Alan Partridge and the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage would get on “like a house on fire”, the comedy character’s creator Steve Coogan has said.
The writer, actor and comedian is set to bring the fictional radio DJ back to the BBC in a new series, This Time With Alan Partridge, which began filming earlier this month. He said the fictional broadcaster has evolved since he first started playing him 25 years ago.
Coogan, 52, said: “The world’s changed and he’s changed too because people do try and evolve and lots of people who perhaps were less tolerant grow to be more tolerant.”
He said the Conservative-voting Alan, who will host the magazine show This Time in the new series, may have been tempted to vote Ukip in recent elections.
He said: “I think if he had a pint with Nigel Farage they’d get on like a house on fire. I think he would have struggled long and hard and I think he would probably have opted [to vote] for Conservatives.”
Coogan, who joined the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on the campaign trail before last year’s election, said: “Alan feels like on balance they [the Conservatives] are the best choice. He doesn’t hate the Labour party. He’s suspicious of people who are left wing.”
The new series will see Partridge getting a big break when he takes over as co-presenter on the current affairs programme after the usual host falls ill.
“I suppose there are two narratives here: one is the fictional one, which is Alan Partridge back on the BBC; and the real one is Steve Coogan doing Alan Partridge back on the BBC after 25 years,” Coogan said.
Partridge’s co-presenter Jennie Gresham will be played by Susannah Fielding, Tim Key will return as Simon “formerly Sidekick Simon” Denton, and Felicity Montagu will reprise her role as the DJ’s assistant, Lynn.
Six half-hour episodes of This Time With Alan Partridge will air later this year.