Sky Atlantic and Steve Coogan have announced the return of Mid Morning Matters for a pretty significant second full series confirming yet more from the legendary comedy genius of Alan Partridge. Following up on the success of the online original and the first full series on Sky Atlantic, the news reiterates the continued popularity of the character and his relatively new North Norfolk Digital surroundings.
The last time we saw Coogan as his DJ alter-ego was in the recent Alan Partridge movie, Alpha Papa, which hit the big screen back in August 2013, taking the #1 spot in the UK box office charts on its opening weekend. However, there’s no word as of yet about whether or not the latest series will be a direct continuation of it, or if it will contain much in the way of references to the storyline of the film.
What we do know for sure is that series 2 will pick up on where things left off in Sky Atlantic’s Mid Morning Matters, which were made up of 6 30-minute episodes back in 2012, so we’re fully expecting it to feature Tim Key again. Playing Sidekick Simon, Alan’s sometimes unwieldy radio buddy, Key has been a big part of the new iteration of Alan Partridge since the early days of North Norfolk Digital.
The show has grown out of the original online series, which consisted of 12 15-minute episodes filmed as a part of a sponsorship deal with Fosters. The Alan Partridge Fosters shorts were released on the Fosters website in November 2010 with the title Mid Morning Matters and their cult following inspired Sky Atlantic to pick up on the show as a part of the channel’s ongoing dedication to British comedy.
The latest in the series will be airing on the fanciest of fancy Sky channels in 2015, giving Steve a break from his big wig movie star roles in the likes of Philomena and the upcoming blockbuster, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. It’s not the only work that Steve is doing with Sky this year either as the new six-part series will be added to by what Sky is describing as a “hard-hitting documentary” featuring Partridge in a one-hour special.
Coogan has also been busy this year with his other popular alter ego as an exaggerated version of himself alongside a similar equivalent from Rob Brydon in The Trip To Italy on BBC 1. However, that hasn’t stopped the Alan Partridge comedy onslaught from trundling on and while other comedies feel like they need to find a natural conclusion, AP just keeps reinventing himself, albeit on local digital radio.
Series 2 filming has already begun and confirmed as another set of six 30-minute episodes, written by Steve Coogan, Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons. It has been created by Baby Cow Productions once again and executive produced by both Coogan and Henry Normal. While the 2nd series was initially announced to air in 2013, we assume that the release of Alpha Papa affected the schedules rolling it back to next year.
