I'm Alan Partridge (1997–2002) User Reviews

Comedy as it's meant to be

[VictorianCushionCat · 10/10 · 2 November 2001]

It was much anticipated by us Partridge fans, Knowing Me Knowing You on both radio and television had been comedy gold. The Christmas Special saw Alan's Television career collapse. How could 'I'm Alan Partridge' possibly keep up with such high standards?

It did and a whole lot more. The hilarity of Alan's misguided belief that he is still a major player in the industry and the meaningless conversations with the hotel staff combine to make his series essential watching. And the indignity of his prolonged stay in a 'one night stop venue' Travel Tavern adds to the tragic hilarity of the series.

Steve Coogan delivers his finest work to date and is ably assisted by a cast whose strongest delivery is the varied reactions their characters display when in the company of the failed chatshow host.

Perhaps the ultimate magic of Alan Partridge is that to fans his barrowload of catchphrases and inane comments are never forgotten and are always liable to be joyfully relayed in the company of a fellow fan.

And to think there are people out there who still don't get the joke.

as Alan might say,

'who, who, who do you think you are?'

Why the dodgy reviews ? This is one of the best !!

[film_geek · 10/10 · 12 November 2003]

I'm a big Partridge fan, and enjoyed Knowing Me, Knowing You, and the 1st I'm Alan Partridge. I have to say this is a more than welcome addition to the series, if not the best. Alan's character is even more childish than ever, and he's also developed a slight arrogance towards people as he has become more self-confident (at least he thinks so). Alan's interaction with the builders is classic and his ever evolving friendship with Michael is superb. I was so glad that Michael got more to do in this one, everything he says is funny, especially when describing what he'd do with the Apache helicopter. Classic. The episode with Alan making friends with Dan (the kitchen man) is absolutely hilarious, and his antics at the Norfolk bravery awards is so crude and funny. "Beep, beep, got room for a brave one ?" hehe. There are so many hilarious parts to this series - its the best English comedy I've seen for a long time, I really cant understand why some people here found it disappointing (perhaps because you wanted to see Alan succeed ??). I recommend to watch it again and pay close attention, this is genius comedy. Series 3 soon please ! Highly recommended.

"You've never had a cup o' beans Mr Partridge" ?

We need a German Alan Partridge

[julianbollerhoff · 10/10 · 29 April 2012]

What can i say? Every line is pure gold and quotable. This is the best comedy series i ever watched Nothing can beat scenes like when Alan does his boot video and a cow is dropped on him. The way he says i m trapped under a cow. I could go on forever Whenever i am in a bad mood i get out my Alan partridge stuff and watch it and laugh my ass off every time. I think all the Sascha baron Cohen's and Ricky gervais owe so much to Alan partridge The influence this character had on the comedy scene is incredible and can t be overestimated. I am German and i English people thank you for giving me something that funny The German comedy scene is full of awfulness And everybody who hasn t watched this i can guarantee you that you will not regret it

The best British comedy of the '90s

[eastie · 8 December 1999]

Like Fawlty Towers in the '70s and Blackadder in the '80s, this is British comedy at its very best - a handful of episodes, all of them tighter line-for-line than Alan's shorts ("the boys are back in the barracks"). Partridge may well be the most ingeniously unsympathetic character ever created - every time you start to feel sorry for him, he manages to do something truly unspeakable. Painfully funny.

Right away, it had me by the jaffas

[stilwelljim · 10/10 · 3 August 2015]

I work in Curry's, and was going to write my review in Latin, but decided most of you won't be able to understand it.

I watched this in 6th form in the late 90s, and could quote a lot of it word for word .... as you do back then, at that age. Now at 34, I still meet up with mates and I don't think I have had a night where I didn't slip in a quote here or there, could be something as small as "lovely stuff" .... or aqua, it's french for water. There are hundreds of varying quality, but you never run dry!

Then there are just outrageous, where did the thought process come from lines like; "I know lying is wrong, but if the elephant man came in now in a blouse with some make up on, and said "how do I look?" Would you say, bearing in mind he's depressed and has respiratory problems, would you say "go and take that blusher off you mis-shapened elephant tranny"? No. You'd say 'You look nice... John'"

The genius of Bohemiam Rhapsody is that you listen to it and think this is so out there, so unusual, where did it come from, what was the thought process, and that's what I think about Partridge. Some of it is just incredible genius, simple, but brilliant. I wrote a review for curb your enthusiasm, which the Americans hold up as comedy, I can see parallels between that and Partidge, but it's nowhere near as funny!

