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This Time With Alan Partridge Series 2 reunites the awkward pairing of Steve Coogan‘s (The Trip To Greece) long-suffering – and for some people he interviews (along with his assistant, Lynn), insufferable – character, with Susannah Fielding (Sticks And Stones) as Jennie Gresham. Clearly modelled on The One Show, it feels more reminiscent of seeing Charlie STayt and Naga Munchetty having to work together on Breakfast, despite clearly not being able to stand each other.
Inbetween the articles that we’d normally see on TV, Alan has deep conversations with Lynn, and when introducing a topic on body language, Jennie says: “They say only 10% of what we communicate comes from what we say. They other 90% comes from facial expressions and body language”.
Alan counters: “And the noises we make. I made a list: Laugh, cry, sigh; Scoff, tut and grunt”, to which Jennie replies: “Sounds like Alan when he’s having a nap(!)”
Another time, he’s interviewing a monk in a monastery and doing battle with their vow of silence, “Silence is golden? Bronze, at best.”
Beyond that, there are many similar asides within the episode which I won’t detail here so you can enjoy them for yourself.
Overall, the first episode isn’t classic Partridge, but it’s still quite silly and very enjoyable, and the plan to get two long-lost twins to meet after 60 years is completely priceless.
As an aside, when interviews on Breakfast recently, Susannah Fielding said this series was filmed in November/December 2020 during lockdown, as they have a small cast and in a contained studio space. Also, she’s done a fair smattering of voiceover work in Forza Horizon 2, 3 and 4, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077.
UPDATE Episode 2:
UPDATE: Episode 3
UPDATE Episodes 4-6:
This Time With Alan Partridge Series 2 begins on Friday at 9.30pm. It’s not available yet to pre-order, but you can buy Series 1 on DVD.
After broadcast, each episode will be on the BBC iPlayer.
Episode 1 Score: 7/10
Episode 2 Score: 7/10
Episode 3 Score: 7/10
Episode 4 Score: 7/10
Episode 5 Score: 7/10
Directors: Neil Gibbons, Rob Gibbons
Producer: Dave Lambert
Writers: Steve Coogan, Neil Gibbons, Rob Gibbons
Cast:
Alan Partridge: Steve Coogan
Jennie Gresham: Susannah Fielding
Lynn Benfield: Felicity Montagu
Simon Denton: Tim Key
Clarissa Hoskin: Leila Farzad
Father Paul: Simon Kunz
Ruth Duggan: Lolly Adefope
Sam Chatwin: Simon Farnaby
Rosie: Rosie Cavaliero
Dan Milner: Matt Smith
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.