Final Listener Emails and Wrap Up

I am hopping mad and I want something in the middle. Aha! Y absolutely, yep, yep, yep, absolutely. Monkey tennis, spring bring. There's a new chat in town. I have the last laugh. Damn! Monkey tennis. Love pierce my foot on the spine. With a chuckle, with a chuckle. Monkey tennis, radical. Awesome. Mega Monkey Tennis? Okay. Where's my assistant? I do not. Monkey tennis? Edwards is a total wasp of a guy. Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. It's harder than the sun! I said all the hell is back. This is great, Anton. Monkey Tennis Back of the Net. The people who enjoy Alan Partridge will enjoy this podcast. But people who've never got it still won't get it. Hello and welcome once again to Monkey Tennis, the Alan Partridge fan podcast, where we've now concluded our episode by episode blow by blow account of Alan's mental health series, How are you? And uh today we're going to be rifling through your feedback and also talking about how we found this series as a whole. If you're joining us for the first time, and I very much doubt it at the end of a series, but just in case, uh we've been covering all things Alan Partridge uh for almost a decade now. That's the day today, knowing me, knowing you, open book, scissored aisle this time. Alan's live stand up appearances, including Stratagem, and we've spoken to all kinds of cast and crew along the way, including Simon Greenel, aka Mike the Jordy, Tim Key, Psychic Simon, Stephen Mangan, Dan Moody, Susanna Fielding, and Jenny Gresho, amongst many, many other famous fans of Partridge. So there's a rich seam of uh content for you to enjoy. Uh if you have just come to Monkey Tennis. But if not, welcome all the same. I'm Adam Brooks and I'm joined by Tom Dark. What a polo goal. Nickelde. So far we have too salty, need salt, would eat again, microwave broken, and Janice, yours, yours simply more chunks. Hmm, and some stab. Don't try and get round it on a technicality by booking me a dinner with a large clairvoyant and claim, Well, she's a medium because I know you. Yeah. So just a couple of uh morsels, highlights from the series there. Um thank you so much to all of you that have been in touch with your thoughts about how are you. Uh it's Brackett it's Alan, Brackets Partridge, um and also other bits of Alan. We'll be coming on to all of that shortly. Um if you would like to get in touch in the future. You can contact us on Instagram at Monkey Tennis Pod, uh, X or Twitter at thePartridgepod, Facebook.com slash thepartridge pod. You can email thepartrid at gmail.com. And thanks also to those of you who've been enjoying what we do and uh rewarding us with a follow or a subscribe, um, reviewing us on Spotify, telling a friend or throwing a couple of quid our way at KO-Fi.com. Slash monkey tennis. All very much appreciated. So yes, it's time for us to summarise what we thought about How are You as a series, where it sits in the partridge rankings, um our highlights and lowlights, and to kick us off I'm gonna throw over to Mr Nick Alder. Oh, uh thank you. Um Well I think it's fair to say I I really enjoyed it. I mean, I will always kind of uh enjoy new Allen and I think the fact that we get so much new Allen now and the standard is still still really high uh and there's still kind of new jokes coming is a testament uh to kind of the strength of uh the writing, the the cast, and everything that goes into kind of um making Alan. When it comes to this particular vehicle, um I think I've been thinking about this quite a bit and I think the thing that sticks in my mind is that I I think half of it really works. And I think half of it I wouldn't go as far as to say doesn't work, but there is definitely some um points in several of the episodes that feel like they don't work. And I think one of the big problems with this series is the kind of narrative flow. Because it sets up a story or a a scene set at the beginning, which in and of itself would you think give um would allow for quite a bit of kind of uh narrative arc. And I I feel like we don't really get that. And I think that what you get is kind of almost a col a collection of sort of skits or or moments or scenes that have been sort of stitched together to kind of create the illusion of a sort of narrative arc. And there are some things throughout it that um do give you that. So Daryl Flinch being one of them, you know, his relationship with with Katrina. I think if you strip away some of those, What you are sort of left with on a sort of more uh bones level, it is a kind of collection of of skids. Now that in and of itself I don't think is a bad thing, but I do think in the context of what they've done before, I think some of the um guess what I think is creative the the narrative arc is maybe not where Alan um excels. And actually if you look at things like the Oast House, um Bid Morning Matters, which I would always cite as sort of the high watermark of Alan. It isn't about a story. It isn't about getting from point A to point B to point C. It's ramblings and musings uh that don't really go anywhere, but are well written, intelligent, and um are more than the sum of their parts. So Overall, I really, really liked it. But I think those aspects of it were the bits that didn't um work for me. However loads of loads of good things to kind of uh talk about. But sometimes rather than just heaping praise on it and saying the things that I know we would all like. um, unfortunately, sometimes it's better to just put out the things that are maybe not quite as strong. But I'd say