It appears Alan Partridge has got his dream at last - making his big BBC comeback.
Manchester comedy star Steve Coogan has revealed that his most infamous comic creation, hapless broadcaster Partridge, will be back on the Beeb early next year with his own TV show.
Steve made the surprise announcement as he appeared as a guest on Friday’s BBC One Show.
He said: “Alan will be back on the BBC early next year, there will be a lot of Alan on TV next year.”
Presenters Alex Jones and Amol Rajan laughed that they’d 'got a bit of an exclusive here' and pressed him for further details about the show.
Steve said: “I’m trying to do a leak to the press about it. He’ll just be back on a show, it might be a bit like this. I’m here to do research.”
One Show host Alex said: “We could be your inspiration.” Steve joked: “That’s one way of putting it.”
The news is set to delight fans, who have followed Alan’s hilarious attempts to bounce back into the prime time over the past two decades.
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The character became a cult comedy icon in 1994 as the hapless host of the spoof BBC chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You - which launched his catchphrase “A-ha”.
However Partridge’s prime time career was dramatically cut short when the series ended with the character accidentally shooting a guest and attacking a BBC excecutive.
Coogan returned as the character for the docu-style comedy show I’m Alan Partridge, which followed the tactless presenter’s numerous attempts to break back into the big time - including pitching a number of TV show ideas to the fictional head of the BBC, making the infamous suggestion of “monkey tennis”.
But in recent years he’s been plying his trade in local radio, on North Norfolk Digital.
His most recent TV series, Mid Morning Matters, followed his exploits with the station and aired to great acclaim on Sky Atlantic.
He also made the leap to the big screen in 2013 in Alan Partridge, Alpha Papa, where he foiled a radio station siege.
Speculation is now rife that Alan will return to the BBC in a spoof One Show style format.
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Steve, who appeared on Friday’s One Show ostensibly to promote his new Partridge book Nomad, said: “Alan feels he could have invented the One Show and been its main anchor over the years.”
Middleton-raised Coogan explained how he creates the character with co-writers Neil and Rob Gibbons, saying: “He is in some ways like a real person because when you write him, you feel like there is a fourth person in the room.
“I quite like Alan even though he’s an idiot. But eventually you want to go away and leave him alone. It’s like a relative you don’t mind seeing at Christmas but you would’t want to live with.”
Steve also spoke about his upcoming role as Stan Laurel in a big-screen biopic of comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, also due out in early 2018, called Stan and Ollie.