First look at This Time with Alan Partridge season 2
Nothing, not even a pandemic, could stop the iconic broadcaster from returning to share his wisdom with the nation.
As a sofa-based talk show This Time with Alan Partridge is more uncomfortable than a bed of nails and is colder than a block of ice and yet we've waited with great anticipation for season two.
The big news is that despite the COVID-19 pandemic we won't have to wait much longer.
Steve Coogan originally said that This Time with Alan Partridge would begin filming at the end of 2019, with a planned premiere date in spring 2021. However that schedule was thrown out by the COVID-19 pandemic and the BBC says it will return in 2021.
To publicise the imminent return a new image of Alan Partridge and co-host Jennie Gresham (Susannah Fielding) has been released.
The BBC said season two would find Alan "now established as the show’s co-presenter" and would "follow Alan on air and off as he tries to cling on to his position, in the face of behind-the-scenes upheaval and [his] fears that his relevance is dwindling".
Season one ended with Alan in deep trouble with management because of comments and behaviour towards his co-presenter.
This Time with Alan Partridge premiered on BBC One back in 2019, with Coogan's beloved comedy character making yet another comeback in a magazine show format similar to that of The One Show and This Morning.
Predictably, each episode packed some spectacularly awkward gaffes and ended on a particularly chaotic note, but it takes more than total humiliation to stop Partridge from broadcasting to the nation.
It's unclear how the second season was filmed and how the passive-aggressive pairing of Alan and Jennie managed to work with the social distancing measures, but we shall soon find out.
The first series of This Time with Alan Partridge was primarily concerned with the eponymous magazine show itself, although there were short interludes between segments which offered a glimpse into the presenter's pitiful private life.
From Coogan's latest comments, it appears these could be expanded in series two, with the intention of establishing a "parallel narrative".
"We're trying to set ourselves a task of having the [chat show] stuff on-screen and then have a kind of parallel unseen story that we get glimpses of, this parallel narrative of what's going on in [Alan's] private life and Jennie, his co-presenter's, private life," he explained.
Coogan said the two narratives would go parallel and they "want it to end up in a strange and unexpected place".
There's plenty of Partridge content out there right now for fans of the character, with a new podcast titled From The Oasthouse launching on Audible early this year and an additional series which has been long in the planning.
In addition, a Simon Schama-style British history series titled And Did Those Feet with Alan Partridge has been frequently reported, although it is yet to see the light.
Little is known about the series beyond that it involves Alan travelling around the UK and meeting people who can enlighten him on the country's past.
Coogan described a "documentary series" that matches this description without referencing it by name, meaning it's unclear whether an additional travelogue could be in the pipeline.
He added: "After that, we're going to do some sort of documentary series… We'll definitely do a documentary series where Alan is on the road."
Alan Partridge: From The Oasthouse is available to stream on Audible. If you're looking for something to watch tonight, check out our TV Guide.
Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
