Last year, one of the great British TV comedy creations, Norfolk local DJ and disastrous BBC chat show presenter Alan Partridge, returned after nearly a decade off our screens. Three things were notable about the comeback, Mid Morning Matters. First, it was presented online, sponsored by a brand of weak lager and issued without much fanfare in ten-minute webisodes. Second and more important, it was good: fans watched the first episode through nervously squinting eyes, but were relieved to see Steve Coogan's alter ego slimmed down, boxed in and spouting vintage Partridgean lines.
Third, and perhaps most startling, Mid Morning Matters had been co-written by two blokes nobody had ever heard of.