Lorraine Kelly wasn’t about to let Richard Madeley off the hook for the comparisons viewers have made between him and , poking fun at the presenter on air.
Richard was hosting Good Morning Britain alongside Susanna Reid, when Lorraine popped in to tease what was coming up on her show – including a chat with Alan Partridge’s creator, comedian Steve Coogan.
‘Richard! You might be interested in this – Steve Coogan’s on the show,’ Lorraine pointed out, with Richard laughing and hitting back: ‘Now why would I be interested in that?’
‘We’re all interested in that, Lorraine!’ Susanna added, before moving swiftly on.
It’s not just viewers who have made the comparison – Steve previously revealed that Partridge , as well as .
‘I suppose if you infuse Richard Madeley with Piers Morgan, you might get close to who Partridge is at the moment,’ he recently said on BBC Breakfast.
‘I think Alan likes to think of himself as cutting edge and edgy and relevant,’ he added.
Presenter Charlie Stayt chimed in: ‘The odd thing is, as someone who works in this industry, I think it’s almost become a badge of honour to think that you are the inspiration for Partridge. I think it’s gone full circle.’
Steve agreed, saying that there’s now more of a soft spot for Alan. ‘He started out as a buffoon and there’s a bit of affection for him now,’ he said.
‘So, it’s like although he’s misguided and ill-informed, he’s not nasty, he’s not wicked, he tries to do the right thing.
‘I think people see a slightly inept uncle or their parent’s generation getting things slightly wrong.’
However, last year, Richard addressed the , saying they were ‘a bit unfair’.
‘I honestly don’t care at all,’ he told Metro.co.uk. ‘I think it’s quite funny. It’s part and parcel of doing the job that I do.
‘It’s so important in this business, and particularly the arena that I operate in, that you don’t take yourself seriously. Because if you do, you’re going to have a very unhappy time.
‘So, if people want to take sentences that I say or little ponderings, [and think], “Oh, that’s so Alan Partridge,” good luck to them.
‘I don’t mind at all, because I genuinely don’t care. I don’t take myself seriously.’
He added: ‘I think some of the quotes are often made up to be honest with you, or they’re taken so ludicrously out of context, but I look at it sometimes and I think, “Oh that’s a bit unfair”.
‘But I don’t mind, it’s all part and parcel of what I do. It’s fine.’
Coogan played his most famous comic creation in I’m Alan Partridge, which ended in 2002.
Since then, he’s starred in a number of spin-offs, including Alan Partridge: Welcome to the Places Of My Life and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.
More recently, Coogan reprised the character for This Time With Alan Partridge, which aired in 2019 and 2021.
