How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge)

Following the brilliance of MMM and This Time this series falls flat and not on par with previous Partridge offerings, the absence of Sidekick Simon in most episodes really takes something out of the show.

It opens up the format to become all things that came before - slightly sitcom-esque with call backs to Lynn being exploited by Alan and Alan being exploited by a younger love interest and the fly on the wall film crew element less obvious during interactions in his house. The podcast format allows for radio skits in the guise of 'unseen footage' from MMM and mocumentary segments. It's the perfect formula but alas the laughs are few and far between with the show lacking the subtlety and nuance that make other series so re-watchable.

Starting with Alan. He is much more caricatured in this series, his lack of self awareness only really works when he is being petty, insecure and quite malicious but we are presented the new style of Alan introduced post-MMM who seems more eager to please, makes strained expressions, is clumsy and the show jumps at any chance to tell him to pull a funny face or do something outrageous for a quick slow motion shot or visual gag. The best moments are when Alan can't hide his contempt or refrain from a quick come back and these are few and far between. The reunion with Simon which rapidly falls apart, the encounter with the hiker, funeral eulogy and standup gig stood out to me as highlights and felt more like the MMM or This Time era comedy. There just aren't enough of them and they are sandwiched between too many filler segments and slick editing which don't add anything, it almost feels like a sketch show. This wasn't the case before - the fly on the wall moments when the cameras were off were equally as good as when they were rolling and gave an extra contextual layer, dynamic and tension to the 'on air' interview bits.

The cast is probably another reason it felt quite boring. Lynn is very good in the series, especially as Alan's secret weapon in the lawyer's office, but there are no other strong extras or main stay characters for Coogan to really play off. For most of the skits, actors remain unnaturally passive and non-reactive to Alan's faux pas and in previous series their reactions and back and forth exchanges really shone through, but here it seems more about Alan and there isn't much layering of the comedy.

Comparing the series as a whole to MMM it seems like much more effort went into changing up the locations and sets at the expense of perfecting the scripts, adding small details and comedic timing and they didn't get the things right that worked outside the studio setting (Scissored Isle did this very well).

I hope Tim Key is involved in the next Partridge project and they return to the studio format. Even the podcasts are becoming a bit tiresome and losing their edge and How Are You feels like an extension of these with some slick editing.

Disappointing as it's not peak Partridge. Still worth a watch but nowhere near as re-playable as the previous series which show that when the format is more constrained, less can be more.

I've watched a lot of Partridge over the years and this show made me realise something I hadn't picked up on before.

Partridge monologues are not particularly funny. They rarely surprise you. What is funny is his interactions with other people, because these are what bring out the consequences of his inherent awkwardness.

"How are you" is 80% monologue. These occasionally raise a smile because of the wordplay, but big laughs are few and far between.

The frustration is that all the ingredients are there to make a much better show. Lynn is there. Sidekick Simon is there. Alan has a new girlfriend. But they barely appear. The new girlfriend in particular is completely undeveloped.

This needed a lot more time spent on it. It's intended to look cheap and rushed, but it also feels cheap and rushed.

Alan dressing as Rupert Bear by mistake will stick with me though. Back of the net!

Unnerving feeling of deja vu all the way through. Oh yeah, it's a self-styled national treasure satirising self-styled national treasures. Coogan's done Savile, now he's returned to his Nick Ross (remember him?) niche.

It's OK, though actually depressing at times. The 'Cumbria' episode is padding. You know what to expect, a guy with zero self awareness, 100% condescension and still faking it even though he's past it. Gags bubble up, like porridge cooking.

A bit like a comedy cardigan that you put on to bring a bit of comfort as Autumn bursts through the door and doesn't shut it behind her. Or him. If you like Partridge, it'll fill a Partridge-shaped hole; if you don't, it won't change your mind.

As with all of Coogan's work as Partridge (with Stratagem Live being a disappointing exception), I thoroughly enjoyed this and appreciated the Beeb dropping it in its entirety on iPlayer, cos I've already binged it twice.

