The details of Alan Partridge’s long awaited return to the BBC have been announced, and it sounds like the Norfolk icon is hosting his very own answer to The One Show.

This Time With Alan Partridge will see the Steve Coogan creation being handed an unlikely ‘career lifeline’ when he becomes the stand-in host of This Time, an evening weekday magazine show.

“This Time is the perfect shop window for a man of Alan’s gravitas and will, or should, see him finally recognised as one of the heavyweight broadcasters of his era”, the BBC confirmed.


“The show itself is a heady mix of consumer affairs, current affairs, viewer interaction, highbrow interview and lightweight froth; very much the sweet spots for a man whose CV boasts over two decades of weekday local radio. And with an array of diverse subjects on the agenda, it promises the perfect fit for a man whose broadcasting style has been described as ‘equidistant between chitchat and analysis.”

Coogan is set to be joined by Susannah Fielding as his female co-presenter Jennie Gresham, along with the return of Tim Key as Simon ‘formerly Sidekick Simon’ Denton.

Alan’s return to the BBC was first announced last year, with Coogan claiming that he would become the “voice of Brexit”.

“Well, because he has got a show on the BBC, we have a problem, because we have to explain why he’s a failure, but that he has a show,” Coogan told the New European.

“The logic of what he is doing has to make sense. It’s conceivable, because in this age of Brexit, they (the BBC) might think they need to get in touch with the ‘Little Englanders’ they ignore.”