I'm Alan Partridge
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I'm Alan Partridge is a British sitcom. Two series were produced, the first in 1997 and the second in 2002. Six episodes were produced for each series. Armando Iannucci has expressed doubts about creating a third [1]. Steve Coogan stars as Alan Partridge.
Both series were written by Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci and Peter Baynham. They starred Coogan as Alan Partridge; Felicity Montagu as his faithful, mousey PA, Lynn; Simon Greenall as Geordie Travel Tavern handyman/BP garage attendant, Michael; and Phil Cornwell as Dave Clifton.
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Series One
In this series, the former chat show host Partridge has been divorced by his wife, Carol; has distanced himself from his children and ended up living in the Linton Travel Tavern, a cheap hotel equidistant between London and Norwich. He is reduced to doing local radio broadcasts very early in the morning (4 to 7 am on the fictional BBC Radio Norwich in a slot called "Up with the Partridge") and making corporate appearances for various low profile firms.
The main characters (besides Alan) are:
- Lynn, Alan's hard-working, put-upon and nervous personal assistant ("but there's no affection", says Alan). A member of the Baptist Church, which Alan finds strange but is willing to tolerate.
- Michael, a worker at the travel tavern. He is a Geordie with a thick accent which Alan barely understands at times (and, being Alan, never fails to tactlessly point it out). Michael is arguably Alan's only friend, and Alan is glad of his presence when he needs to have a heart-to-heart or, more often, inane chat. However, Michael is almost as desperate a character as Alan (shown most clearly when Alan looks out of his room window to see Michael tearing at his hair in a state of some distress. Michael frequently tells stories of his army days (he may well be a compulsive liar about such things) and often displays a lack of judgement nearly as great as Alan's.
- Susan, a receptionist at the travel tavern. Her smile rarely falters, but as Alan frequently makes tactless and annoying comments (often about her appearance), it is sometimes momentarily replaced by a look of shock and bemusement. Nevertheless, she never says a harsh word to Alan - at least, until the end of the last episode, in which she explodes at Alan at his party.
- Sophie, Susan's fellow receptionist who is also rarely without a smile - however, in her case it is normally due to the fact that she is suppressing a laugh. Much to Alan's annoyance, she finds him very amusing and often jokes about him behind his back.
- Ben, a worker at the tavern and Sophie's boyfriend. Alan is jealous of their romance and does his best to humiliate Ben, who invariably gets the better of him.
- Dave Clifton, a fellow Radio Norwich DJ whose slot comes after Alan's every morning. Alan never fails to engage in witty banter with Dave, but there is a rivalry between them that's thinly veiled by their jocular chitchat. Dave usually gets the better of Alan, but on at least one occasion Alan won their daily battle (by swearing on what was technically Dave's show).
Partridge shows his usual sexism and bigotry, constantly insulting Lynn by giving her a meagre salary and making her perform the most trivial of tasks. His social life is minimal, with only phone calls from Bill Oddie and the occasional acquaintance talking to him, as well as silly, masculine chats with Michael.
A device frequently used by the series was a cut to Alan's fantasy night-club. In these fantasies, Alan is a lapdancer, dancing for whatever TV power he aims to please (usually Tony Hayers).
Episodes
- "Room with an Alan": Alan views some property and has a formal chat with Tony Hayers (played by David Schneider), the fictional programme commissioner of the BBC, about the possibility of a second series of Knowing Me, Knowing You.
- "Alan Attraction": Due to the lack of second series, Alan is forced to fire all the staff at his company, Peartree Productions. However, he strikes up a romance with Jill, one of his employees, before he can sack her.
- "Watership Alan": After making an unwise comment about farming on the radio, Alan becomes an object of hatred for local farmers. But he doesn't have time to worry about this as he's shooting an advertisement for a boating company. Alan invents the ladyboy drink combination.
- "Basic Alan": Alan is bored and does a number of things to pass the time, including dismantling a trouser press and dressing up as a zombie in a poorly planned practical joke. His boredom culminates with he and Michael attempting to steal a traffic cone.
- "To Kill a Mocking Alan": Alan is pleasantly surprised to discover that his "biggest fan", Jed Maxwell, is staying at the travel tavern. He also hosts "An Afternoon with Alan Partridge" at the hotel and is visited by network executives who are considering giving him a show on Irish television.
- "Towering Alan": After a depressing afternoon hosting a small village fayre, Alan is delighted to discover that Tony Hayers has died and his successor is a big fan of Knowing Me, Knowing You. He immediately snaps up the opportunity to finally win his sought-after second series.
The series ended with a party in Alan's room as Alan and Lynn tidied up to the theme from Black Beauty, after all the guests have prematurely left. The series ends on a surprisingly upbeat note, with Alan pretty pleased with himself.
Series Two
By series two, we catch up with Alan five years after he left the Linton Travel Tavern. He himself admits that in the intervening time he's been "clinically fed up", which culminated in him putting on a lot of weight and driving to Dundee in his bare feet whilst gorging on Toblerones. By the start of this series, he believes himself that he has "bounced back", which is also the title of his poorly-selling autobiography. As well as his autobiography, he has Radio Norwich's 3rd best slot (his rival from Series 1, Dave Clifton, again follows his show, but this is now a 'graveyard' midnight slot), a military-based game show called Skirmish on fictional cable TV channel "UK Conquest" and has released a video called "Crash, Bang, Wallop, What a Video!"
Alan now finds himself living in a static caravan outside his partially built dream home. He is flanked by his friend Michael, who has left his job at the travel tavern to become a cashier at the local BP garage (this recalls Alan's odd question in the first episode of the first series to the estate agent, when he asked if there were any petrol stations near the house with minimarts - 'scaled down supermarket, fits inside a petrol station'). Alan now has two women in his life, not only is he still tended to by his personal assistant Lynn but he has a Ukrainian girlfriend, Sonja, played by Amelia Bullmore.
Episodes
- "The Talented Mr Alan": While visiting his old friend Michael, Alan has a chance meeting with his old teacher Frank "Sweaty" Raphael. Alan convinces him to let him do a talk for the sixth formers at the school he is now head teacher of.
- "The Colour Of Alan": Alan is asked to present a sales conference for Dante's of Reading, a company that fits fireplaces.
- "Brave Alan": Alan makes a new friend at the BP garage called Dan (played by Stephen Mangan). The both like the same beer, the same deodorant and both drive Lexi ("the plural of Lexus"). Dan owns Planet Kitchens, and sets it up so that Alan can present the Coleman's Mustard Bravery Awards.
- "Never Say Alan Again": Alan plans a Bond-athon for the bank holiday weekend with Michael. When he discovers that Michael has another friend, Tex (played by Peter Serafinowicz), he un-invites Michael. Alan homes in on John the builder to be his new friend.
- "I Know What Alan Did Last Summer": Alan is worried about being investigated by Inland Revenue, and takes Sonja to "Bono's house" as a present.
- "Alan Wide Shut": Alan's house is finally built and Sonja is angling to cohabit. Meanwhile, Alan's book Bouncing Back has been unsuccessful, and is to be pulped.
Geography
All the places namedropped in I'm Alan Partridge are real locations in East Anglia. Linton and Longstanton are in Cambridgeshire, though neither has a Travel Tavern or spice museum, Swaffham is a market town in Norfolk, and of course there's the city of Norwich. The (Great) Ouse and the Waveney are major rivers, as referenced in Radio Norwich's ident. Linton really is equidistant between London and Norwich (about 60 miles in each direction). Not all Norfolkers are happy with the association though. [2]