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Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge | |
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Genre | Comedy (spoof chat show) |
Created by | Steve Coogan Armando Iannucci Patrick Marber |
Directed by | Dominic Brigstocke |
Starring | Steve Coogan Steve Brown Rebecca Front Patrick Marber David Schneider Doon Mackichan |
Theme music composer | ABBA |
Opening theme | "Knowing Me, Knowing You" by the Steve Brown Band |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 7 (inc. Christmas special)(list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer | Peter Fincham |
Producer | Armando Iannucci |
Running time | 28–32 min 46 min (Christmas Special) |
Production company | Talkback Productions |
Original release | |
Network | BBC2 |
Release | 16 September 1994 – 29 December 1995 |
Related | |
Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge (Radio series) I'm Alan Partridge |
Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge (also known as Knowing Me, Knowing You) is a BBC Television comedy series of six episodes (beginning 16 September 1994), and a Christmas special Knowing Me, Knowing Yule on 29 December 1995. It is named after the song "Knowing Me, Knowing You" by ABBA (the main character's favourite band), a rendition of which was used as the show's title music. Steve Coogan plays the incompetent but self-satisfied Norwich-based talk show host Alan Partridge, who often insults his guests and humiliates himself in the process. Alan was a spin-off character from the spoof radio show On the Hour (which later transferred to TV as The Day Today ). Knowing Me, Knowing You was written by Coogan, Armando Iannucci (who produced the radio version) and Patrick Marber (who also starred), with contributions from the regular supporting cast of Doon Mackichan, Rebecca Front and David Schneider, who played Alan's weekly guests. Steve Brown provided the show's music and arrangements, and also appeared as Glenn Ponder, the man in charge of the house band (the name of which changed, without explanation, every episode).
Alan went on to appear in two series of the sitcom I'm Alan Partridge , following his life after both his marriage and TV career come to an end, though the latter was subsequently revived. It was generally well received by fans and critics, and was nominated for a BAFTA and a British Comedy Award.
In December 1992, BBC Radio 4 began broadcasting a six-episode spoof chat show, Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge . The series saw Partridge irritate and offend his guests, and coined his catchphrase, "Aha!". [1] In 1994, Knowing Me, Knowing You transferred to television. [2] The series ends with Partridge accidentally shooting a guest. [1] A Christmas special, Knowing Me, Knowing Yule, followed in December 1995, in which Partridge attacks a BBC commissioning editor, ending his television career. [3]
Knowing Me, Knowing You was nominated for the 1995 BAFTA for Light Entertainment Performance. [4] The Austin Chronicle called it "one of the most hilarious satirical comedies in recent memory". [5] In 2024, the Guardian named Knowing Me, Knowing Yule one of the greatest Christmas TV specials. [6]
Transmission date | House band | Rebecca Front | Patrick Marber | David Schneider | Doon Mackichan | Other guests | Another Alan | |
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1 | 16 September 1994 | Glenn Ponder and Chalet | Sue Lewis, a quiet showjumper | Keith Hunt, new host of This Is Your Life | Big Red Book on This Is Your Life (untransmitted sequence) | Shona McGough, an abrasive punk singer | Keith's son, Shona's band and Roger Moore (voice; performed by Steve Coogan) | - |
2 | 23 September 1994 | Glenn Ponder and Debonair | Tania Beaumont, actress | Gary Barker, washed-up actor and Tania's husband | Tony Le Mesmer, magician and hypnotist | - | Daniella Forrest, transgender Playboy columnist (Minnie Driver) | A sailor with a facial tic (John Thomson) |
3 | 30 September 1994 | Glenn Ponder and Ferrari | Gina Langland, singer | Lawrence Knowles, a sleazy promoter | Clive Sealy, Lawrence's dermatologist | - | The Olympic Golden Girls of 1936; Hot Pants, an all-male strip troupe | - |
4 | 7 October 1994 | Glenn Ponder and Savoir Faire | Yvonne Boyd, a fashion designer with odd ideas | Philippe Lambert, famous but arrogant French chef | Head of Cirque des Clowns, a very risqué mime act | - | Nina Vanier, Alan's French co-host (Melanie Hudson) | Alain Perdrix, a lorry driver who couldn't speak English |
