Alan Partridge is undoubtedly one of the greatest characters in the annals of British comedy. Over the last 32 years, Steve Coogan and his collaborators have created a richly textured inner and exterior life for the oft-thwarted Norfolk-based broadcaster, hence why fictional self-authored books such as Big Beacon – his third volume of memoirs – work so beautifully.
They’re undiluted Alan, the perfect way to explore the full unreliable narrator comic potential of his complex psyche.
Big Beacon employs a straightforward dual narrative technique, which Partridge naturally regards as an innovation (he spends most of the prologue needlessly explaining how it works).
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Timeline # 1 follows Alan in the wake of his 2021 expulsion from BBC One magazine show This Time, and his subsequent obsession with renovating a derelict Victorian lighthouse on the Kent coast, an entirely altruistic project which should in no way be regarded as a heavy-handed metaphor for resurrecting his career and sense of self-worth. He’s very clear on that point.
Timeline # 2 begins in 2011 and charts Partridge’s methodical – some might say ruthless – plan to leave ailing local radio station North Norfolk Digital for a second bite at the TV cherry. A roaring success, those plans come to fruition within a mere eight years.
