While stateside, fans of “Arrested Development” are frothing at the mouth for the new season coming in April, and throwing their disposable income at the “Veronica Mars” movie, over in the U.K., they’ve got their own TV treasure headed to the big screen.
Steve Coogan‘s Alan Patridge – an earnestly insecure and narcissistic talk show host has spawned two radio stints, three TV series, a book, and more recently the new webseries “Mid Morning Matters” – is now getting the feature treatment, and the first trailer is here. There was been a level of secrecy around the movie, with the filmmakers keeping details close to the vest, including the title which is now apparently “Alpha Papa.” However, Coogan’s collaborator and writing partner Armando Iannucci teased last summer: “Alan is in Norwich. It’s not ‘Alan goes to Hollywood’; it’s not ‘Alan invaded by aliens’ or anything like that. He’s on North Norfolk Digital, which is taken over by a bigger media conglomerate and has its name changed to Shape. And that kicks everything off.”
So a question for fans, now that you have the first look: is Coogan’s Partridge looking like another winning return? For folks who aren’t yet familiar with the character, are you intrigued enough to catch up on what you’ve missed so far on DVD? Declan Lowney (“Little Britain,” “Cruise Of The Gods“) directs the film which lands in the U.K. this summer. No word yet on if or when it might cross the pond. Watch below.