Aha!
Good news, Partridge fans. As you’ll no doubt be aware, the 20th anniversary of I’m Alan Partridge is coming up, and if there was ever an event more worthy of celebration, then we don’t know about it or care about it.
To mark the momentous occasion, Pilot Light TV Festival, Live Cinema UK and Manchester bar/club Gorilla will be hosting AHA! – an all-day I’m Alan Partridge marathon.
“AHA! Is a celebration of one of England’s most valued national treasures and icons, Alan Partridge,” the event description reads.
“Known for his mostly outstanding contribution to British television, film, radio and literature; Alan ‘The Money’ Partridge has become one of the most iconic figures in British culture alongside Jet from Gladiators, Dale Winton and Chris Eubank. On its 20th anniversary we celebrate one of Alan’s most celebrated pieces of television: I’m Alan Partridge.”
Speaking to JOE, Pilot Light director and producer of AHA! Greg Walker said that they’d been trying to put an Alan Partridge-themed event together for a while.
“With Pilot Light, it’s something we do quite often,” Walker said. “This year we did Brass Eye, the year before we did Snuff Box, we’ve done Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace in the past. It’s the first one we’ve done outside of the festival, so it’s really exciting.
“It’s so much better watching these sorts of things with a huge crowd, it just ups the ante and the hilarity.”
The show will be split into two halves with a break between seasons and a few gaps here and there, just so people don’t get completely Alaned-out (as if such a thing were possible). But it’s not just a bunch of people gathering round a telly to watch a bit of Partridge; this is a full-blown event with special guests and activities.
“Armando Iannucci is sending us a video introduction (he’s shooting in the US, probably the new season of Veep); Steve’s also out of the country for the event, so that’s why he cant make it, but we’ve got Simon Greenall, who plays Michael the Geordie – he’s coming for a Q&A.
“We’ve also got Neil Gibbons, and that’s gonna be a really interesting part of the Q&A, because he’s actually written or co-written everything Partridge since I’m Alan Partridge. He’s done all the books, all the radio stuff, the film, the new TV shows, so he’s lived in the mind of Alan Partridge for quite a few years now.”
The event promises “Alan-themed lovely stuff throughout the day”, so what can punters expect from the event?
“We’ve got food: sausage and beans in a cup, Toblerone, chocolate mousse. We’ve got ‘Smell My Cheese’ nachos,” Walker says.
“Then there’s different activities throughout the day. We’re gonna have little games like ‘Feeding Beef Burgers to Swans’ and ‘Pin the Foot on the Spike’.
“We’re also gonna have a little competition. It’s two fold, which will be ‘Pitch Your Own TV Ideas’, and then we’ll have ‘Reasons to Fire People’ as well. There’ll be prizes at the end of the day for people who’ve come up with the best suggestions.”
If you’re an Alan Partridge fan, you won’t want to miss this.
Tickets cost £15 (plus booking fee). AHA! kicks off at 12:30 on Sunday 20 August at Gorilla, 54-56 Whitworth Street, Manchester, M1 5WW.
