{"id":95015,"date":"2025-09-30T15:59:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/95015\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T15:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:59:13","slug":"how-are-you-its-alan-review-time-hasnt-dented-the-brilliance-of-alan-partridges-irresistible-idiocy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/95015\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018How Are You? It\u2019s Alan\u2019 review: Time hasn\u2019t dented the brilliance of Alan Partridge\u2019s irresistible idiocy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not many could keep a character going successfully for decades, but Steve Coogan\u2019s return as Norfolk\u2019s most cringe-inducing broadcaster proves the exception to the rule\n<\/p>\n

Steve Coogan\u2019s brilliant Alan Partridge is such a character. Alan began life in 1991 on BBC Radio 4\u2019s spoof current affairs show On the Hour, which later transferred to television as The Day Today. At first, he was a fairly straightforward parody of a generic sports broadcaster.<\/p>\n

Over the years, though, Coogan and his co-writers, initially Armando Iannucci and Peter Baynham and, since 2010, brothers Neil and Rob Gibbons, turned him into something more complex and human, if still hilariously, watch-through-your-fingers awful.<\/p>\n

Partridge is vain, bigoted, ignorant, self-centred, insecure, tone deaf and tactless, with a bottomless capacity for putting his foot in it, offending others and embarrassing himself.<\/p>\n

Yet, in the manner of other great British comedy characters like Basil Fawlty and Captain Mainwaring, he\u2019s also occasionally pitiable and deserving of some sympathy.<\/p>\n

The last time we saw Alan, at least on TV, was four years ago in This Time with Alan Partridge \u2013 a spoof of daytime programmes like The One Show and This Morning.<\/p>\n

Having been accepted back into the BBC fold after his long wilderness period at North Norfolk Digital, Alan \u2013 a man adrift in the #MeToo era \u2013 clashed with his co-presenter Jennie (Susannah Fielding) and eventually blew his big comeback in spectacular style.<\/p>\n

\"'This<\/p>\n

‘This Time With Alan Partridge’. Photo: BBC<\/p>\n

Having lost an interview with Princess Anne and fallen for an embarrassing on-air prank by sidekick Simon Denton (Tim Key), Alan exploded in the final show, calling his audiences \u201cidiots\u201d.<\/p>\n

The spoof documentary series How Are You? It\u2019s Alan (Partridge) (BBC One, Friday, October 3) \u2013 a tortuous title clearly inspired by Holly Willoughby\u2019s cringey \u201cHow are you?\u201d to viewers after Philip Schofield\u2019s sacking from This Morning \u2013 finds our hero having \u201cparted ways\u201d with the BBC for a second time.<\/p>\n

After a year in the United Arab Emirates apparently promoting food products, he\u2019s bounced back to his native Norwich, \u201cthe only city I love more than Dubai\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Alan<\/p>\n

Alan Partridge returns to Norfolk to create ‘Britain’s first-ever documentary about mental health’ in his new series. Photo: BBC<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not back at North Norfolk Digital, though. Alan has returned to his old patch to take up \u201ca steady stream of Norfolk-based corporate work\u201d.<\/p>\n

This includes doing radio ads for a local pub\u2019s cheap breakfast deals: \u201cCarlsberg, wine and eggs \u2013 just nine-ninety-nine!\u201d He\u2019s also come home to present \u201cBritain\u2019s first-ever documentary about mental health\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor most of us,\u201d he says, \u201cmental health is as far down the agenda as the whole sex-change business.\u201d But, he warns, we\u2019re all being chased by \u201cthe invisible monster they call mental health\u201d (cue a shot of him running away in slow-motion from nothing).<\/p>\n

\"Dumped<\/p>\n

Dumped by the BBC once again, Alan Partridge returns to Norwich in Steve Coogan’s new series. Photo: BBC<\/p>\n

Today’s News in 90 Seconds – September 30th <\/p>\n

The monster caught up with Alan during a corporate gig on pig and cow feed, when he fainted into a woman\u2019s lap and the video went viral. Fainting was a wake-up call: \u201cMy mind was not feeling too well\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve it or not, I too have mental health problems,\u201d he says, before offering some observations. These include: \u201cThere is more mental health than there used to be,\u201d \u201cMental health and mentally handicapped are different things,\u201d and \u201cKen Dodd made money from being mad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alan<\/p>\n

Alan Partridge’s reunion with Simon (Tim Key) doesn’t go as planned, when he discovers his former sidekick is fine without him. Photo: BBC<\/p>\n

Volunteering at a soup kitchen, he suspiciously eyes the men queuing up to make sure they\u2019re homeless before he serves them. \u201cI saw a jacket from North Face!\u201d he explains to the bemused coordinator.<\/p>\n

Everyone, he says, needs a method of coping with stress. His is to visit a local market to \u201cfinger their produce\u201d and buy some \u201cIRA balaclavas\u201d for an Irish friend\u2019s fancy dress party \u2013 a callback to the wonderful This Time episode where Coogan played Alan\u2019s rebel song-bawling Irish guest.<\/p>\n

A return visit to North Norfolk Digital turns into an embarrassment (the receptionist has never heard of him) and a supposed fence-mending session with Simon, who\u2019s doing just fine without him, turns into a passive-aggressive duel.<\/p>\n

Time hasn\u2019t dented the brilliance of Alan Partridge\u2019s irresistible idiocy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not many could keep a character going successfully for decades, but Steve Coogan\u2019s return as Norfolk\u2019s most cringe-inducing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[3412,18,117,19,17,9162,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-95015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-pat-stacey","14":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}