Actor Steve Coogan has said he’s morphing into his alter-ego Alan Partridge, the character he’s played in various projects since 1991.
The 59-year-old first took on the persona of the hubristic Norwich broadcaster in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series On The Hour, before landing numerous spin-off TV shows, including Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge and I’m Alan Partridge.
Speaking to Radio Times, Coogan said the lines of reality between him and Partridge have started to blur in a way that makes him feel uncomfortable.
“During the last TV series, I went into the trailer to put Alan’s clothes on and I was wearing a shirt that was identical to the one they had hanging up for Alan,” he said.
“I don’t mean similar, I mean same pattern, same label. It was the same shirt. I still had to take my shirt off and put his on, just for my own sanity. Then, at the end of the day, I took it off and put it back on the hanger.
He added: “I needed to do that to reassure myself there hadn’t been this moment of singularity where the Venn diagram becomes just one circle. I like to think it’s still a figure eight, at least.”
The forthcoming Partridge series And Did Those Feet… with Alan Partridge will see Alan return to his home county of Norfolk after years working in Saudi Arabia.
“It’s a show that makes a statement that will create shockwaves: ‘I’m Alan Partridge, and I’m not OK,” the synopsis reads.
Coogan will also return to screens alongside Rob Brydon in the fifth season of The Trip, which was previously believed to be finished for good after the Greece-set fourth series in 2020.
Brydon and Coogan will explore the wildest riches of Northern Europe, including sculptural Swedish hotels and remote Norwegian fishing huts.
The actor described the project as squeezing “the last few drops of comedy from a bottle that we both thought was pretty much empty”.
Shooting for the six-part series will commence later this year on location in Scandinavia. However, an air date is yet to be announced.
