This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy!

Get the latest news and insight into how the Big Issue magazine is made by signing up for the Inside Big Issue newsletter Using an innovative 'dual narrative' structure you sometimes see in films, Big Beacon tells the story of how Partridge heroically rebuilt his TV career, rising like a phoenix from the desolate wasteland of local radio to climb to the summit of Mount Primetime and regain the nationwide prominence his talent merits. The book is, at this point as good as it could be, pretty much an anthology of shorter stories (I'd explain what a vignette is, but the listener may be hot, tired or Greek) combined into what's likely to be the last of the Partridge books. There are occasional moments of brilliance here, but not enough to justify another listen. There's also a lot of repetition (quite literally) as well as a few missed opportunities to really take the character somewhere interesting. Armando Ianucci's influence is sorely missed: there's just not enough of the ludicrous confrontation that used to define the character, nor the sheer joy that banality brought to Partridge (fainting at the prospect of a Burtons gold card, or spending the evening praising the action of a CD player lid).Alan Partridge is publishing a third volume of memoirs, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal. The two strands will run in tandem, their narrative arcs mirroring each other to make the parallels between the two stories abundantly clear to the less able listener. Leaving his old life behind and relocating to a small coastal village in Kent, Alan battles through adversity, wins the hearts and minds of a suspicious community, and ultimately shows himself to be a quite wonderful man."

Big Beacon is Partridge's third autobiography, following 2011's I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan and 2016's Nomad. In Big Beacon , Norwich's favourite son and best broadcaster, Alan Partridge, triumphs against the odds. TWICE. Published by Seven Dials on 12th October, the book reveals how "Norwich's favourite son and best broadcaster" triumphed "against the odds. TWICE." Using an innovative ‘dual narrative’ structure you sometimes see in films, Big Beacon tells the story of how Partridge heroically rebuilt his TV career, rising like a phoenix from the desolate wasteland of local radio to climb to the summit of Mount Primetime and regain the nationwide prominence his talent merits.

Popular Posts

The two strands will run in tandem, their narrative arcs mirroring each other to make the parallels between the two stories abundantly clear to the less able reader. I've watched and listened to the entire Alan Partridge catalogue and the earlier shows/books literally had me crying with laughter all the way through. Unfortunately, this book, and the most recent podcast barely triggered an occasional smile.

It seems that Steve is disengaged from the character of Alan and it no longer feels like the same character. The original charm and authenticity is gone and what's left is an empty narrative.Using an innovative ‘dual narrative’ structure you sometimes see in films, Big Beacontells the story of how Partridge heroically rebuilt his TV career, rising like a phoenix from the desolate wasteland of local radio to climb to the summit of Mount Primetime and regain the nationwide prominence his talent merits. Alan Partridge is undoubtedly one of the greatest characters in the annals of British comedy. Over the last 32 years, Steve Coogan and his collaborators have created a richly textured inner and exterior life for the oft-thwarted Norfolk-based broadcaster, hence why fictional self-authored books such as Big Beacon – his third volume of memoirs – work so beautifully.

QuotePublished by Seven Dials on 12th October, the book reveals how "Norwich's favourite son and best broadcaster" triumphed "against the odds. TWICE." But then something quite unexpected and moving, because Big Beaconalso tells the story of a selfless man, driven to restore an old lighthouse to its former glory, motivated by nothing more than respect for a quietly heroic old building that many take for granted, which some people think is a metaphor for Alan himself even though it’s not really for them to say.*Last month, Audible announced it had commissioned a third series of From The Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast. Leaving his old life behind and relocating to a small coastal village in Kent, Alan battles through adversity, wins the hearts and minds of a suspicious community, and ultimately shows himself to be a quite wonderful man. But then something quite unexpected and moving, because Big Beacon also tells the story of a selfless man, driven to restore an old lighthouse to its former glory, motivated by nothing more than respect for a quietly heroic old building that many take for granted, which some people think is a metaphor for Alan himself even though it's not really for them to say.* Firstly, this month the Norwich broadcaster presides over a further instalment of his hit podcast, From the Oasthouse, another multi-hour marathon of precision-tooled comedy in which he mulls over the topics of the day. Or, as one of its writers describes it, “the ramblings of a lonely man who doesn’t want you to know he’s lonely”. And then, in October, comes Big Beacon, the third instalment of his memoirs. (Did Winston Churchill manage three memoirs?) Big Beacon, so the blurb tells us, will use an innovative “dual narrative structure you sometimes see in films” to tell the story of how he rebuilt his TV career alongside rebuilding an old lighthouse to its former glory, “motivated by nothing more than respect for a quietly heroic old building that many take for granted, which some people think is a metaphor for Alan himself even though it’s not really for them to say”.