COOK PASS BABTRIDGE

[Ruskington · 9/10 · 13 April 2020]

The first season of I'm Alan Partridge surely ranks as the pinnacle of Steve Coogan's career. It should also be considered one of the greatest TV comedy series ever made. For such a simple premise- a middle-aged man living in a Travelodge- the show has remarkable depth and ingenuity. Funnily enough, I never particularly liked Partridge as a character prior to this series but Coogan found a whole new way of presenting him and it works spectacularly.

The brevity of the show- a total of 12 thirty-minute episodes- is a huge plus and prevents it from becoming stale and repetitive like so many other TV comedies. The razor-sharp and effortlessly simplistic writing is combined perfectly with incredibly well-conceived characters, including the impeccably cast hotel staff and the various showbiz bigwigs that Partridge interacts with. The third episode where Alan upsets the local Norfolk farmers should be compulsory viewing for anyone studying comic writing.

The second season struggles to maintain the same standards and often feels like it's trying too hard to recreate the same punchlines and soundbites. The inclusion of the usually excellent Amelia Bullmore brings the quality down somewhat, steering it away from cringey realism and more towards goofy slapstick. Giving Alan a girlfriend, particularly a young and relatively attractive one, makes him less pathetic and consequently less loveable. Having said all that, Season 2 still towers above the vast majority of TV comedy made over the last few decades.

I'm Alan Partridge rivals the likes of The Office and Fawlty Towers as some of the finest British comedy ever made. Steve Coogan finds his spiritual home, inhabiting this gloriously pathetic greying man and somehow managing to make him loveable, loathsome, tragic and hilarious all at the same time. Pure gold.

Never been topped

[txd-738-600603 · 10/10 · 8 August 2013]

The TV comedy landscape began to change with The Day Today back in 1994. For me, the highlight was the Alan Partridge Sports Report - which is still frequently quoted today. Then came the outstanding Knowing Me Knowing You, I remember after watching 5 minutes of the first episode thinking everything had changed and comedy on TV could never go back.

It was when I was in university that the first series of I'm Alan Partridge ran in late 1997. I had a fellow Coogan fan as a house mate and it absolutely blew us away. I've never quite laughed like that at anything on TV before or since. There are the obvious quotes which I wont bore you with now (thankfully Gervais killed off "quote comedy" on the 2nd series of Extras) - but what stands out for me most is Coogan's subtle portrayal as the annoying, rude, hopeless and heartbreaking ex celebrity trying to find his way back. It's comedy perfection, cringworthy at times (but not hide your head Office / Extras) but highly watchable. Superb supporting cast together with Coogan at his height of powers make this the finest comedy series ever made. As a side note, the 2nd series did have it's moments but was over acted and too exaggerated, lacking the subtlety of the 1st.

Comedy gold

[Audrey_L · 10/10 · 12 December 2014]

I've had no previous experiences with Alan Partridge persona and I didn't know what to expect from this series. It was brilliant. I especially liked the episodes "To Kill A Mocking Alan" and "Watership Alan", the former had me in tears from laughing and that does not happen often. The writing is without a mistake, the characters are interesting and amusing and Alan is one ignorant, vain and rude little man - but that makes this series so fun to watch. Here in Croatia, Alan Partridge is fairly unknown - it's such a shame. I'll try to get my hands on other series that feature Alan's adventures.

10/10

Up with the Partridge

[jayroth6 · 10/10 · 4 April 2009]

Up with the Partridge

DVD review: "I'm Alan Partridge" (1997) BBC Video http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0129690/ "The bitter life of a failed talk show host turned early morning local radio presenter."

"I'd personally like to understand man's inhumanity to man. And then make a program about it."

Has there ever been a portrayal of social self-humiliation as unsparing and cringe-inducing as I'm Alan Partridge? A UK TV series, it is at times unbearable to watch. When Alan stumbled over his own words and emotions while doing his best trying to chat up the beautiful front desk clerk at the Linton Travel Tavern ("equidistant between London and Norwich") one must look away. When he bulldozes through a funeral reception in a black jacket emblazoned with the Castrol logo in hopes of putting the professional squeeze on a TV executive, the sheer dread makes the flesh creep.

