Alan Partridge is back at rock bottom and it's the funniest he's been in years

"Like anyone who has grown up in the shadow of Alan Partridge's three-decade dominion over British comedy, I want only the very best for Norwich's most relentless broadcaster. By which I mean the absolute worst. For me, Partridge is at his finest when he's scrabbling around the media's outer fringes, rebranding past humiliations as glories and furiously name-dropping 1980s television personalities to the nonplussed acquaintances he genuinely believes to be his closest friends."

"Sadly, Alan has been riding (relatively) high in recent years. In 2022, Steve Coogan's creation now co-written by Rob and Neil Gibbons embarked on a UK arena tour as a motivational speaker, imparting dubious advice to tens of thousands of adoring fans. Before that, he landed the job of a lifetime: a presenting gig on the BBC's daily tea-time magazine show This Time. Obviously, he was disastrous but was still invited to return for a second series."

"So it brings me great pleasure to report that Alan is finally back where he belongs: at rock bottom. In How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge) a self-produced, self-directed and largely self-funded series about the nation's mental health we are reunited with the presenter four years after the on-air meltdown that ended his BBC career. Since then, he's pivoted (involuntarily) to the corporate sphere."

Alan Partridge's three-decade career has shifted from high-profile stints to diminished gigs. Arena tours and a BBC tea-time presenting role preceded an on-air meltdown and career decline. The character spent time promoting products in Saudi Arabia and continues to present Gulf Digital's breakfast show sporadically from a Norwich business park. He now undertakes low-status engagements: hosting events for a pig feed manufacturer, leading focus groups, commentating on school sports days, and recording voiceovers for supermarket vans and a library lift. A self-produced, self-directed, largely self-funded series about national mental health reunites the presenter four years after the BBC exit.

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