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Steve Coogan admits he never wants Alan Partridge to end
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Apr 15, 2025
Dev Griffin chats with Steve Coogan about the new film 'The Penguin Lessons', what it was like working with penguins on set and why he loves playing Alan Partridge so much! #stevecoogan #alanpartridge #thepenguinlessons #film Subscribe for regular entertainment! http://bit.ly/1qyfc2T Watch videos in full + exclusives here: https://thisisheart.co/heartglobalplayer Honest Celebrity Interviews: https://thisisheart.co/honestinterviews Music Artists: https://thisisheart.co/3YVm8wN Film and TV Stars: https://thisisheart.co/filmandtv _ We're the UK's biggest commercial radio brand creating memorable moments with the most recognised names in entertainment!
View Video Transcript
0:00
Is there going to be any more Alan Partridge
0:02
But now I can say pretty much until the day I drop dead
0:06
the answer will be yes. There will be some more. Unless I drop dead
0:12
Welcome to Heart's Evening Show. How are you? I'm very good, thank you very much. What's like a typical evening for you
0:17
If it's not too busy, what would be like a regular thing you get up to? I like to eat early-ish, which is like six o'clock
0:24
It's like tea time. Yeah, tea time. So I like to eat then. Then I can watch a movie or something or a documentary
0:30
So that's my really exciting evening. I'd love to hear what people think about it
0:35
Are you quite good at, if you were going to watch a film, not being distracted
0:39
I'm terrible for, oh, I think I recognise that actor in the back. Let me get his IMDB
0:44
Oh, he definitely was in an episode of The Bill years ago. Yeah, it's funny, I do, because you can pause now, can't you
0:49
Hang on a second. What I'm terrible on is, if I'm watching it with my girlfriend
0:53
then I will stop the, pause it, to tell her an interesting fact that has just cropped up
0:59
the film is just prompted. Your new film, The Penguin Lessons, it comes out on Friday
1:07
The saying is to not work with kids or animals. You've just done both
1:11
What was that like as an experience? The Penguin in particular? Well, I mean, Jeff, who wrote the script
1:16
said I'm writing this film about a penguin. I was like, well, do you want to do it? And I said, not particularly, no
1:21
I mean, I don't see why. Cuddly penguin films are not really my bag
1:26
I said, well, if you make him somebody who doesn't like penguins, then that'd be interesting
1:30
In actual fact, it was a delight because the penguins were real penguins
1:36
no CGI. We sometimes used a robot one when we didn't want to ask a penguin
1:42
to do something that wouldn't be very pleasant. So the welfare was sort of paramount
1:47
But because part of the welfare, the sort of welfare of the animals was to not be noisy or frenetic on set or too loud or too raised voices or too much noise It was actually quite calm They had a kind of a reverse effect It was quite a calming effect having a penguin on set
2:02
because they wanted to make sure the penguin's OK. Never mind about me. No one was bothered whether I was OK
2:07
Steve's fine, isn't it? Steve's fine. Make as much noise as you want. Remember when I did kids telly as a young lad
2:12
the trick to working with dogs is, well, certainly the handler, he had like a pocket full of chopped up sausages all the time
2:18
or the dogs wouldn't do anything. Is that the same with penguins? like a pocket full of sprats or something
2:22
Every morning I'd go up to the penguins. There was two hero penguins, Baba and Richard
2:27
who were a couple, actually. I'd go up and chat to them in the morning with my coffee
2:31
and stroke them and let them hear my voice so they got used to it
2:35
You know, eventually, you can't get angry with a penguin if it doesn't walk where you want it to
2:39
You've just got to wait till it does what you want it to. You can't get mad at that walk, can you, as well
2:44
It's such a hilarious walk. And it is funny. However much I try to be edgy and grouchy
2:49
at certain points in the movie, or a bit cynical, when you do watch a penguin walk
2:54
it's very hard to be cynical about a penguin. There's my favourite quote of the year
2:59
It's nice when you find something that you can all agree on. And when people laugh at the same time
3:03
that sort of unifies them. And if everyone looks at a penguin, they stop arguing with each other
3:07
They just talk about how interesting and cute a penguin is. It's hard to keep an argument going
3:12
if a penguin walks in the middle of the argument. I've tried. I've tried
3:16
I mean, literally, you can't be done. there's a part of the film
3:20
