I'm Alan Partridge is a TV sitcom starring Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge.
Synopsis[]
"Since his chat show came to a catasrophic end, Alan Partridge has been rebuilding his career as an early morning DJ on Radio Norwich. With his loyal PA Lynn by his side, Alan prepares for his return to celebrity status." (BBC Studios)
Episodes[]
| # | Title | First broadcast |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Room with an Alan | 3rd November 1997 |
| 2 | Alan Attraction | 10th November 1997 |
| 3 | Watership Alan | 17th November 1997 |
| 4 | Basic Alan | 24th November 1997 |
| 5 | To Kill a Mocking Alan | 1st December 1997 |
| 6 | Towering Alan | 8th December 1997 |
Plot[]
Partridge has separated from his wife, and is living in Linton Travel Tavern, a Travelodge-alike in Cambridgeshire. He is working as a disk jockey on Radio Norwich, hosting pre-breakfast show Up With the Partridge, and is desperate for a second TV series of Knowing Me, Knowing You in order to sustain his lifestyle. Alan frequently fantasises about bribing BBC Chief Commissioning Editor Tony Hayers into giving him a second series by offering to lap dance for him in a thong.
A Room with an Alan[]
Alan is preparing for an interview with Hayers. He goes to a house viewing with PA Lynn Benfield, but has to leave early as the meeting has been put forward. He makes an offer for the property only £1000 below the asking price and leaves for London. At a BBC restaurant, Alan meets Tony and begs for a second series. He says no, and Alan pitches various ideas for television including a Norwich-based detective series called "Swallow". When Hayers refuses to relent and condemns Partridge for having a "proven track record for making mostly bad television programmes", Partridge assaults him with a block of cheese and makes a quick getaway.
Alan Attraction[]
Valentine's Day 1997. Lynn breaks the news that, due to Alan's failure to secure a second series, Pear Tree Productions will be declared bankrupt unless the Norwich-based office is closed and the staff laid off. She adds that he could keep the company going with a skeleton staff of two, but that he would have to trade down his Rover 800 for a smaller car (namely a Rover Metro). Alan refuses, and sacks the entire staff (except recpetionist Jill, who is not in the room at the time) under flase pretences. He and Jill confess their attraction to one another, and Alan takes her on a date to an owl sanctuary. They return to Linton Travel Tavern for a "romantic" meal and attempt to have sex, with Partridge famously asking Jill on her opinion of the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre. Alan sacks her over the radio the next morning, as she gets a taxi home.
Watership Alan[]
Alan makes a series of controversial comments about farmers on his radio show and recieves a slew of angry callers. Back at Linton Travel Tavern, he tells friend and handyman Michael that he has secured work to present a corporate video for Hamilton's Water Breaks, a provider of boating holidays on the Norfolk Broads. Alan asks Michael about his experiences in the far east - in particular, about transgender "lady-boys" in Bangkok. Lynn arrives to inform Alan about fifty further complaints about his radio gaffe, and reveals that Hamilton's are expecting Alan's wife on shoot. They call Partridge's ex-wife, Carol, but she refuses. Down at reception, Sophie shows Alan the bill, pointing out his usage of pay channel "Bangkok chick boys". He feigns confusion over the channel switching process, and Ben offers to help him later. At the bar, Alan buys Lynn a drink and tasks her to go to Sol Dangerfield's Casting Agency for a substite wife. He meets director Steve Bennett and Hamilton's marketing director Hugh Morris, then becomes intoxicated after drinking a pint of lager, plus his and Lynn's drinks from earlier. Later, Ben visits Alan's room to disconnect the TV's adult channel. Partridge arrives at the Broads for filming the next day, where a group of disgruntled farmers follow him around his he shoots the video. The next morning, Alan speaks to Norfolk Farmers' Union representative Peter Baxendale Thomas on Up With the Partridge. Thomas advises him to apologise, but Alan refuses and doubles down, making another series of ignorant comments. His guest walks out and Lynn turns up, informing him that the actor playing his wife isn't available for the second day of filming. Back at the Broads, the crew attempt to replace the "wife" with a man dressed as a woman, then with a doll. The filming ends in disaster when a group of farmers drop a dead cow on Partridge from a bridge. He finishes his final line, before being carried off in a stretcher. Later that night, now in a neck brace, Alan asks for the adult channel to be reconnected.
Basic Alan[]
Major repair work is underway at Linton Travel Tavern and Partridge is the only guest. He calls his son, Fernando, who is in bed with a girl, and is reluctant to speak to him. Alan proclaims to an empty lobby that he's going for a walk, and takes a stroll along the M11 to a fuel station for some windscreen washer fluid. He later rings Lynn and arranges to meet her at the Travel Tavern, where they find Susan, Ben and Sohpie playing board games. Lynn joins them and Alan returns to his room, but not before he catches Sohpie impersonating him for laughs. Eventually deciding to join in the fun, Alan hides at reception dressed as a "zombie" in a shower curtain, but the joke backfires when he terrifies Susan and is told off for entering a staff area. Later that evening, Alan and Michael decide to do something "spontaneous" and drunkenly agree to steal a traffic cone. Lynn drives them there, but the pair of them are immediately caught in the act by a passing police van.
