Alan Partridge's Country Ramble (1995) (TV)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Dominic Brigstocke

Writer:

Steve Coogan (writer)

Release Date:

29 December 1995 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

Alan Partridge presents a country ramble through the East-Anglian countryside. |

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Cast

Steve Coogan

...

Alan Partridge

Runtime:

5 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

TalkBack Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in Anglian Lives: Alan Partridge (2003) (TV)

A bit weird

I'm not sure for what purposes this short was produced. It seems like the kind of thing Alan Partridge would do for Comic Relief or something. It was made after his talk show but before the docu-sitcom that followed in 1997 so I believe that Steve Coogan was trying to experiment with the character a bit.

The short involves no more than Alan taking a stroll through the countryside on a misty December morning. He comments on how he's not allowed to walk on Mike Oldfield's estate, his idea for vending machines to be built into hedges to cut out the need for chippie vans and how miserable he was at college.

If your familiar with Alan you'll know that he's a monster. But this is only funny when you realize he's just a victim of his own extreme ignorance and narrow-mindedness. But this short is actually a bit uncomfortable and is the first time that Steve Coogan really makes Alan Partridge look like a disturbed loner. This little quirk may have worked well in small doses but as we got to series 2 of I'm Alan Partridge it put me right off the character. I don't really find this funny or fitting. As a comedy character I think that Alan Partridge is great but as a tragi-comedy figure I can't bring myself to laugh at anything he says or does. And this short was the first time Coogan took the character in that mis-direction.