The only good thing to come out of Brexit - Alan Partridge is back
This Time With Alan Partridge - Alan Partridge (STEVE COOGAN) - (C) BBC WorldWide 2018 - Photographer: Andy Seymour - Credit: BBC WorldWide 2018/Andy Seymour
Alan Partridge star Steve Coogan has said Brexit is responsible for the hapless presenter's return to the BBC.
Partridge returns to BBC One this month as the host of daily magazine show This Time - a thinly-veiled pastiche of the Beeb's own One Show.
His unlikely return - he parted company with Auntie after accidentally discharging a duelling pistol into restaurant critic Forbes McCallister's chest live on TV 25 years ago - comes as he is parachuted in after long-standing host John Baskell is taken ill.
But in the real world Coogan has revealed that Brexit is at least partly responsible for Partridge's return to primetime.
He told the website Den of Geek: 'We had to justify a reason why Alan would come back.
You may also want to watch:
'We had a gift with Brexit, we thought there might be a missive at the BBC saying that a certain area of the viewing audience has been disenfranchised and ignored, the non-elite.
'Alan represents that so you can imagine them thinking 'we might as well give this guy another bite at the cherry because he seems to be in touch with that world view'.'
Most Read
- 1 Jacob Rees-Mogg claims fish captured after Brexit deal came into effect were 'British and happier for it'
- 2 The greatest failure of government in our lifetime
- 3 Matt Hancock praises free school meals before being reminded he voted against them
- 4 Katie Hopkins joins UKIP in time for leadership contest
- 5 Brexiteer MP ridiculed after calling for free movement of goods between GB and NI
- 6 Spokesman indicates Boris Johnson has not read Brexit trade deal text
- 7 Michel Barnier tells Britain Brexit red tape is here 'for good'
- 8 What Remainers should have done differently
- 9 Brexiteer says he'd never have voted for Brexit 'if we knew we'd lose our jobs'
- 10 Why I'll be making Leave EU's move to Ireland as difficult as possible
He said that Partridge had moved on from the 'uber-conservative Little Englander' he was portrayed as in previous series.
'Now he's more nuanced,' Coogan said. 'It's funnier to go for people who are attempting to adopt what is known as 'correct thinking' and not quite getting it right.'
'Alan would have voted Brexit for sure. Hard Brexit, given the choice,' he said. 'He's a Brexiteer because the Daily Mail told him to be.'
Asked if he would make a better leader than the current president of the United States, he said: 'He would make a better president than Trump, yes. Alan's inept but he's also honest and well-intentioned. It's a Little England thoughtlessness.
'He tries not to be sexist, then is sexist. He's the kind of person, a bit like my dad, who tries to impress but it comes out wrong.
'A black person came to our house who was a missionary, and within a few seconds my dad was like 'Do you encounter much racism?'
'But the thing with Partridge, is that you can have fun with characters that you don't like to burst the bubble as well, in a sort of 'Emperor's New Clothes' kind of way.
'Like I did once on Alan's radio show Mid Morning Matters, which is based on Richard Littlejohn, Rod Liddle, and Ian Hislop, all combined into one character. They all get on my fucking nerves, so I thought, I'll combine them all into a kind of very cynical, droll character, who during Alan's interview, is sort of putting Alan down a lot.
'But when you watch it, the character is far more annoying than Alan is. Because, as well as being a bit of an idiot himself, you can actually use him to speak truths.
'To say things that are sort of a bit ignorant, but actually, people secretly agree with him.'
This Time With Alan Partridge starts on BBC One on Monday, February 25 at 9.30pm
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.