Full details of Alan Partridge's return to the BBC have been announced, and it sounds 10/10
JURASSIC PARK!
Back of the net, A-ha, Jurassic Park - you know the score: if there’s new Partridge news, then we’re excited.
But this, truly, is a great day for Alan fans, with details emerging of his hugely-anticipated return to the BBC - and it sounds like it’s everything we wanted.
Filming has officially begun on This Time With Alan Partridge, a new BBC One show, a quarter of a century on from his debut at the Beeb and his first work for the channel since the second series of I’m Alan Partridge, back in 2002.
It will see Alan handed a career lifeline - the chance to stand in as a co-host on This Time - an evening weekday magazine show that is basically The One Show.
Read more: Why Alan Partridge is the Shakespeare of our times
Tim Key is back as Simon ‘formerly Sidekick Simon’ Denton
“His first return to live television since his ‘90s chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You was cancelled after a guest was fatally shot on air, This Time is the perfect shop window for a man of Alan’s gravitas and will, or should, see him finally recognised as one of the heavyweight broadcasters of his era.
“The show itself is a heady mix of consumer affairs, current affairs, viewer interaction, highbrow interview and lightweight froth; very much the sweet spots for a man whose CV boasts over two decades of weekday local radio. And with an array of diverse subjects on the agenda, it promises the perfect fit for a man whose broadcasting style has been described as ‘equidistant between chitchat and analysis.’”
Partridge, played of course by Steve Coogan, will be joined on the sofa by female co-presenter Jennie Gresham (played by Susannah Fielding, who most recently starred in The Great Indoors and Black Mirror episode ‘Nosedive’) and Simon ‘formerly Sidekick Simon’ Denton, played by Tim Key.
We imagine that the awkward banter between Partridge and Gresham will make Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid look like best buddies.
Alan’s co-host Susannah Fielding
The series will be comprised of six half-hour long episodes and has been written by Mid Morning Matters team Neil Gibbons, Rob Gibbons and Steve Coogan, with both Gibbons on directing duties. Ted Dowd is producing, with Christine Langan and Steve Coogan as executive producers.
OK, fine, let’s do the one.
JURASSIC PARK.
(Images: BBC/Sky/Rex)