that's my start of ten for how I felt about it. Uh Tom Stab, I'm gonna hand to you what did you think? So Broad agreement with Nick. With all modern partridge when it comes to the T V form. When it's good. Brilliant. And I think we obviously been spoiled in the last decade or so. by the output of uh the Gibbons and how strong It has been consistent consistently. Thing I I wanna say I have issue with I'm not sure. Documentary format for Alan. Works at a sustained level over the course of six episodes. I think in Previous Alan Previous Alan documentary style Um uh uh uh projects have always been one have have been one episode. So um Sissy Dial, Welcome to the Places of My Life. It's one episode, it's forty five minutes to an hour, let's say. And as a result of that, you're packing a lot of really good stuff into quite a short amount of time. With this, they've got six episodes, six roughly half an hour episodes to fill. And as a result. All of it is gonna hit. Like If it all hit it would be one of the best comedies of all time. Like it's it it's impossible to sustain that. Um And I guess that's kind of similar to this time because I love this time, but I remember obviously covering the series. We you know, there would be agreement across the entire um group here that, um, despite whether it was a a a favourite of yours or or not a favourite of yours, There were periods where some of those V Ts weren't as good as the other ones and the stuff in the in the studio was often the best stuff and when it threw to the V Ts, we agreed that some of them uh yeah, were really, really good and some of them didn't quite land. This is kind of the same in the sense that A lot of it lands, but some of it doesn't. You know, there was you know, there was stuff that we were slightly, you know, critical of. Um So You know, it it this time was I thought at its best when there was a bit of a narrative through lines. So you had sort of like the the John Baskell Um uh sort of uh narrative of of Alan and how he came to be within the this time world and that sort of was the narrative start for that series. And then also sort of in the second series of sort of what was going on with Tiff and you know, I really enjoyed that sort of stuff. Um But really this time was kind of a s a a set of skits, really, and some of those worked and some of those didn't so it's kind it's kind of similar. I think I would say I slightly preferred this time. to this. Um But yeah, like On the whole thing. a really good series because, you know, like Nick says We're always going to enjoy New Allen, it's and I think it's good that they are Pushing They're kind of pushing the the the Alan uh catalogue into new areas and trying new things to keep it fresh and exciting, you know. I mean primarily for them because if if if they were doing the same thing and over and over again, I think the Gibbons and certainly Steve, having done this character for so long, would get bored. So they want to do new entr different things. And that is always a good thing. Um so I'm always going to be excited to know what format they're going to put Alan into next. Um But yeah, uh it's it's It's a solid, I would say seven, seven and a half out of ten for me. Um That's that's my broad opinions. Uh I'm gonna throw to Tom Dark next. Yeah, I I think I'd broadly agree with um what both of you guys have said. 'Cause I I think the interesting thing about this show overall. Is it feels like it's in a constant battle between trying to decide is it a sketch show or is it a sitcom? And I think the The sketch. The sketch show nature of some So Basically some episodes and a lot more shunted together sketches than others. And I think those ones I think those episodes suffer. I think the the episodes where there's a bit more of a narrative and I think as we've talked about Of a lot of our favourite episodes have been when there's been a lot of Alan and Lynn or Alan Lynn and Katrina interaction. Where it feels much more like a sit cotton. It's almost a borderline I'm Alan Partridge series three for want of a better Phrase. I think those are the episodes that work better and I think when when the show is delivering those moments. It's absolutely top tier. So You know, to pick like a kind of example of a low moment is I don't know, Alan speaking to a crane driver that we never see. But then a absolutely high moment is Alan doing Analog Tinder with Lin. in the ice house. So there are real highs and and real lows here, which I I think is Is interesting, but perhaps not hugely surprising, 'cause I guess Yeah, I think I would probably say I'd prefer this time compared to this. Uh, overall. However, yeah, the interesting about this time. Yes, there's a there's a strong narrative throughout. as in, you know, spanning episode to episode, series to series of this time, but then Within the episodes, when Alan goes off to do V Ts, it gives you free reign to basically insert any Kind of Wacky was any idea. Could just be pulled out and put in like a sketch somewhere else. Um so I think it's kind of It's interesting because I think that you you can look at that either way. For some people Some people might like that, some people might might not like that. Um But yeah, I I think there were there were some really, really great bits. in this series. Um I think as well, I really liked them extending this kind of documentary idea that we've seen in The likes of Welcome to the Base of My Life or Sciss and Isle extend it. It it felt a bit like trying extend that to a series. And I also thought what was great As a fan. having