Spice World! Alan Partridge to become ‘the voice of Brexit’

'He’s a Brexiteer because the Daily Mail told him to be. Alan’s inept but he’s also honest and well-intentioned'

Steve Coogan has revealed that his legendary character Alan Partridge will be returning to the BBC as ‘the voice of Brexit’ in a new series.

Earlier this year, Coogan said that Partridge would e back at the BBC with a new series airing next year. Now, Coogan has said that the show will be based on the fact that Partridge would have backed Brexit – and enjoyed a revival as a TV presenter as a result.

“Well, 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,” Coogan told the New European. “The logic of what he is doing has to make sense

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“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.”

Alan Patridge

Coogan continued: “Alan would have voted Brexit for sure. Hard Brexit, given the choice. He’s a Brexiteer because the Daily Mail told him to be. Alan’s inept but he’s also honest and well-intentioned. It’s a Little England thoughtlessness. He tries not to be sexist, then is sexist. He’s the kind of person, a bit like my dad, who tries to impress but it comes out wrong.”

He added that he’d be writing the new series towards the end of 2017 to be aired on BBC 2 ‘next Spring’.

“That’s going to be tough. It’s always difficult to make good comedy,” he continued. “You always have to work really hard at it. The standard of the comedy on Partridge is 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.’”

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Partridge has been the focus of three TV series – the spoof chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You, I’m Alan Partridge, which followed him as he tried to advance his career and later bounce back, and Mid Morning Matters, which centred around his life at fictional radio station North Norfolk Digital.

In 2013, the character was also at the heart of the film Alan Partridge, Alpha Papa, which saw him caught up in a radio station siege. He’s also released a number of books.

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