your character Tom has to decide whether he's going to do the right thing or not
3:24
how are you in those type of scenarios if people were breaking the rules
3:28
well I saw someone I was at Victoria Station and one of those
3:31
the bikes the electric bikes you hire I don't do that I saw a guy cycle up
3:37
and to the station and he just threw it down no half on the road
3:42
half right in front of the taxis threw it down just walked off and I ran up to him he's just going to leave that there
3:47
and he sort of came right up in my face and went yeah And I went and I got a little bit scared and went Okay Okay And I just picked the bike up and lent it against the wall Like just took it off the road I love the idea of that guy walking away from that exchange as well
4:00
going, I think I just got told off by Steve Coogan. I did. It's funny. I was on the motorway once a car broken down
4:05
and I was helping them push the car onto the hard shoulder. And as I was pushing the back of the car with the guy that was crossing
4:11
I went, are you Steve Coogan? And I went, yeah. we have a question that we ask all of our guests steve um it's called please stop asking me right
4:19
now we're not saying these are good or bad questions it's just a question that you feel
4:25
comes up quite a lot you feel like at this point in your career you probably answered it enough
4:29
do you have a please stop asking me do you know what i think i would have had at some point like
4:34
with regards to alan partridge um is it going to be a more any more alan partridge um but but now i
4:40
say pretty much until the day i drop dead the answer will be yes there will be some more
4:46
unless i drop dead um someone else could try and take over the role but no not really no i mean
4:52
i'm very lucky that a i've had a career that's lasted this long b that i'm able to do
4:56
sort of what i like to some extent in so far as i can jump between comedy and drama something i've
5:04
always been such a huge fan of is i feel like you're such a good people watcher because your
5:09
characters whether it's like you know tommy saxondale or uh alan partridge it doesn't feel
5:13
like this is based on one person this feels like this is a collection of a lot of people and
5:18
partridge in particular like are you are you you're aware of like the cultural impact he's had
5:24
on the the uk in particular right yeah it's been sort of slow but i am aware of that i do pick up
5:30
on little things i do i do find that the character even the character the way i do the character 30
5:34
years ago i look at it and think oh it's a bit more it's a bit too two-dimensional he's a bit more
5:38
real now because I put bits of me in I put bits of people I seen on TV I put some I put bits of my dad in my late father bits I sort of it like a soup it like a broth of different stuff I chuck in different ingredients Are you familiar with
5:56
the social media page Accidental Partridge? Has anyone ever sent you anything
5:59
Yes, I have, but I don't do social media, but I quite like Glad It Existed. There's a particularly funny one
6:04
they send me. I think someone once sent me one of Obama
6:08
with his foot on a desk. But he was, the foot was too high
6:14
I've noticed that you're talking about. Stretching the trousers in the middle. I mean, what does that feel like
6:19
There's not a week that goes by that a politician or somebody on the radio or TV
6:24
does something that you can directly link back to Partridge. It's gratifying
6:29
Because when he started out, it was just a voice on the radio. And then someone said, some makeup artist, it was like 30 odd years ago
6:35
went, you do that guy on the radio? Oh my God, he's amazing. And I thought, oh, maybe I'm onto something
6:39
and when people when politicians do say things it's the great if I don't like someone what I do is
6:47
I make Partridge their friend the fun thing about Partridge is you can sort of talk about anything
6:52
and still get away with it and say things I couldn't possibly say it myself without being
6:59
cancelled but because it's through the the filter of Alan I mean I've had people laughing
7:06
I get the guardian intelligentsia who laugh at him, ironically. And then there's a group of firemen in there
7:14
And someone said, what are you doing here? They went, we like it. And he tells it like it is. I don't mind if they're enjoying it
7:22
As long as they're not encouraging something. He tells it like it's great
7:29
Steve, this has been an absolute dream come true for me. Thank you so much for talking to us
7:34
Steve Keegan, everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much. Pleasure
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