Steve Coogan will reprise the role of Alan Partridge for a new mockumentary following the fictional presenter as he reintegrates into life in the UK after a year working in Saudi Arabia.
In six 30-minute episodes, the documentary about homecoming would morph into an exploration of the mental health issues facing the UK, said its makers.
The series, called And Did Those Feet … With Alan Partridge (ADTFWAP), will follow Partridge as he realises something is missing from his life.
Sarah Monteith, the chief executive of the production company Baby Cow, said: “We’re delighted Alan’s back from Saudi Arabia with his appetite for broadcasting undiminished. ADTFWAP promises to be exactly the sort of uncompromising, state-of-the-nation piece that the country needs, almost as much as he does.”
Coogan is renowned for playing his most famous comic creation, including in the BBC series I’m Alan Partridge, which ended in 2002. He most recently reprised the role on TV screens in This Time With Alan Partridge, which followed the protagonist as he was given the chance to co-host a fictional weekday magazine show.
Jon Petrie, the BBC director of comedy commissioning, said: “Alan Partridge is the most iconic comedy character in the UK. The wonderful Steve Coogan and [co-writers] Neil and Rob Gibbons continue to innovate and create an even richer world for Alan to inhabit. This unflinching look at the state of the UK through Alan’s eyes promises to add more brilliance to the Partridge canon.”
The series is one of six new comedy shows announced by Petrie, with Greg Davies’s The Cleaner and Man Like Mobeen from Guz Khan slated to return.
Coogan earned rave reviews for his portrayal of the serial sexual abuser Jimmy Savile in BBC series The Reckoning last year.
He is to star in Armando Iannucci’s stage adaptation of the satirical war film Dr Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which opens in the autumn. The play reunites the pair, who worked together more than 30 years ago on the BBC radio comedy On the Hour, in which Coogan first played Partridge, and on subsequent Partridge projects.
Dr Strangelove opens on 8 October at the Noël Coward theatre in London.
