TV Review: This Time with Alan Partridge

This isn’t necessarily Partridge in his prime, but it’s still Partridge, which makes it pretty damn good. It’s timely, as it touches upon the Me Too movement, hacktivism, and I guess what you could call cancel culture, but never in a condescending way. Well, it’s condescending to Alan, who’s evolved in his views only so much as to make him palatable enough for British television.

He’s still a complete disaster as a human being, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Lynn returns, though she’s got a much smaller role than before, as the show is presented as the taping of a live show, so really she just pops in during commercial breaks and when they show a pre-taped segment. We do see some pre-taped segments, though, and they’re generally pretty funny. My favorite was probably Alan’s history presentation on a Norfolk battle during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.

And it’s not just because I’ve written extensively on the Peasants’ Revolt either. It’s just plain funny. None of the pre-taped stuff looks like anything that would actually be on television, so it sort of messes with the realism of the satire. But at the same time, it’s very funny, so I’m okay with it.

Alan also brings with him Simon Denton. I’ll be honest, I don’t know when this character first showed up. He’s in the Partridge movie, and I’ve seen him with Alan in some clips on YouTube, but Mid Morning Matters has been a blindspot for me.

But Simon’s great, and he feels kind of real. He’s in charge of their live social media reactions, and doesn’t know what he’s doing with the technology. And so much of the humor comes from the live tweets coming in, so he’s great.

Alan’s partner this time is Jennie (Susannah Fielding), who doesn’t have much of a chance to have her personality on display.

She works well as sort of a foil to Alan. She’s a well polished BBC presenter who occasionally corrects Alan when his mistakes are too great to ignore. But she’s not exactly all that funny herself.

Overall, I liked the series. Highlights include the Irish Alan Partridge lookalike that sings an IRA song,

Alan’s awkward tributes to the recently deceased former host of the show, including the flub that he would “bring homeless people off in the streets.” And there’s this one Northern guy that Alan interviews a couple of times in the crowd and it’s absolutely hysterical.

It’s no I’m Alan Patridge, and it’s probably not even as good as Knowing Me Knowing You. But it’s still great.

Rating: 9/10