Steve Coogan has offered some insight into his upcoming Alan Partridge series, in which the ever-awkward personality will offer his take on current affairs.

Alan Partridge can’t be successful. While he could – and indeed, did – come into being as a BBC broadcaster, having him truly and honestly ‘bounce back’ from years of relative obscurity would undermine the character’s inherent sense of patheticness.

But when he returns, it’ll be with a new show on the BBC – not another sitcom, but an ‘in universe show’, which poses something of a quandary for Coogan and his Partridge co-writers.

Speaking to The New European, with thanks to Chortle for the heads up, he describes the problem like this:

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

Why does Partridge support Brexit? In the same interview, Coogan hits the nail on the head:

“He’s a Brexiteer because the Daily Mail told him to be.”

Coogan and the Gibbons brothers will set about writing this new adventure, whatever form it might take, at the end of the year for broadcast in the spring.

This team have been absolutely acing it with Partridge for a few years now so we’re extremely confident that they’ll do so again. And, really, is there any better character to dive deep into the “because the Daily Mail told me so” mindset?