Steve Coogan strolls into the room, flashing a grin and pointing down at his bright orange Argyle socks. “That’s where Alan meets Steve,” he jokes, referencing the sartorial overlap between himself and his most famous creation, Alan Partridge. It’s a small detail, but it captures the essence of a character who, for over three decades, has been both a source of pride and an occasional albatross for Coogan. As the world prepares for the premiere of How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) on BBC One this Friday, the enduring appeal—and evolution—of Alan Partridge is once again in the spotlight.
Alan Partridge first burst onto the scene in 1991 on BBC Radio 4’s parody news show On the Hour, initially as a send-up of the generic sports broadcaster. According to BBC News, one early listener was so appalled by Alan’s on-air antics that they wrote in to complain. Little did they know, this was only the beginning. Over the years, Alan would leap from radio to television, starring in shows like The Day Today, I’m Alan Partridge, and even a feature film, Alpha Papa. He’s survived highs and lows, both in-universe and out, becoming, as The Irish Independent notes, “Norfolk’s most cringe-inducing broadcaster.”
Now, in 2025, Alan returns with a new twist: he’s fronting a self-funded TV documentary on mental health. The show’s tortuous title is a tongue-in-cheek nod to daytime television’s awkward attempts at sincerity, but the subject matter is anything but trivial. Alan, ever the opportunist, declares he’s presenting “Britain’s first-ever documentary about mental health.” His approach? As always, hilariously misguided. “For most of us,” Alan intones, “mental health is as far down the agenda as the whole sex-change business.” He warns viewers that “we’re all being chased by the invisible monster they call mental health,” punctuated by a slow-motion shot of him running away from nothing in particular.
Coogan, now 59, is keenly aware of the risks—and the rewards—of tackling such a sensitive subject through comedy. He tells BBC News, “Sometimes if people are worried about attaching comedy to something which is about people’s vulnerabilities then they tend to avoid it because they don’t want to upset people. Whereas we will gravitate towards that, even though it gives people anxiety or could be potentially problematic. But we know that the same things that make something problematic also give it a lot of potential in terms of comedy.”
This new series finds Alan having “parted ways” with the BBC for a second time. After a year spent in the United Arab Emirates—apparently promoting food products—he’s returned to his beloved Norwich, “the only city I love more than Dubai.” No longer at North Norfolk Digital, Alan scrapes by with a string of local corporate gigs, including radio ads for pub breakfasts (“Carlsberg, wine and eggs – just nine-ninety-nine!”). But it’s a viral fainting episode during a corporate event on pig and cow feed that becomes his unlikely wake-up call. “My mind was not feeling too well,” Alan admits, offering up a series of observations that are as clueless as they are quotable: “There is more mental health than there used to be,” and “Ken Dodd made money from being mad.”
The show’s comedic edge is sharpened by its willingness to poke fun at Alan’s awkwardness and ignorance, but there’s an undercurrent of pathos that keeps the character from tipping into outright cruelty. As Coogan explains, Partridge is a “Trojan horse” for discussing taboo subjects, whether it’s mental health or the “xenophobic little England mentality of the Daily Mail” or the “smug, self-righteousness of the Guardian, at its worst.” The goal, he says, is for people with very different perspectives to find themselves laughing together at Alan’s antics.
Longtime fans will recognize familiar faces in the new series. Alan’s long-suffering assistant, Lynn (Felicity Montagu), and his old sidekick, Simon Denton (Tim Key), both return—but not always on the friendliest of terms. Alan’s reunion with Simon is a particular lowlight: he discovers, much to his chagrin, that Simon is doing just fine without him. The tension between nostalgia and progress is palpable, both in the show and in the real world, as Alan’s desperate attempts to remain relevant mirror the anxieties of a generation who feel left behind by a rapidly changing society. “Like for many ‘white, middle-aged, middle-class men,’” observes co-writer Rob Gibbons, “the world has changed too fast for him and he’s scared.”
That evolving complexity is key to Alan’s remarkable longevity. In the early days, Partridge was often the only fool in the room, surrounded by “reasonable” people. But as Neil Gibbons tells BBC News, the trick was to start surrounding Alan with people who are, in their own ways, even worse. This allowed Alan to occasionally stumble into saying something the audience might agree with, adding new layers to his character and preventing the well of comedic mishaps from running dry.
The journey hasn’t always been smooth. After his initial burst of popularity, Alan endured what Coogan describes as a “fallow period” of about seven years. During this time, Coogan sought other projects—portraying Tony Wilson in 24 Hour Party People, starring alongside Rob Brydon in The Trip, and earning accolades for Philomena, which brought him both a Bafta and an Oscar nomination. But Alan was never far from his mind, and when the time felt right, Coogan returned to the character with renewed enthusiasm, thanks in large part to the fresh perspective brought by Neil and Rob Gibbons. The trio revitalized Alan in projects like Mid Morning Matters, the spoof autobiography I, Partridge, and the Bafta-winning Scissored Isle.
For Coogan, the relationship with Alan has shifted over the years. “I don’t want to live with Alan but I do like to visit him,” he says. The character, once a burden, has become a welcome companion—one he plans to revisit for as long as he’s able. “As long as I can do the other things that are really important to me, I think I will always come back and do something, as long as we can keep the standard.” And, as he’s quick to add, “Laughter is very healthy.”
So, what keeps audiences coming back after all these years? Perhaps it’s the way Alan Partridge manages to be both a mirror and a funhouse reflection of British society—mocking its foibles, anxieties, and vanities, but never losing sight of the humanity beneath the cringe. As The Irish Independent puts it, “Time hasn’t dented the brilliance of Alan Partridge’s irresistible idiocy.”
How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) premieres on BBC One at 21:30 BST on Friday, October 3, 2025, with all six episodes available on iPlayer. For Steve Coogan and his fans, it’s another chance to visit Alan—awkward socks and all.
