Not sure why this was originally made and in what context it was shown on TV but it does seem to have a home in the DVD extras of this series. This short film is one of those pieces that minor celebrities (ie regional or national TV presenters of news, weather or light entertainment) will always do for the BBC as part of a programme like The One Show or Countryfile; you know the sort of thing – fluff featuring them doing some activity that makes them appear normal but yet also interesting. In Partridge's case this is a feature on his rambling, in particular the rambling he does on Christmas Day morning by himself.
It doesn't offer any big laughs or particularly embarrassing moments in the way that his chat show did but it does nail the character perfectly and provide lots of lightly comic touches and moments. The pain in the character is there in little throwaway lines about doing stuff by himself as a child or his family making excuses for not coming with him on his ramble and, while the end does lay that on a bit thick, it is this convincingly pained and monstrous character that makes the short worth seeing. Coogan does well again, making Partridge feel real, giving out little tells and reveals with a natural air that makes the character more interesting than the simple sports presenter gag that he once was (although that is unfair on The Day Today but you know what I mean – by comparison).
The direction is spot on for this type of TV thing – obvious shots, staged walking or looking (which Coogan does wonderfully badly) and "clever" shots that are not as clever or creation as the low level "director on first shoot" thinks they are (through the bars of the gate). Yes it looks cheap and rather corny but that is the point. This short hits its target well then and, while not hilariously funny, it is a good spoof of that type of thing while also showing us more of Partridge in self-important, totally un-self-aware but yet pained form.