5 | 14 October 1994 | Glenn Ponder and Lazarus | Charlotte Fraser (Lab) | Martin Dwyer, alias Lt. Col. Kojak Slaphead III (Bald Brummies Against The Big-Footed Conspiracy Party) | Adrian Finch (Con) | - | Terry Norton, dodgy boxing promoter (Alan Ford); Five Miss Norwich contestants (Barbara Durkin, plus four uncredited); Ronald Biggs (Lib Dem) (Felix Dexter) | Dead, but appeared in a coffin with his family |
6 | 21 October 1994 | Glenn Ponder and Bangkok | Bridie McMahon, lesbian host of the show to take Alan's place | Forbes McAllister, cynical restaurant critic for The Spectator | Unnamed Police Sergeant | Wanda Harvey, Bridie's lesbian co-host | The Alan Partridge Playmates; the Maclean brothers, irritating child film-makers; Joe Beazley and Cheeky Monkey, awful ventriloquist act (John Thomson) | - |
7 | 29 December 1995 | Glenn Ponder and his "friend" Andy | Mary, a bellringer and devout Christian | Gordon Heron, a paralysed former golfer | Tony Hayers, Chief Commissioning Editor of BBC Television | Liz Heron, Gordon's wife and also a golfer | Fanny Thomas, innuendo-using drag act (Kevin Eldon), Mick Hucknall | - |
Several characters from the radio series are similar to ones used in the TV series; several jokes are even reused. Doon MacKichan's character Kendall Ball did not make it into the eventual TV series but did appear in The Day Today, made between the two incarnations.
Radio | TV |
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Tony Hayers | Tony Hayers |
Sally Hoff | Tania Beaumont |
Conrad Knight | Gary Barker |
Lord Morgan of Glossop | Forbes McAllister |
Yvonne Boyd | Yvonne Boyd |
Janey Katz | Tony LeMesmer |
Michel Lambert | Philippe Lambert |
Alan Gordon Partridge is an English comedy character portrayed by Steve Coogan. A parody of British television personalities, Partridge is a tactless and inept broadcaster with an inflated sense of celebrity. Since his debut in 1991, he has appeared in media including radio and television series, books, podcasts and film.
Stephen John Coogan is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for creating and portraying Alan Partridge, a socially inept and politically incorrect media personality, which he developed while working with Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris on On the Hour and The Day Today. Partridge has featured in several television series such as I'm Alan Partridge (1997–2002) and the film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013). Coogan has earned accolades such as four BAFTA Awards and three British Comedy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.
Armando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish satirist, writer, director, producer, performer and panellist.
The Day Today is a British comedy television show that parodies television news and current affairs programmes, broadcast from 19 January to 23 February 1994 on BBC2. It was created by Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris and is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 9 August 1991 and 28 May 1992 and was also written by Morris, Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, David Quantick, and the cast. For The Day Today, Peter Baynham joined the writing team, and Lee and Herring were replaced by Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews. The principal cast of On the Hour was retained for The Day Today.
On the Hour was a British radio programme that parodied current affairs broadcasting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992. Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick, On the Hour starred Morris as the overzealous and self-important principal anchor. He was accompanied by a regular cast assembled by Iannucci, comprising Steve Coogan, Rebecca Front, Doon Mackichan, Patrick Marber and David Schneider, who portrayed assorted news reporters, presenters and interviewees. On the Hour featured the first appearance of Coogan's character Alan Partridge as the "Sports Desk" reporter.
Rebecca Louise Front is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for The Thick of It (2009–2012). She is also known for her work in numerous other British comedies, including the radio show On The Hour (1992), The Day Today (1994), Knowing Me, Knowing You… with Alan Partridge (1994), Time Gentlemen Please (2000–2002), sketch show Big Train (2002), and Nighty Night (2004–2005).
Caroline Mary Aherne was an English actress, comedian, writer and director. She was best known for performing as the acerbic chat show host Mrs Merton, in various roles in The Fast Show, and as Denise in The Royle Family (1998–2012), a series which she co-wrote. She won BAFTA awards for her work on The Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family.
