# I'm Alan Partridge (1997)

> A washed-up former chat show host takes a lowly radio slot in Norwich and clings to his lost celebrity.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1009

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 28 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Armando Iannucci, Peter Baynham, Steve Coogan
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: Steve Coogan, Sally Phillips, Amelia Bullmore, Felicity Montagu, Simon Greenall, Phil Cornwell, James Lance, Barbara Durkin
- TMDB rating: 8.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0129690/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: cringeworthy, deadpan, awkward, satirical, wistful

## What critics say

Audiences broadly regard the series as a sharp, acclaimed satire of a washed-up broadcaster's vanity and failure.

## Synopsis

I'm Alan Partridge (1997-2002) is a British satirical sitcom created by Armando Iannucci, Peter Baynham and Steve Coogan for BBC Two. Steve Coogan plays the title character, a former chat show host reduced to a slot on Radio Norwich, where he is divorced and living in a travel tavern while desperate to return to television. Sally Phillips, Amelia Bullmore and Felicity Montagu appear among the principal supporting cast, with Phil Cornwell and Simon Greenall rounding out the workplace and personal circle around him. The engine of the show is Alan's relentless ambition colliding with mundane provincial life, as each episode finds him pursuing a comeback scheme that exposes his vanity and social blunders. The series runs two seasons of six episodes in the short-form format of a half-hour comedy. Set in present-day Norfolk England, it plays out in radio studios, cheap hotels and shabby motorway lodgings, giving the satire a bland, unglamorous texture. Its tone is cringeworthy and deadpan, with comedy arising from awkward exchanges and the gap between Alan's self-image and reality. Fans of The Office, Extras and Brass Eye will find resonance in its satire of media vanity and small-minded ambition.

## Shows like I'm Alan Partridge

- [The IT Crowd (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/2363)
- [The Day Today (1994)](https://ember.film/tv/2622)
- [The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/31169)
- [Spy (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/38203)
- [That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/2711)
- [People Just Do Nothing (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/59348)
- [Peter Kay's Car Share (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/55611)
- [Saxondale (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/2383)
- [Nathan Barley (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/101)
- [Toast of London (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/54756)

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