Sky Atlantic and the actual cinema, basically), for a series that will chuck him headfirst into a post-Brexit landscape.
Great news, right? Alan’s going to be back on telly! But we’re sorry to say that where there is good news, there is also tragedy, because well, look what Steve Coogan told The New European:
“Alan would have voted Brexit for sure. Hard Brexit, given the choice. He’s a Brexiteer because the Daily Mail told him to be.
“[But] because he has got a show on the BBC, we have a problem, because we have to explain why he’s a failure, but that he has a show,
“The logic of what he is doing has to make sense. It’s conceivable, because in this age of Brexit, they [the BBC] might think they need to get in touch with the ‘Little Englanders’ they ignore.”
Yep, Alan Partridge is a Brexit voter. I mean, we could probably have guessed, but it’s still pretty devastating to hear out loud.
Still, we will 100% be watching every minute of this show. What with almost every single bit of Partridge that has come before it being absolute telly gold, Coogan’s got a tough act to follow, something he readily acknowledges:
“That’s going to be tough. It’s always difficult to make good comedy. You always have to work really hard at it. The standard of the comedy on Partridgeis so high, that you have to match it, or people go, ‘Oh, they’ve lost it’.
“So, you are making a rod for your own back. But that’s good, because you have to do good stuff, and people like it, and they go: ‘Oh! That’s brilliant.’”
The show is set to go out next year, so Steve’s got time to fine-tune his script, but I’ve got faith in him. And to be entirely honest with you, I’d probably watch Partridge silently walking around a windowless room for an hour and still laugh, so he’s not got to pull much out of the bag for me.
Either way, colour me excited. So excited I could rub chocolate all over my face.
