DVD Review: Alan Partridge - Mid Morning Matters
Published: Monday 17th December 2012
It's been a long time since some of us saw Alan Partridge - but little has changed. True, Alan is a little older, fatter and more grotesque looking. He's also no longer Up with the Partridge but is still a local DJ, hosting his own show, Mid Morning Matters, on fictional local radio station North Norfolk Digital, tackling such crucial phone-in issues as "Which celebrities would you force to mate?", "Who are Norfolk's least grateful buskers?" and "What was the real reason why Herbie went bananas?" He also remains as politically incorrect, self-obsessed and gaffe-prone as ever.
Actually there are a few further differences. For one thing, Alan is no longer alone, accompanied first by the hapless 'Sidekick Simon' (Tim Key) with whom he endures an increasingly fraught relationship. Even more alarmingly, he is later joined by the attractive young Zoe (Pippa Duffy), who seems to actually like him.
Mid Morning Matters, first published online in 2010 before appearing on Sky Atlantic earlier this year, is also a departure of format for Partridge, appearing in fifteen minute chunks (here paired together), with no audience and with the action confined entirely to the radio studio where Partridge spews out his unique form of verbal diarrhoea.
Twenty years after Partridge's first appearance as a sports commentator on Radio 4's On The Hour, he remains one of British comedy's finest creations. It's lovely stuff. And you'll have the Van der Valk theme tune in your head for a fortnight.
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