LONDON — Plans for the long-anticipated movie based on Steve Coogan’s hapless chat show host creation Alan Partridge are taking shape.
Originally co-created by British comedian and actor Coogan, comedy writer Armando Iannucci and writer Patrick Marber, the movie based on the Partridge character is being developed by BBC Films and will be directed by Declan Lowney.
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Lowney, whose résumé boasts TV comedy Father Ted and who also directed Coogan in comedy short Paul and Pauline Calf’s Cheese and Ham Sandwich will direct from a script by Iannucci, Coogan, Peter Baynham and Rob and Neil Gibbons.
It will be produced by British independent producer Kevin Loader and is expected to shoot in the fall.
BBC Films chief Christine Langan said everyone “was really excited” by the project, declining to give away any of the “ingenious” script details that conjures all the elements that have made Partridge a love/hate cult comic character popping up across the BBC and U.K. TV screens for more than a decade.
Iannucci will take an executive producer credit on the feature film currently titled The Alan Partridge Movie.
Coogan is bringing his beloved character back for a second series of Mid Morning Matters With Alan Partridge later this year.
There will be 12 new 11-minute episodes, based around the presenter’s north Norfolk digital radio show, made available on the website fostersfunny.co.uk.
