Steve Coogan has revealed that This Time with Alan Partridge is returning to BBC One for a second series – and that a ‘From The Oast House’ podcast will launch next month too.
The first series of the comedy series saw Partridge step in as co-host of a One Show-style magazine programme called This Time. It ran from February to April last year.
In the final episode of the series, the hapless presenter was summoned before BBC executives because of his behaviour towards co-host Jennie, played by Susannah Fielding. The series, made by Coogan’s production company Baby Cow, launched with 3.3million viewers overnight, rising to 5.86million when catch-up viewing over the next seven days was taken into account.
Manchester-born Coogan broke the news about the second series on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 Breakfast Show.
“There’ll be another series of This Time in the next 12 months,” he said and added “and there’s a podcast starting next month.”
In a subsequent interview, with Absolute Radio, he explained that the new From The Oast House podcast would comprise 18 20-minute episodes.
“They’re very sort of one-on-one,” he said. “If anyone wants Alan up close and personal in their own space then the podcast is an opportunity.”
The Oast House is a popular bar and restaurant in Manchester’s Spinningfields, although it’s not clear whether the link goes any further than that.
Coogan added that he had other plans for the character too. “There might be a documentary series with Alan roving around Britain,” he said.
