Knowing Me Knowing You: Two Original BBC Radio 4 Episodes (No. 1) (BBC Radio Collection)

ISBN 10: 0563402210 ISBN 13: 9780563402213

Publisher: BBC Audiobooks Ltd, 1993

Synopsis

Two programmes from Steve Coogan's award-winning Radio 4 spoof chat-show series, in which he plays the character of Alan Partridge. Dressed in Pringle pullover, slacks and slip-on shoes, Partridge plays host to guests from the world of theatre, politics and emotional tragedy.

About this title

Review

Arrogant, crass, insecure and intensely irritating--Alan Partridge should never have been allowed on air, never mind been offered his own chat show. In the two episodes of Knowing Me, Knowing You featured on this cassette, Partridge manages to alienate all his guests and inflict physical violence upon one. When the hard-drinking Lord Morgan of Glossop dies on his show, he cannot help but talk through the minute's silence that he asks the audience to observe.

Alan Partridge is a brilliant comic creation. He remains worryingly believable as his show falls apart around his ears, a figure of fun but also oddly sympathetic. As the host is ridiculed by precocious child prodigy Simon Fisher, we are amused by his ignorance--yet when Alan obtains his revenge, it is hard not to be pleased. As the presenter's guests turn on him, they often prove themselves to be just as ridiculous as their target: it seems that a chat show host is given the guests he deserves.

Originally a hit for Radio 4, Knowing Me, Knowing You made the move to television after only one series, and achieved even greater success on screen. Yet in many ways the radio version is the better of the two, with the script just a little sharper and the humour slightly more consistent--only in Chris Morris's remarkable news spoof The Day Today did Steve Coogan's character find better material. --John Oates

Edition details

• Publisher: BBC Audiobooks Ltd
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0563402210
• ISBN 13: 9780563402213
• Binding: Audio Cassette