Alan Partridge's Mid Morning Matters, Sky Atlantic - TV review: More like series of sketches, but it works

The script – co-written by Steve Coogan and twins Neil and Rob Gibbons – is red hot

Daisy Wyatt
Tuesday 16 February 2016 23:05 GMT
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Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge in 'Mid Morning Matters'
Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge in 'Mid Morning Matters' (Baby Cow Productions)

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Alan Partridge's Mid Morning Matters is an example of a digital success. First commissioned as a series of shorts online, the videos were so popular that Sky Atlantic later chose to broadcast them on TV. A second series aired via webcam from North Norfolk Digital's studio last night.

Now recovered from the radio station siege that took place in Partridge's 2013 film Alpha Papa, the inept presenter is back in the DJ chair insulting members of the public with his non-PC comments. Episode one saw Partridge show up local fox hunting advocate Sir Cecil Crooms-Phillips and hit back at his female boss by attacking her daughter's fun run sponsorship form.

The script – co-written by Steve Coogan and twins Neil and Rob Gibbons – is red hot. Start double-screening on your phone for more than a second and you will miss a tactless aside or a blundering gaffe. There's not much narrative drive and the episode feels more like series of sketches, but it works.

You have to wonder if Alan Partridge will ever get old. At this rate I feel we could be watching the Little Englander for 20 more years to come, be it in the cloud or on the sofa.

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