I'm Alan Partridge follows the arch of Partridge's career as he scrambles to organize a professional comeback. The first Alan Partridge series, Knowing Me Knowing You depicted his dire chat-variety show and ended when Partridge accidentally shot and killed a guest while on the air. The prospect of someone expending such huge amounts of money and time and energy trying to get on TV is a hilarious achievement for actor/co-creator Steve Coogan and his collaborators. At every turn, when easy pathos comes close at hand, the show steers clear with another Partridgean outrage to human feeling. Indeed, at the end of the final series episode ("Towering Alan") Partridge triumphs when he takes up a dead BBC Chief Commissioning Editor's hand to forge a signature on the contract for his professional comeback.

Alan Partridge is more than a silly-ass Bertie Wooster without Jeeves. He is lightyears beyond Basil Fawlty in being socially beyond-the-pale. He is a man gifted with the ability to always share his worst thoughts and instincts at the wrong time. He tells RTE executives from Dublin this about the Irish Potato Famine: "You'll pay the price if you're a fussy eater. If they could afford to emigrate they could afford to eat in a modest restaurant." He castigates farmers on his late night radio show for animal experiments, only to end up trapped under a Holstein carcass on the deck of a canal boat.

If Partridge is a luckless Visigoth, those around him make out even worse. His receptionist finds out she has been fired when she hears it on Alan's radio show as she rides home in a taxi from their tryst. In each episode, the harrowing martyrdom of his PA Liz is explored and given a scale something close to the sufferings of Job. Liz never seems able to catch up to Alan's latest whim or mania. She is treat as what used to be called a "pen-wipe." Michael, a maintenance worker at the Linton Travel Tavern where Alan lives, is continually upbraided by Partridge for this "Jordy" accent.

I'm Alan Partridge is a quasi Samuel Beckett comedy about a man so corkscrewed by life that he cannot have a normal or typical social instinct about his circumstances or those of other people. His daydreams are abashedly homoerotic and his Linton Travel Tavern Pay per View orders run to Bangkok Chick Boys.

Partridge sees people around him as extensions of the cash nexus, step-stools for his own egomania. Perhaps they do not appear to him as human at all. In the episode "To Kill a Mocking Alan" he meets his #1 fan Jed Maxwell. Partridge takes it as perfectly natural that his talentless TV hackwork would earn him a fan. Not until the end of the episode does he realize the fan is a stalker psychopath, and that his adoration of Partridge is simply an expression of mental illness. "You're a mentalist!" Partridge yells at Jed as he flees from the man's house in horror.

The 2 disc DVD package from BBC Video is an affectless treat. In addition to the usual deleted scenes and outtakes, there is audio commentary by Alan Partridge himself, joined by Liz. The DVD menu itself recapitulates the TV menu system from the Linton Travel Tavern: adult PPV options, elevator music, and parking lot security camera footage included.

Watch and weep.

___________________________________________

Partridge Strikes Again

[KingofCarrotFlowers · 10/10 · 7 December 2006]

It's impossible to like the foul beast known as Alan Partridge, yet he's one of the funniest dudes around. The comedy he provides is as painful to watch as Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm", the difference being that Alan NEVER means well, hasn't got a good heart nor tries to help anybody. He doesn't spend a second considering the well-being of anybody and is totally oblivious of what goes around him. He fails in pretty much everything he puts his hands on and deceives all those who approach him, all this while seeing himself as the crown prince of mankind. Yes, he's hopelessly clueless and remorselessly mean but also gives the vibe of not even being aware of what he's doing, so that bit of childish innocent stupidity is what eventually turns him into the quintessential involuntary buffoon.

Alan... you're AMAZING

[Just-Being-Me · 10/10 · 5 March 2014]

This is one of my top comedy shows. I love it, it never fails to make me laugh, Steve is so good at playing this role. From the first time i watched this it got me hooked... i just wish there was more eps, you can never watch enough Alan, it never gets boring.

I think Alan Partridge is by far Steve's best work, I do know a few people who don't like this as they say he is stupid but i don't get that because he is meant to be, he is meant to be a person that is insulting, that makes inappropriate remarks, he is rude and people on the show don't like him because of how he is (meaning the characters the actors play are meant to not like Alan in the show).

I personally love this and would love to see more Alan Partridge shows.

10 out of 10 from me.

Hilarious sitcom

[DavidYZ · 9/10 · 7 May 2017]

This BBC sitcom stars Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge - a middle-aged, divorced man whose career is failing. He's a socially inept, narcissistic local radio presenter who used to be a television presenter. It follows on from Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge.

Coogan is brilliant - as are the rest of the cast, who play various staff and other people whom Partridge encounters.

There are two series. In the 1997 series, he lives in a travel tavern. In the 2002 series, he lives in a static caravan.

