Steve Coogan

Steve Coogan Interview

The Telegraph visits the set of BBC1's dustmen comedy Sunshine to find out why, after trying to crack Hollywood, Steve Coogan has returned to his roots.

Steve Coogan: He's back - funnier than ever

He is taking a break from Hollywood to star in Sunshine, the latest slice of life from the writers of The Royle Family. And Coogan's rather good, reports The Independent

Heroes is back to baffle us - like Steve Coogan in Sunshine

The plot of Heroes is a complex puzzle - almost as curious as why Coogan chose to play the straight man

That two people could write a sketch which involves Steve Coogan saying, "Don't press that red button", and then Matt Lucas pressing that red button (and that was it) boggles the mind. Can you imagine getting up from the computer desk and saying to your colleague, "Right, that's that one finished, let's take a tea break"? Talk about insubstantial ... This was a terrible, terrible comedown for a show that I'm still happy to admit once loving.

From seeing just the first episode it seems unlikely Saxondale is going to capture the public imagination in the way Alan Partridge, or even Paul Calf did, But there was enough in this episode to warrant further viewings.

While the script, direction and characterisation are all borderline holy in their perfection, it ignores the fact that, at this stage of his career, rather than let him languish on the "third best slot on Radio Norwich", the producers of The Entertainers would have dropped Sayer like a shot for a pop at Partridge.

Viewed in an utterly contemporary context, the new series of I'm Alan Partridge looks curiously dated. Recording it on video and including an audience laughter track flies in the face of recent comedy tradition.