By Tom Percival

Copyright metro

Steve Coogan knows how he’d kill off his most iconic creation (Picture: BBC/Getty)

Alan Partridge is one of the most beloved comic creations of all time, but there’s one person who didn’t always love him: Steve Coogan.

Yes, despite sharing a face, Coogan has admitted several times to feeling like Norfolk’s most infamous son was an ‘albatross around his neck’.

If you’ve followed the 59-year-old comedian and actor’s career over the years, it’s easy to see why.

Search ‘Aha! Steve Coogan’ on Google and you’ll find several clips of the star walking the red carpet with a stony face to a chorus of Alan’s old catchphrase.

Indeed, Coogan told Metro earlier this year that he still avoids making eye contact with white men on public transport just in case they launch into their best impression of Alan.

It’s perhaps unsurprising then that Coogan has thought about how he’d kill Alan off, as he admitted at a Q&A to promote his new show, How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge).

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video

Up Next

Previous Page

Next Page

If Steve did kill Alan, it would be deliberately ‘really bad’ (Picture: Shutterstock for Channel Four)

‘We might kill off [Alan],’ he told the audience. ‘Some part of me wants to kill him off by actually deliberately jumping the shark in a really bad way.’

‘Like making a film where I fight with Alan Partridge and kill him, but he kills me… in America.’

‘Just really bad, don’t end with dignity or on a high. Just drive it off a cliff.’

Of course, Steve is being facetious (or I hope he is), and during the same event, he explained why he’s grown to appreciate Alan more and more.

‘I went off and did some other stuff that had success, and I felt like I’ve got the monkey off my back now,’ he explained.

How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) is Coogan’s latest series (Picture: BBC/Baby Cow/Ben Blackall)

The series sees Alan trying to help the nation tackle its mental health problems (Picture: BBC/Baby Cow Ollie Upton)

‘I can go back and do Alan because I want to, not because I have to… I mean, I don’t live with Allen, but I like visiting [him] like some family members.’

In fact, the Gibbons brothers admitted that these days the Venn diagram of Alan and Steve overlaps in more ways than the actor perhaps likes to admit.

‘When we were filming this series,’ the Gibbons explained. ‘Steve came in wearing a checked shirt, and when he went to get his costume for the day, it was the exact same shirt.’

How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) review

Aha! After a long four-year wait, Alan Partridge is back in the big time with a hilarious new mockumentary called How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge).
This six-part series follows the pompous presenter, Alan (Steve Coogan), as he tries and fails to help the nation get to grips with its mental health.
Long-time Partridge fans already know the secret to Alan’s success.
The character has an incredible capacity for evolution (not revolution) while staying fundamentally the same.
Indeed, Coogan and his writing partners, Rob and Neil Gibbons, have reinvented the character time and time again while staying true to the ladyboy-obsessed parody of celebrity we met in the 90s.
How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) then is the character’s most audacious reinvention to date, and the logical conclusion to that evolution, asking you not just to laugh at Alan but sympathise with him as well.
That’s not to suggest Alan’s lost any of his ‘Partridge-ness’ (for lack of a better word).
The genius of this show is that as soon as you start to feel sorry for him, Alan does something terrible – pulling the rug from under you – allowing you to laugh at his unsanctionable buffoonery.
Coogan is, of course, sensational, slipping back into Alan’s red corduroy trousers with ease, and it’s amazing to see how comfortable he’s become with arguably his greatest comedy creation.
Long-term Alan obsessives will also have fun spotting all the Easter eggs and references to the wider Partidge universe (RIP Seldom, I hope you’re drinking a big steel salad bowl full of Coca-Cola in doggy heaven).
Still, as a standalone comedy, I had the best time watching this since sliced bread (to quote Alan), and it’s up there with the best Partridge content ever.

‘That’s true, ’ Coogan interrupted. ‘It wasn’t just like a similar shirt, it was, it was literally the same manufacturer, the same size. And I looked at the hanger, and I thought, “I guess it’s happened”.’

So would Coogan hang out with Alan if they met in the real world? In a word, no.

It goes as well as you’d expect (Picture: BBC/Baby Cow/Rob Baker Ashton)

‘If he were a real person, I’d think he was a dick. I wouldn’t want to hang out with him, but I do think he’s not mean,’ Coogan said.

‘I think he’s not mean-spirited. I think he’s misguided. And I think there are far worse people in Alan’s world and in the real world than Alan.’

How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer from October 3 2025.