A rip-roaring time ... for the right audience

[tinytots2 · 6/10 · 3 December 2021]

This TV show was my first encounter with the Alan Partridge character, and watching the (mis)adventures of the insensitive and insulting television host-turned radio presenter was a bumpy ride. For enjoyers of "cringe comedy", I'm Alan Partridge would be a wonderful watch since the protagonist finds himself in numerous embarassing and awkward situations of his own making that can make for humorous viewing. But for me, it proved irksome and there were many moments where I felt mortified or angered rather than cheered.

Hence, my rating is more of a subjective opinion of my own liking for this series; I reiterate that for the right audience, the show will have its viewers laughing out loud many a time. It has some absolute gems for its episodes, like the one in which Mr. Partridge angers the local farmers, and the small number of episodes mean they are all varied and provide different situations and settings. The music is great and it has the quintessential British comedy touches. If you love darker, crass, humiliation-based humour, you'll love I'm Alan Partridge. But if you don't, like myself, you might be better off avoiding it.

Painful to watch...

[motor89 · 3 January 2001]

Alan Partridge is up there with Basil Fawlty as one of the finest comedy characters ever created.

In some ways the series, "I'm Alan Partridge", goes beyond comedy. It's often painful to watch the indignity heaped on Alan. However, such feelings are always negated in the end, because Alan is an unspeakably vile little man, and the show never misses a chance to demonstrate that.

Alan Partridge is a former TV presenter (ground covered in previous series such as "Knowing me, knowing you") who lost his job because... well, because he is dreadful, not to mention totally insensitive and overly literal when dealing with guests. After his sacking from TV, he loses his wife and ends up living in a desperate little travel hotel where he's the only guest - and all the employees hate him (with good reason). The series covers his attempts to get back on TV, via the radio Norwich 5 a.m slot... various corporate videos... and a hilarious village fete.

It is so difficult to pick out favourite moments... there are just too many of them: Alan's comments about farmers, and their subsequent retaliation; His crass behaviour at the funeral of the man who kicked him off TV; The special bigger plate he keeps at the travel hotel, just get get a bigger portion... and so on and on. I'm giggling just remembering this stuff.

If you *ever* get a chance to see this series, do not pass it up - it doesn't get much better. I don't know whether this has reached the U.S yet, but if it hasn't then shame on U.S TV stations.

The pinnacle of comedy.

[barneycalhounthepizzaguy · 10/10 · 30 April 2019]

Alan Partridge is a really funny guy! 10/10, would indeed watch again!

Quite literally 'Lovely stuff'

[Jackanackanory · 10/10 · 9 September 2006]

I'm Alan Partridge follows hot on the heels of Alan's T.V outing in 'Knowing Me Knowing You! With Alan Partridge' (KMKYWAP) His last T.V appearance left many questions unanswered, this series answers some of those though not all of them.

Series 1 --- The first series of I'm Alan Partridge set about showing Partridge in a different light, a light unseen by viewers ever before, in his previous adventures whether it be on the radio on 'On the hour' at the sports desk on 'The Day Today', or hosting his chat-show 'KMKYWAP' on the BBC viewers saw Alan at his shameful best during his work on air, I'm Alan Partridge set about giving the viewers an insight into the mind of one of T.V biggest catastrophes and Norwich's most infamous figures. This was done (as stated on the DVD Audio extras) as a documentary about how Alan copes with life just over 2 years after his chat show was cancelled (Xmas 94), now in 1997 Alan plots to make a comeback to mainstream T.V with a 2nd series of 'KMKYWAP' to do this he must convince BBC head of programming 'Tony Hayers' who he punched with a turkey on his last show at Xmas 94 that he merits a 2nd series, we find out he has returned to radio with the 4.30-7.00am slot on Radio Norwich, he has been chucked out by his wife Carol, is unwanted by his children Fernando & Denise and now resides in the 'Linton Travel Tavern' due the ingeniousness of it's location in that it's equidistant between London and Norwich.

During this series we see the state of which Alan has become mentally more than anything else, a series during which Alan gets his Rover 800 vandalised for the third time, having a Valentine's day date with his secretary, presenting a corporate video for 'Hamilton's waterbreaks', walking up the A12 for 12 bottles of wind-screen washer fluid, meeting up with his biggest fan and judging a vegetable competition at the 'Swaffham country fayre'.