To Kill a Mocking Alan[]
Michael is preparing a sign in the hotel lobby to promote "An Afternoon with Alan Partridge, with special guest star Sue Cook". At reception, Alan bumps into his "biggest fan", Jed Maxwell. He starts to sign an autograph, but instead requests Maxwell to ask for his autograph later, in front of two Irish television executives. Sophie informs Alan of a prank call by a "Mr. P. Nesshead" and shows him a list of the names of previous prank callers. Partridge gets a call to inform him that Sue Cook has pulled out. Over brunch, Alan and Lynn meet the TV executives, Aidan Walsh and Paul Tool, who diapprove of the hotel. Alan pretends he doesn't know the staff to impress them, offends them whilst listing apparent perceptions of the Irish, and makes a series of ignorant comments about the Irish Potato Famine. Jed asks for his autograph, unnoticed by the executives, who are deep in conversation with Lynn about her time in Skibbereen as a child. Over the course of An Afternoon with Alan Partridge (which is initially interrupted by technical difficulties), Partridge discusses several topics including the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre. Walsh and Tool leave the room unimpressed, but Alan catches up with them in the lobby and invites them to his room in his "house". Jed appears behind him, and Alan improvises that Maxwell is his driver who he also lives with. Jed drives the three of them to his bungalow. Whilst attempting to show his guests to the toilet, Alan discovers a darkened room enshrined in Alan Partridge memorabilia. Aidan and Paul sneak out, leaving Partridge alone with Jed, who confesses that he was the prank caller all along. He takes his shirt off to reveal a giant tatto of Alan Partridge's face. Alan admits that he's "really scared", but Jed pleads with him to stay and puts on an Alan Partridge mask from Knowing Me, Knowing You. Alan attempts to escape, but is dragged away from the door and restrained with a headlock. Maxwell begins to asphixiate Alan, but releases him when they 'agree' to the "best friends in the whole world". Jed eventually lets Alan leave the house. Alan condemns Maxwell as a "mentalist" and makes a hastey getaway. He reaches a dead end, panics, gets out of his car, and runs off into a field shouting for help.
Towering Alan[]
Alan makes his way to his room, meeting chuckling guest Mike Sampson in the corridor, and finds Lynn waiting for him. She's been getting his clothes ready for Swaffham Country Fayre, where he's been invited to judge the vegetable competition. At Swaffham, Alan attempts to entertain apathetic crowds over the loud speaker, and leaves early after a poor effort to judge the vegetables. After returning to the hotel, Alan gets a call from Sue Cook informing him that Tony Hayers has just died trying to remove a TV aerial from his roof, and that Chris Feather, who likes Partridge, his replaced him as head of programming. At the funeral, Alan greets Feather and attempts to speak with him about his job prospects, but is repeatedly obstructed by other attendees. Feather introduces Peter Linehan to him, whom he had already met at his meeting with Tony Hayers. Linehan remarks on the irony of Hayers' death, that "in the end, it was television that killed him", and attempts to speak to Alan about news and current affairs, which he has been "revamping". Eventually, Alan catches Chris on the way into the service, who invites him for a meeting and tells him: "I want you back on the telly". Alan returns to Linton Travel Tarvern singing the Generation Game theme tune and asks Susan out, only to be rejected. Over at BBC Television Centre, Alan and Lynn meet Feather in his office. Partridge suggests streamlining the corporation, and encourages Feather to sack Peter Linehan and feminist executive Susan Pickady. Hoping for a six-month contract to make programmes at the BBC, Alan recieves a five year one which Chris has prepared earlier with a salary of £200,000 per year. But, in a cruel twist of fate, Feather has a fatal heart attack just before signing the contract. Alan attempts to sign it with Feather's limp hand. Later that evening, Alan and Lynn host a leaving party with the staff and Sampson, whom Lynn has invited as a guest. Sophie asks Mike what it's like where he lives, and he comments that there are "a few too many blacks". Alan kicks him out, but returns to his room to find everyone looking inside one of his drawers containing pornography and gets into an argument with a drunken Michael over the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre. Susan asks Michael to leave and tells off Sophie and Ben for laughing. Alan makes a poorly timed comment, so Susan erupts into a tirade against having to deal with Partridge and his behaviour for 182 days, and slaps him after he offers her a party pack in a sanitary bag. With all the guests gone, Alan and Lynn clear up to the Black Beauty (1994) theme tune.
Gallery[]
