Steve Coogan admits he’s contemplated killing off Alan Partridge after playing the hapless broadcaster for more than 30 years.
The actor became a household name through his portrayal of Partridge, the perennially tactless TV personality he originally created while working with Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris on 1991 radio show On The Hour.
He is now poised to revive the character for How Are You? It’s Alan (Patridge), a new BBC mockumentary about Britain’s mental health crisis.
But Coogan, 59, admits he frequently considers putting an end to the legendary character.
He told The Mirror: ‘Part of me wants to kill him off by deliberately jumping the shark in a really bad way – like making a film where I fight Alan Partridge and kill him but he kills me or something like that.
‘Don’t end with dignity on a high – just drive it off a cliff.’
Steve Coogan admits he’s contemplated killing off Alan Partridge after playing the hapless broadcaster for more than 30 years
The actor became a household name through his portrayal of Partridge, the perennially tactless TV and radio personality he originally created in 1991
But the actor admits he was alarmed when he absentmindedly starting dressing in the character’s notoriously conservative clothes off-set – including one of his shirts.
He recalled: ‘It wasn’t just a similar shirt – it was literally the same shirt, the same manufacturer in the same size.
‘I looked at it hanging up and thought, “I guess it’s happened.”
Speaking in February, Coogan admitted the character he originally brought to life for 1991 radio show On The Hour – a spoof current affairs series hosted by the fictional Partridge – soon felt like an albatross around his neck.
Appearing on Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett’s Dish from Waitrose Podcast, he said: ‘There was a time when I felt saddled with it. So, when I do Partridge, I do it through choice. Not because I have to.
‘I’m doing some stuff at the moment, and it does make me laugh, so… I make notes in my phone.
‘I think, I have a funny idea, I’m on the train and I’m chuckling to myself. I will laugh at myself as a Partridge comes into my head, and put it in my phone, on my own.
Coogan has portrayed Partridge over an astonishing four decades, with the character featuring in an assortment of TV shows and specials, documentaries, films and his very own podcast
But Coogan admits he frequently considers putting an end to the legendary character
‘Or I’ll look in a shop window and think about, I might say, “oh, what would Alan say about that. I’m still doing it now thirty years later, so it’s like a condition now.’
Coogan’s career defining character has earned him no less than six awards – the most recent coming in 2017 at the TV BAFTAs, where Alan Partridge’s Scissored Isle secured Best Male Comedy Performance for the actor.
More accolades could follow with the release of his latest Partridge series, which sees the hapless presenter ‘jumping on the mental health bandwagon.’
‘He knows that he can get back on TV if he talks about something important,’ said Coogan. ‘We’re editing it now, so…’
Despite his intimate connection to the character, Coogan says even he struggles to comprehend Partridge’s notorious lack of tact and completely oblivious approach to political correctness.
More accolades could follow with the release of another Partridge led series at a yet to be specified date, with Coogan having completed work on a new project that sees the hapless presenter ‘jumping on the mental health bandwagon’
He said: ‘For me to try and describe it is so risqué some of the stuff, I can’t even describe, you have to just listen to it.
‘But there’s some stuff, you know there is some stuff that’s so wrong that it makes me laugh, because there’s some things he says that no one could say, and I certainly couldn’t say.
‘But because you, the audience know who he is and that he’s sort of ill-informed but is trying his best. He’s not an evil person. He’s just a fool. But sometimes the fool says things that people secretly agree with. So, that’s quite enjoyable that having that little bit of catharsis.
‘And also, you can satirise, sort of… I mean, if I want to sort of take the mick out of someone I don’t like, I just make Alan say that they’re his best friend.’