Series 2 --- Series 2 sees Alan nearly 4 years after series 1 ended, we find out Alan now resides within a caravan ('doh', sorry Static home), has the third best slot on Radio Norwich, hosts a military based quiz-show on UK Conquest called Skirmish and most importantly has a girlfriend who is 13 years younger than him 'back-of-the-net' In this Series we see Alan doing a presentation at his old school, hosting a gala event for Dante's of Reading, giving out an award at the 'Norfolk bravery awards', having a 'Bond-a-thon', taking his girlfriend to U2 lead-man Bono's house and attending his PA Lynn's baptism.

My personal opinion: ----- Many a time do we brand something with the word genius yet realize in fact it can be more accurately defined as good when truly analyzed yet genius is the only word to describe this comedy accurately.

Why? What makes this comedy different from others out there and most importantly why do I and other viewers of the series think so too...

There are many factors but the most important for me is the blend and diversity of opinion and input in the series from the cast crew right through the director and it's production.

This is a comedy which you can see has been clearly well thought-out and has had huge amount of effort and detail put into it, from an immaculate set especially the locations from series 1 (Travel tavern, 5 bedroom house, etc), including great lighting a backdrops used, credit also to a casting crew which gel well and act off each other superbly, with each actor playing their part to perfection and using their individual skills to their up-most effect, Coogan's dry wit and Sarcasm, Montagu's facial expressions, Greenalls vocal impressions, etc... these maximise the feel of both series in a way which has the ability to immerse yourself into all things Partridge, and finally to the combined talents of the writers Coogan, Iannucci & Baynham who have created a truly remarkable pair of comedy series.

Rarely does a comedy have the ability to make a person cry and yet laugh (Ambivalence) at the same yet this comedy does just that.

The last thing that really makes the show what it is and made it a pioneer for modern comedy shows like Spaced, The Office, Coupling, etc… is that I'm Alan Partridge is a comedy that has been given a cast-iron direction in terms of its audience maximizing its appeal to those that enjoy its humour – but most of all understand it!!! It is because of this that I'm Alan Partridge is a show that could just not be a favourite with a mainstream T.V. audience, a testament most notably to it's dark and rather painful nature, nevertheless this is a show that provided the person understands it's content has the undoubted ability to make them howl with laughter... and that my is a guaranteed promise thanks a work of pure comedy genius!!!

"Look It Up In Your Cone-tract!"

[ShadeGrenade · 10/10 · 20 September 2006]

Failed sports commentator and chat-show host Alan is sacked from 'Radio Norwich' by his new boss, Tony Hayers, and goes berserk in a restaurant, running around with a piece of cheese. As the series develops, he tries to maintain a public profile, even though the doors are closing on him. Steve Coogan's performance is a masterclass in comedy, the sitcom format enabled him to bring out different sides to his character, such as his lap dancing fantasies. My favourite episode was 'Alan Attraction' - lovely performance from Julia Deakin as 'Jill'. Of the supporting cast, Sally Phillips made the biggest impact as Sophie, the giggling receptionist though Felicity Montagu gave her competition as Lynn, Alan's beleaguered P.A. The second season took Alan away from The Linton Travel Tavern, gave him a Ukrainian girlfriend, and had him living in a caravan next to a site where a house is under construction. Predictably, it wasn't as good as the first, although two episodes - 'Brave Alan' and 'Never Say Alan Again' - were simply outstanding.

You all know how good this one is

[Tigernine · 10/10 · 13 September 2018]

Jurassic Park! I feel like partridge fans are a certain breed of human that are leagues above all creatures.

Aha!!

[locutus243 · 9/10 · 2 May 2006]

Its no surprise, bearing in mind some other notable comedy creations, that a socially subnormal geek such as Partridge can be such a success. But this is due in no small part to Steve Coogan's whose timing and scripts have created more of an institution than a character. He is blunt, rude, naive and snobbish to name just a few of his characteristics but despite all this you can't help but like him. Supported with a wonderful cast who have started to mould great comic characters in their own right such as Lynn and Michael, the show never fails to make you laugh out loud every time, despite knowing exactly what is to come!

Partridge's family

[Lejink · 8/10 · 31 August 2013]

For this sort-of-successor to "Knowing Me Knowing You", Steve Coogan and his writers took gormless failed TV chat-show host Alan Partridge further down the road of fading celebrity with this very sharp and very amusing series.

