A-ha! Alan Partridge to back Brexit in new show

Alan Partridge in Mid Morning Matters.
Alan Partridge in Mid Morning Matters. Photo credit: Baby Cow Productions

Cult UK comedy icon Alan Partridge is heading back to TV.

Steve Coogan, who's portrayed the bumbling, self-important broadcaster for more than two decades, told British paper The New European he's back on the BBC as the "voice of hard Brexit".

"Because he has got a show on the BBC we have a problem, because we have to explain why he's a failure, but that he has a show. The logic of what he is doing has to make sense," Coogan said.

"It's conceivable because in this age of Brexit, [the BBC] might think they need to get in touch with the 'Little Englanders' they ignore. Alan would have voted Brexit for sure - hard Brexit, given the choice. He's a Brexiteer because the Daily Mail told him to be."

Alan Partridge began as a character on radio, before appearing in hit TV series Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge in the mid-1990s. A second show, I'm Alan Partridge aired in the early 2000s, which was followed by one-off shows, a web series - Mid Morning Matters - and a movie, Alpha Papa, in 2013.

Coogan says bringing the Abba-loving character back to life won't be easy.

"It’s always difficult to make good comedy," he told The New European.

"You always have to work really hard at it. The standard of the comedy on Partridge is so high, that you have to match it, or people go, 'Oh, they've lost it.'"

The show is expected to air in 2018.

Newshub.