Steve Coogan has said he would like to do more live shows as Alan Partridge “at some point”, ahead of a new ‘documentary’ series from the North Norfolk broadcaster.
- READ MORE: Soundtrack of My Life: Alan Partridge
Partridge is set to make his return to BBC airwaves later this year when he hosts the documentary series And Did Those Feet…with Alan Partridge.
And in a new interview with Dermot O’Leary on BBC Radio 2, Coogan said he would be interested in returning to the stage as Partridge in the near future, after the most recent ‘Stratagem’ tour in 2022.
“Probably yes, at some point,” Coogan said when asked about the possibility. “I’d like to do some other stuff first and I’ll go back to him. I do a lot of serious stuff and then, when I need a laugh, we’ll get together and do some Partridge.”
He said that being able to take part in more dramatic roles such as Jimmy Savile drama The Reckoning and Laurel & Hardy biopic Stan & Ollie has made returning to the Partridge character more palatable.
“Once I was able to do other things and had this opportunity to explore different topics and subject matters and write other things, it tickles that itch” he said. “As long as I can do that and I get the balance right I like to come back to Alan because he’s like putting a warm dressing gown on. It feels so easy.”
The new six-episode series And Did Those Feet will be the first time the North Norfolk presenter has returned to the BBC since the last series of This Time with Alan Partridge was broadcast in 2021. The show will document Partridge “reintegrating” into British life after a year spent living in Saudi Arabia.
The synopsis released by the corporation says: “What begins as a documentary about homecoming soon morphs into something more personal as Alan realises that the happiness he thought he’d feel at being back in Norwich just hasn’t materialised. Something’s missing.”
Written by Steve Coogan, Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons, the series will run for six 30 minute episodes. The broadcast date has not yet been revealed.
Earlier this year, a Partridge joke during a sketch for Comic Relief about Ukrainian refugees was criticised.
The character and Sidekick Simon (Tim Key) were reading out callers’ most and least charitable acts. “Grant in Bristol says his most charitable act was taking in a family of Ukrainians for a year,” said Simon.
Partridge then asked: “And the least charitable?”, before Simon replied: “Turfing them out, he’s got rid.”
“Marvellous, well actually a friend of mine did that for a family of Ukrainians,” Partridge added. “Still friends with them, they still wash his cars.”
It led to people on social media describing the line as “awful”, “stupid” and “unfunny”.
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