Yahoo News Steve Coogan hasn't always loved Alan Partridge
Alan Partridge is a national treasure - whether we like it or not – so we're a little surprised to hear that his creator Steve Coogan hasn't always been a fan.
Getting his balls out of the bath for this one, the comedian told Radio Times that writing material for Partridge once actually felt like a bit of a burden.
"Alan was an albatross around my neck until about eight years ago, when I started doing stuff like The Trip and Philomena," he admitted.
Related: 12 bizarre TV shows that weren't invented by Alan Partridge - honest
"When I got an Oscar nomination for Philomena, I thought, 'Well, I've definitely drawn a line under something'."
After finding success as a straight actor in more serious ventures, Steve soon found his way back to the iconic radio DJ – but this time, it wasn't out of necessity.
Explaining his reasoning for taking a break from Alan, Steve added: "Counter intuitively, I didn't want to do Alan because I had to do Alan; I wanted to do Alan because I wanted to do Alan."
And fortunately for us, it seems as though Coogan still wants to do Alan (so to speak), as he confirmed earlier this year that the character will be back on the BBC before we know it.
"Alan will be back on the BBC early next year," he said on The One Show back in July. "There'll be a lot of Alan on telly next year, if you can wait that long.
"There's been rumours [about it]," he joked, adding: "I'm trying to leak it to the press".
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