Very very funny. One major reason, for me, why and how Alan continues to remain such an enduring delight of high quality humour is Coogan, for his faults, at least isn't such an egomaniac (*COUGH Ricky Gervais COUGH*) that he can't appreciate his finest work comes from collaboration, and sharing the credit. The Gibbons brothers are right up there among the finest comedy screenwriters in the country, perhaps even the world. I'm grateful they've not sold out and gone to Hollywood.

As I say, though - it's not peak Partridge. There's some going over familiar ground & recycling some actors in different roles from his recent projects is a bit lazy and annoying (although Jamie Demetriou is, as ever, brilliant) and it definitely suffers narratively, the stakes aren't as high as they have been in the very best of AP - but it's still by a comfortable distance the best comedy on British TV for a few years.

More please.

'How Are You? It's Alan Partridge' dropped the whole boxset on BBC Iplayer yesterday and I binge watched it and it was genuinely one of the best shows I have seen in years. It is so experimental and unique but also hilarious in a way that reminded me of something that Nathan Fielder or Chris Morris would make and maybe you could potentially envision Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith making but not Steve Coogan. I was expecting a funny sitcom but by BBC standards (this airs on BBC1) it is like a surreal and meta arthouse nightmare with the cinematic scale and slow burn of event tv and something that you would expect more so from Channel 4, FX, Adult Swim or HBO.

It is a descent into madness in a way that reminded me of a show like 'Don't Hug Me I'm Scared', 'Review', 'The Rehearsal' and 'Marion & Geoff' and it constantly shifts tones and even editing style - one scene will play out like a reality show and then the next is a political drama like The Crown before it is a Z. A. Z style back and forth comedy skit that feels straight out of 'The Naked Gun' or 'Airplane'. There are surreal aspects like a hiking subplot that plays out more like a web series like 'Alan Tutorial' with it descending further and even being shot with a fish eye lense thst distorts and has constant depth of field changes to throw you off.

Usually Alan Partridge programmes are relatively standalone in the episodes with a real status quo change only really ever implemented during the final episode (it happens in Knowing Me Knowing You, I'm Alan Partridge and This Time) but this is a show with no safety for Alan. Whatever bad happens in the episode follows on (things like Alan slowly realising his new girlfriend is cheating on him and squating after clearly being kicked out, taking odd jobs not for the documentary but as he genuinely needs them) and it gets darker and more surreal and oddly more meta as aspects of it seem to almost reflect on Steve Coogan's own career, for instance what seems like an homage in style to 'Marion & Geoff' (a show that he produced and starred in the standalone special) is even preceded by Alan referring to two people as his "little smashers", the exact line that Rob Brydon's character used in every episode of that show. As it goes on you get the impression that Steve Coogan genuinely doesn't care and will do whatever he wants in a really glorious way, even going as far to criticise the BBC for things like bringing back David Tennant for ratings on Doctor Who, constantly bringing back Waterloo Road and even alluding to Huw Edwards and Gregg Wallace in ways that I feel had to have gone directly through BBC's legal department - about half of one of the episodes is Alan in the BBC building arguing with a head of BBC in a passive aggressive way that addresses real issues and controversies over the past few years at the country. The show even addresses real world events in more subtle ways that reminded me ot a show like 'Xavier: Renegade Angel' in how absurd it was and the show feels pretty gutsy in a way that surprised me and genuinely only someone like Steve Coogan could get away with.

This show was promoted more like a mental health spoof similar to 'This Time' for chat shows, but that is just the basic initial synopsis before it veers into bizarre territory that recalls some of the Sky Atlantic Alan mockumentaries (but even more out there) and it is probably the most unique and fascinating comedy show that I have seen since 'The Curse' and 'The Rehearsal' and it even has certain editing choices and decisions that reminded me of the cult classic 'Jam' programme in how it is made to almost mess with you while watching. I am not sure if everyone will have the same takeaway as me as it is so specific that I can see people disliking it, but I had no idea that a new Alan Partridge show would be like this - one of British Comedy's greatest characters has been given a show that is genuinely bold and almost groundbreaking in a way that no-one could have expected. It is a show that constantly surprises you with different directions and feels to me like a modern classic in the making.