'There are people in Norwich who love Alan Partridge'

It is back-of-the-net time as one of the nation's most enduring comic characters returns to our screens, but Alan Partridge creator Steve Coogan says the fictional Norfolk broadcaster polarises opinions in the county.

The tactless TV host is back with a crowd-funded documentary called How Are You? which sees him superficially delving into the issue of mental health in his trademark ego-fuelled way.

It signals Partridge's most recent return from the wilderness after he fled to Saudi Arabia following his BBC sacking for a rant on magazine show This Time.

Filming for the latest series has taken place in Norfolk but Coogan - who plays Partridge - says he receives a mixed reception on the streets.

"I think the people who don't like Alan wouldn't say anything to me in the street, and the people who do like him like to say 'hello'," Coogan told BBC Culture reporter Paul Glynn, during an interview about the new show.

A trailer for the latest Partridge series, broadcast from 3 October on BBC One, shows scenes from Norwich city centre and the cobbled medieval landmark Elm Hill.

Coogan also filmed at a cheese stall on Norwich market last year, possibly in a nod to one of his character's best-known phrases when he tells a TV executive to "smell my cheese" while shoving a cheese wheel in his face.

Paula Taylor, from The Cheeseman stall, said at the time the actor visited "about eight or nine years ago, but it was lovely to see him come back to smell my cheeses - he's such a nice man".

Coogan, 59, said while Partridge had wound his way back to his home county of Norfolk, he understood why local people had opposing views about him.

"Of course, there are some people who love Alan Partridge in Norwich and think it's great and lean into it," he said.

"And there are others who really don't like it and think it trivialises the rich cultural history of Norwich and subsumes much more important things about the county and the city.

"And I think they're both right... I get both those points of view."

In the Norfolk seaside resort of Great Yarmouth, BBC Radio Norfolk asked people for their opinions about the spoof local radio DJ.

They veered from "never heard of him" and "he's just for the turnip heads" to "friends in New Zealand and America, who I've worked with... always ask me about Alan Partridge - they love him".

For a county so intertwined with the ever-smug presenter - who first appeared on the BBC Radio 4 parody news show On the Hour in 1991 - there have been those who have been proud to champion his roots.

In 2020, sculptors Nick Dutton and Gavin Fulcher unveiled a brass statue of the star, emblazoned with his trademark greeting of "a-ha", temporarily outside Norwich's Forum building, which made an appearance in the 2013 feature film Alpha Papa.

Superfan Paul Wassell, who also runs a Facebook page which revels in Partridge philosophy, staged a festival fittingly called "We're Just Fans, Alan" in 2021.

Covid meant the original date was postponed, but Mr Wassell said activities, including Partridge's game show idea of monkey tennis, had been on the bill at the Norwich venue, doubling for the divorcee's one-time Linton Travel Tavern lodgings.

Since his radio beginnings, Partridge has presided over chat shows, sitcoms, a feature film and podcast - with regular trips to Norfolk a requirement for his creator.

A successful social media campaign to host a world premiere of Alpha Papa in Norwich saw Coogan don Partridge's powder blue safari suit and issue a statement.

In it, he mocked: "Any suggestions I've hastily cobbled together the lunchtime Norwich screening in response to a local Twitter campaign will be met with the full force of the law."

Coogan also starred in Michael Winterbottom's A Cock and Bull Story, filmed at Felbrigg Hall, near Cromer, in 2004.

The actor, originally from Middleton in Greater Manchester, said he had grown to feel an "attachment" to the city and county.

"I sort of have an affection for it that I didn't really have because I didn't know it," said Coogan.

"So I feel schizophrenic. I'm a northerner, but I know that Alan's from Norwich."

As an awkward outsider always trying to fit in before dropping a social faux pas, Coogan said Norfolk's geographical uniqueness was a perfect mirror for Partridge's character.

"Norfolk and Norwich, which is a wonderful part of the world, are quite unusual," he said.

"We chose Norwich as a home for Alan, partly because of its geographical location.

"Also we didn't want to tread well-worn paths... there are lots of comedies from Liverpool and the north and Birmingham, The Midlands, and we see Only Fools and Horses - Cockneys.

"So you say, 'what's more interesting?'. And there's something about the fact that Norwich/Norfolk is not a thoroughfare of the country, it's out on a big fat peninsula and it feels interesting and different.

"It's not north and it's not south. It's sort of on its own."

How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge) begins on BBC One at 21:30 BST on Friday 3 October, when all six episodes will be available on iPlayer.

Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.