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Steve Coogan filming Alan Partridge: Actor gets back to work as one of Norfolk’s most famous exports
This Time With Alan Partridge - Alan Partridge (STEVE COOGAN) - (C) BBC WorldWide 2018 - Photographer: Andy Seymour - Credit: BBC WorldWide 2018/Andy Seymour
The Brexit-loving spoof presenter is back filming a new BBC TV series for later this year - but will Alan Partridge be making a trip up the A11 from London to Norfolk in This Time with Alan Partridge?
He once said he hoped for a world 'without famine and war and the BBC', so it was somewhat of a surprise to learn that he'd be returning to the broadcaster for a series later this year.
North Norfolk Digital Radio DJ Alan Partridge is giving the Beeb one more chance to recognise his gargantuan talent as he takes the helm of a new current affairs series called This Time with Alan Partridge, which is a One Show-style magazine programme.
Steve Coogan, Alan's alter ego, has been seen on set this week shooting scenes outside BBC Studios in a typically Alan-esque set of workwear including a mustard bomber jacket over a green shirt and then a pink top with a grey coat and a pair of blue suede loafers.
The show will see Alan handed a career lifeline - the chance to stand in (temporarily) as co-host on This Time, an evening weekday magazine show.
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His first return to live television since his 90s chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You was cancelled after a guest was fatally shot on air, This Time is the perfect shop window for a man of Alan's gravitas and will, or should, see him finally recognised as one of the heavyweight broadcasters of his era.
The show itself is a heady mix of consumer affairs, current affairs, viewer interaction, highbrow interview and lightweight froth; very much the sweet spots for a man whose CV boasts over two decades of weekday local radio. And with an array of diverse subjects on the agenda, it promises the perfect fit for a man whose broadcasting style has been described as 'equidistant between chitchat and analysis'.
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Joining Steve Coogan on the sofa will be Susannah Fielding as his female co-presenter Jennie Gresham, and Tim Key as Simon 'formerly Sidekick Simon' Denton. Felicity Montagu will also return as Alan's long-suffering assistant, Lynn and the show – which will be aired in six half-hour episodes later this year - has been written by Coogan and Neil and Rob Gibbons.
This week, scenes shot included Alan on the streets of London running in front of a taxi in his rush to get somewhere – back to Norfolk, perhaps?