This Time with Alan Partridge

Alan Partridge is a great comedy creation; at his best he is a total monster of fragile ego encumbered with a total lack of self-awareness, and it is very funny when done well as it mostly has been. There are unfortunately only moments of that here, because This Week doesn't come over as a great show about his character, it comes over as bad television with him in it. This is the core weakness I think, which is that the show and format where Alan finds himself is itself cringey regardless who is in the presenter's chair. As a result the character's cringe is lost behind this designed cringe and doesn't really have the same impact.

The first thing this does is to lose the character somewhat, but the bigger damage is that it forces the character moments to be more extreme - ie Alan has to be more cringeworthy and awkward on top of this, and it means he feels forced more often than not. There also doesn't the development across the season that previous outings have had, here there is a small narrative development but none in him. This is not to say the show is not funny at times; it can be very funny at there were a handful of great Alan moments in most episodes, but not consistent enough to carry it across the rest. The simple "plot" detracts further by anchoring it to the show format, meaning the same segments, which lead to the same jokes - some of which are funny (Ruth Duggan), but most of which aren't (the mistimed walk to Simon, and the latter's inability to operate a touch screen).

The cast are good throughout, and the production feels solid, but it is the writing that leaves the show feeling lacking; the character doesn't unfold as he does at his best, and although there are very good flashes, this is all they really are. The show probably plays best with those coming to the character for the first time.