Film versions of TV series or transporting characters established on TV to films has rarely worked well. Despite big commercial successes doing that in Britain in the 1970s few of the films that resulted were any good – ‘Porridge’, ‘Dads Army’ and ‘Bless This House’ were amongst the few exceptions. Attempts to do the same thing more recently with Ali G, Keith Lemon and in ‘Kevin and Perry Go Large’ have been largely disastrous. So, I approached ‘Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa’ with some trepidation. Fortunately, on the whole, my fears were unfounded. Despite a plot-line involving an armed siege there’s little attempt to open things out from the norm – it is still set in and around Norwich and largely in his radio station.
It does mean that the film isn’t very cinematic, and admittedly the plot and gags are stretched over 90 minutes, so it could have made a brilliant hour long TV special, but if you are a fan of the character, you will probably find yourself watching it with a big indulgent grin on your face. There are also more laugh out load moments than in most comedies you will see this year, from obvious set pieces like Alan losing his trousers when trying to climb back into the radio station, to small delights like one onlooker shouting ‘aha’ when our hero, acting as mediator between the fellow DJ holding hostages and the police, tries to relay the hostage taker’s demands. I don’t expect that this will win over any new fans, but there’s plenty here to entertain existing ones, though you won’t miss out on anything by waiting for the DVD release or TV showing.