Partridge has ended up on the broadcasting scrap-heap, presenting the death-slot before the breakfast show on his local radio station in Norwich, never quite giving up on his hope of getting back into the big-time, retaining the services of his devoted and docile P.A. Lynn and living out of a hotel suite 24-7, although it's hardly the Ritz! The falsity of TV celebrity is exchanged for mock-realism as Partridge now interacts with recognisable everyday types, principally the staff of the cheap hotel he inhabits, which of course only highlights his own ridiculousness, making us laugh at him all the more.

Coogan uses a different band of actors from those employed on "KMKYWAP", an indecipherable ex-Army Geordie hotel porter, two mocking, chiding female hotel receptionists, a randy young attendant and his afore-mentioned long-suffering, mousy P.A. They all get to share in the laughs but as ever it's Alan himself with his straighter-than-straight, true-blue persona who makes you wince as much as giggle with a string of un-P.C. phrases and actions.

I could have done without his recurring daydream of dancing in a black thong as well as the tacky laugh-track which is unnecessarily employed, but otherwise these half-hour episodes are at least as funny as "KMKYWAP", which is no mean feat.

Hilarious

[grantss · 9/10 · 12 June 2023]

A few years have passed since Alan Partridge had his own TV show, 'Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge'. He is now a radio DJ in Norwich while living in a modest hotel and holding out for a second season of his show. He whiles away his substantial spare time talking to the hotel staff, finding things for his PA Lynn to do and generally being obnoxious and making a nuisance of himself.

I enjoyed the previous two iterations of Alan Partridge: as the sports reporter on 'The Day Today' and ''Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge'. 'I'm Alan Partridge' picks up AP's career a few years after the latter show ended and is brilliant: absolutely hilarious and represents the peak of the Alan Partridge series of TV shows and films (there were a few more to follow).

Once again co-written by Steve Coogan and produced and co-written by Armando Iannucci (who later gave us the brilliant 'The Thick of It' and 'Veep') the humour is wonderfully self-deprecating: series about a man woefully out of touch and incapable of filtering his views. Some superb scenes and jokes.

Unfortunately there were only two seasons, 12 episodes, with the two seasons five years apart. It surely deserved better, though, as I said, there were a few more iterations to come. On the plus side, the second season is even better and funnier than the first, and I didn't think that was possible.

I'm still happy

[VictorianCushionCat · 10/10 · 26 May 2004]

Following up to the origional "I'm Alan" was a tall order.

As an avid fan of the radio/TV/live shows (basically anything Coogan has done as Alan P) I was worried that this follow up would be hard pressed to match the genius of the Travel Tavern episodes.

And it is true, it is not quite as good, but then the first series was sublime, not only because of the classic quotes I still share with

fellow fans today, but because of the direness of Alan's Situation and how he handles it.

His lot is better in 'I'm Still Alan' albeit still pretty desperate, and the series is basically very good, not a great, but very good. Plenty of 'cringe' moments and memorable lines 'back of the net!' being the most repeated that have since been added to the mix of over a decade of Partridgeisms.

Partridge was easily the funniest character to emerge in the 90s however I would be worried any further series could see declining returns.

Brilliant

[shark-43 · 20 August 2005]

I was fortunate to get a copy of the first season on DVD and just watched it with friends here in the States. And yes, I pretty much agree with everyone else who makes comparisons to Blackadder and Basil Fawlty and Gervais' boss character in The Office. Partridge is simply one of the funniest and pathetic characters ever to appear on TV. American TV would never have a character like this - they always make the sitcom people likable and "we have to want to root for them" and all that other bland stuff. A classic U.S. sitcom in the 80's - Buffalo Bill with Dabney Coleman was so outside the box from what had appeared on broadcast TV that they didn't know what to do with so they axed it. (His character too was a local Morning Show host in Buffalo, NY with an ego the size of Earth and total scum to everyone around him) and of course Larry David tries to pull it off on Curb Your Enthusiasm - and yes, even though the show is funny - David is very limited as an "actor" and Coogan is not. In fact, it is his performance and the fact that he adds dimension to this guy that truly makes it special and heartbreaking and hysterical. I loved it and I thought the rest of the cast was wonderful too.

Peak Partridge

[paudieconnolly · 8/10 · 20 August 2022]

This for me is my Favourite of Partridge back in Norfolk living in a hotel hoping for a second season of knowing me knowing you, lost in a limbo produces Alans finest moments. Introducing someone to the world of Partridge, this I feel is the best place to start and then work backwards to knowing me knowing you I find this the most Rewatchables of the series as well.

Funny all round

[belll-38211 · 10/10 · 9 January 2019]

A perfect comedy, with one of the best comedians of The Age. Worth a watch and is available on netflix and other streaming apps.