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LAST NIGHT, BBC welcomed Alan Partridge back to the network, 25 years after his last stint on a chat-show, Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge. 

Over the last two and a half decades, the Steve Coogan character has returned intermittently in Christmas and charity specials, as well as on Radio Norwich in I’m Alan Partridge, and in his own feature film, Alpha Papa, while managing to remain as relevant as ever during that time. 

Ahead of last night’s episode of his new series, This Time With Alan Partridge (which is a spoof of BBC’s The One Show), Partridge sent an email to over 20,000 members of staff at the BBC, which was not only fairly amusing, but a genuinely brilliant marketing idea which was picked up by the entertainment department of basically every major British news outlet. Who else would even consider emailing every single individual who works for the BBC, pleading with them to watch his new show, other than Alan Partridge? 

After this little stunt, viewers were expecting big things from Alan when he returned to the BBC. Coogan’s character was set to stand in for the host of This Time who was out sick. Viewers waited with bated breath for Alan to do something chaotically clumsy, but the episode went by, largely without incident. Maybe by the end of the series, he will have shit himself on air or will accidentally set BBC’s studio aflame. Who knows? 

There were a couple of moments in last night’s episode that could inspire a chuckle, but what might have been the least funny moment from the show is the one that’s getting promoted on social media today. 

If the video won’t play, click here. 

Personally, my favourite bit was probably when the cyber-terrorist called Gavin was wearing the giraffe mask, but to each their own. Alan Partridge, himself, was as tragic and needy as ever, but this show was quite different to any of Alan’s previous titles, and in a way even more uncomfortable to watch. At least Alan Partridge in the 90s and early 00s didn’t have as much to worry about in the way of technology. 

While the show received 5-star reviews from the likes of The Guardian and BBC, people on Twitter couldn’t agree on the show at all. For every person writing, “New Alan Partridge is delightfully funny!“, there’s another calling it “fucking shite“. It’s a bit early to write the show off as shite, but it has a long way to go before it proves itself as the best Alan Partridge series. We trust Steve Coogan, though. 

What did you think?

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