I'm Alan Partridge is a British sitcom created by Steve Coogan, Peter Baynham and Armando Iannucci. Coogan stars as Alan Partridge, a tactless and inept broadcaster. The first series, broadcast in 1997, has Partridge living in a roadside hotel after having been left by his wife and dropped by the BBC. The second, broadcast in 2002, sees Partridge living in a static caravan after recovering from a mental breakdown. Iannucci said the writers used the sitcom as "a kind of social X-ray of male middle-aged Middle England".
Peter Baynham is a Welsh screenwriter and performer. He appeared in a series of comedic Pot Noodle television adverts in the 1990s. His writing work includes collaborations with comedy figures such as Armando Iannucci, Steve Coogan, Chris Morris, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Sarah Smith. Born in Cardiff, Baynham served in the Merchant Navy after leaving school and later pursued a career in comedy — first in stand-up, and then as a writer and performer for various news and sketch comedies in radio and television while enjoying personal fame starring in Pot Noodle adverts. He then became a writer in feature film.
Sally Elizabeth Phillips is an English actress, comedian, and television presenter. She co-created and was one of the writers of the sketch comedy show Smack the Pony. She is also known for her roles in Jam & Jerusalem as Natasha "Tash" Vine, Miranda as Tilly, I'm Alan Partridge as Sophie, Parents as Jenny Pope, Set the Thames on Fire as Colette in 2015, Zapped as Slasher Morgan, and her guest appearances as the fictional Prime Minister of Finland Minna Häkkinen in the US TV series Veep. Phillips also co-starred in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as Mrs Bennet and in the role of Shazza in all three films of the Bridget Jones franchise.
John Patrick Thomson is an English comedian, narrator and actor best known for his roles in The Fast Show, Men Behaving Badly, Cold Feet, 24 Hour Party People, The Brothers Grimsby and Coronation Street.
Kevin Eldon is an English actor and comedian. He featured in British comedy television shows of the 1990s including Fist of Fun, This Morning with Richard Not Judy, Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, I'm Alan Partridge, Big Train, Brass Eye and Jam. In 2013, Eldon appeared in his own BBC sketch series It's Kevin. He has also appeared in minor speaking roles in the HBO series Game of Thrones.
Julia Davis is an English actress, comedian, director and writer. She is known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy Nighty Night (2004–2005) and the comedies Hunderby (2012–2015) and Camping (2016), which she also directed.
Sarah Doon Mackichan is a British actress, comedian and writer. She co-created, wrote and performed in the double-Emmy-award-winning Smack the Pony. She frequently collaborates with Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan, having played multiple characters in The Day Today, Brass Eye and Alan Partridge, and has also appeared in Toast of London and Two Doors Down. Mackichan was nominated for Best Female Comedy Performance at the 2014 British Academy Television Awards for her performance in Plebs and won critical praise for her performance alongside John Malkovich in Bitter Wheat in 2019.
Christopher Thomas Binns is a British comedian best known for his character of Hospital Radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury. He has made multiple TV and radio appearances. In 2023, Binns was convicted of possession of child pornography.
Felicity Jane Montagu is an English actress. She is best known for playing Lynn Benfield, the long-suffering assistant of Alan Partridge.
Declan Lowney is an Irish television and film director. Known initially for directing musical events such as the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, Lowney is perhaps best known for his work on Irish and British television comedies such as Cold Feet, Little Britain and Father Ted for which he was awarded a BAFTA Award in 1995. He was awarded a second BAFTA Award in 2006 for his work on BBC comedy Help.
Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge is a BBC Radio 4 series of six episodes. It is named after the song "Knowing Me, Knowing You" by ABBA, which was used as the show's title music.
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is a 2013 British comedy film starring Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge, a fictional presenter he has played on various BBC radio and television shows since 1991. It was directed by Declan Lowney and written by Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Peter Baynham and Neil and Rob Gibbons. Colm Meaney co-starred as Pat Farrell, a DJ who takes hostages after he is fired from Partridge's radio station; Partridge is enlisted as a negotiator.
This Time with Alan Partridge is a British sitcom first broadcast in 2019 on BBC One. It stars Steve Coogan as the inept broadcaster Alan Partridge in a spoof of day-time magazine programmes such as The One Show and Good Morning Britain.