Teaser: ALAN PARTRIDGE - ALPHA PAPA

It's been rumoured for over a decade, but Alan Partridge is finally getting his own movie. Steve Coogan is currently filming in and around Norfolk, as part of a feature-length adventure that allegedly revolves around his North Norfolk Digital radio station being overtaken by an American conglomerate called Shape. I'm sure there must be more to it than that, but plotting is probably not too high on the agenda. You just need plenty of comical scenarios for Alan to get involved in, then keep the fantastic dialogue and witty wordplay flowing.

The teaser (embedded above) doesn't offer any footage from the in-production film, but instead takes the form of a short sketch with Alan discussing title ideas with "Sidekick Simon" (Tim Key) and his producer (Cardinal Burns' Dustin Demri-Burns). I won't spoil any of the jokes, but I found this quite amusing as a fun announcement that Coogan's taking his most successful character to the big screen. I have no doubt this project finally got off the ground because of 2011's The Inbetweeners Movie, which raked in £55m from a £3.5m budget to become the most successful British movie comedy ever. Can Partridge beat their impressive record? He's been around a few decades, so there's definitely a big audience for him on home turf, but has the ship sailed? He did feel more relevant in the late-'90s when I'm Alan Partridge was winning awards... but who isn't excited to see him transition to the multiplexes? A-HA!

The Alan Partridge Movie premieres 7 August 2013 in the UK.