I'm Alan Partridge

It was much anticipated by us Partridge fans, Knowing Me Knowing You on both radio and television had been comedy gold. The Christmas Special saw Alan's Television career collapse. How could 'I'm Alan Partridge' possibly keep up with such high standards?

It did and a whole lot more. The hilarity of Alan's misguided belief that he is still a major player in the industry and the meaningless conversations with the hotel staff combine to make his series essential watching. And the indignity of his prolonged stay in a 'one night stop venue' Travel Tavern adds to the tragic hilarity of the series.

Steve Coogan delivers his finest work to date and is ably assisted by a cast whose strongest delivery is the varied reactions their characters display when in the company of the failed chatshow host.

Perhaps the ultimate magic of Alan Partridge is that to fans his barrowload of catchphrases and inane comments are never forgotten and are always liable to be joyfully relayed in the company of a fellow fan.

And to think there are people out there who still don't get the joke.

as Alan might say,

'who, who, who do you think you are?'

Like Fawlty Towers in the '70s and Blackadder in the '80s, this is British comedy at its very best - a handful of episodes, all of them tighter line-for-line than Alan's shorts ("the boys are back in the barracks"). Partridge may well be the most ingeniously unsympathetic character ever created - every time you start to feel sorry for him, he manages to do something truly unspeakable. Painfully funny.

There is an unmatched concordance among the user comments on defining this series "brilliant". It is mitigated by the fact that almost all the comments come from the UK, so let me add two voices not from the British Isles.

My girlfriend and I (she's American, I am Italian) both think that this is not only brilliant, it is really the work of genius. The writers, assisted by an exceptional set of actors, did a fantastic job not only in providing genuine humour at every corner, but in studying costume and society and taking advantage of real situations.

This is not your typical sitcom. It is not an effort of a bunch of people that have to fabricate a show a week forever; it is instead the focused effort of three writers that sat down for months to produce six shows. You can feel this in the perfection and consistence of every detail, from the name of the son (Fernando, from Abba) to the picture of Jet from Gladiators (to host a millennium barn dance at Yeovil aerodrome, properly policed, it must not, repeat not, turn into an all-night rave) that Alan keeps in his room.

The comic genius that is Steve Coogan has done it again. This series is certainly as good as the previous which had some genuine laugh out loud moments. Excellent! The First episode being the best, followed by the fourth, an absolute classic BRITISH gem of a comedy

I'm a big Partridge fan, and enjoyed Knowing Me, Knowing You, and the 1st I'm Alan Partridge. I have to say this is a more than welcome addition to the series, if not the best. Alan's character is even more childish than ever, and he's also developed a slight arrogance towards people as he has become more self-confident (at least he thinks so). Alan's interaction with the builders is classic and his ever evolving friendship with Michael is superb. I was so glad that Michael got more to do in this one, everything he says is funny, especially when describing what he'd do with the Apache helicopter. Classic. The episode with Alan making friends with Dan (the kitchen man) is absolutely hilarious, and his antics at the Norfolk bravery awards is so crude and funny. "Beep, beep, got room for a brave one ?" hehe. There are so many hilarious parts to this series - its the best English comedy I've seen for a long time, I really cant understand why some people here found it disappointing (perhaps because you wanted to see Alan succeed ??). I recommend to watch it again and pay close attention, this is genius comedy. Series 3 soon please ! Highly recommended.

"You've never had a cup o' beans Mr Partridge" ?