a T V show which feels like a companion piece to what's happening in Things like Big Beacon and recent Ocean s like bringing Katrina. Into it. Um, so it's nice to see them building a bit of a visual world. out from the Oast House podcast characters? Um So yeah, it it's it's it's a mixed bag. I d I think some episodes Definitely. Uh, but overall I did I did enjoy it. Um I was gonna say as well. This is just quite an interesting thing. Uh when Nick was talking about, you know, we we get the we're given the concept of the show at the beginning. Um so I actually went through the episodes to note So in each episode Alan essentially sets out a question. So he gives he gives like the mission statement for each episode. Uh and those are as follows. Uh it'll be interesting to see whether we think he He uh achieves this mission in any any of these. Uh, episode one, How Big is the UK's mental health crisis? Episode two, could talking be the key to better mental health? Episode three, Do we need other people? Uh episode four. Welcome the great outdoors defron nog ins. Episode 5, can seizing the day improve our mental health. And episode 6, what's at the root of my mental malaise? So episode six is looking a bit more inwards. But uh yeah, I'm not I'm not sure if it really succeeds uh on answering those questions properly. But it gives you Yeah, it it gives a really loose sense of what's to come in an episode in terms of But I don't know, it's I mean it's so least in terms of talking being the key to better mental health, or do we need other people, it's like You know, how are you gonna answer in a less than thirty minute documentary piece I thought was quite funny. Um And I was also keen as a bit of a discussion. And perhaps to then get Adam's thoughts kicks off of this. Just what we thought about The progression. the show is had in terms of the the titles. So we initially heard it was going to be called Uh was it Well I I think there was a really vague, like Alan Partridge's British history. was uh working title then it and then that morphed into And did these feet and did those feet with Alan Partridge. Then becoming Um, Alan Partridge, how are you? And then with the slight progression to how are you bits, Alan, brackets, partridge. Like I one it's just really interesting. What you know, what shape what here has the Has the show evolved over time, which meant they've like been retitling it, or have they fixed on the title of the concept and then had to rework the show? And is that why maybe some of the The scenes seem to land better and feel more connected than others because I I wonder How much of this? show as a whole is on the cutting room floor. Like how much stuff didn't make it. And just kind of the the evolution of what this show is compared to what we were told it was gonna be a few years ago, I think is really interesting because it's been through so many different iterations. I'd be fascinated to what it began life as to w what we've just been watching. Um yeah, I think we're dangerously close to a group consensus on this one. Um I think that perhaps this has been a bit of a victim of T V formatting. in that six times thirty minutes is a sort of typical c series order for comedy. Um, but I think this would have worked as an excellent three times forty five minute um series. Of course, that isn't necessarily the space that the BBC has. Um and I feel like there is definitely an element of this has been written to fill the space it's been given rather than it's been written to fill the length that serves the character. Um And I think we as a result, we've then we've mentioned before, we get lots of sort of oddities or curious scenes where It's sort of scene building, world building rather than out and out humour. Um and I think we had similar thoughts about some of his other recent projects as well. At least one of the books and of the Oast House series. There's a sense that it's partridge made to order, even if the amount of content doesn't always serve The character all the story. It's kind of, you know, Audible needs ten episodes and they have to be X minutes long, you know, the book has to be eighty thousand words, BBC wants six half hours. And so as a result, you've got partition that's sometimes stretched a bit thin. Um Do there's a lot a lot to love about this though. I do love the idea that Alan, if you think about it, has suffered and has gone through enough and has previously been through enough to warrant a proper investigation and going over of his mental health. Like he could have actually learned and growed over this process. But The show the show and Alan's crises sort of exist in parallel paths that barely ever meet. So there's sort of a nice meta commentary as well. I think, you know, obviously like mental health was a hot topic, you know, particularly about 10 years ago, and he's very late to the party. But it's almost like the whole series is a bit of a commentary on people who are now talking about mental health to further their own careers rather than to actually like instigate and change or even change themselves. Um I think inevitably Lynn and Alan's interplay is the highlight and it's great to interplay so much of that. Um I think as well, like I've I mentioned that that they're kind of bound by by the the series order and how many, you know, minutes they've got to create. I think they also do whether they like this or not, they do tend to box themselves into a bit of a corner in terms of The format so A lot of people's favourite partridge is Ireland Partridge, and you can understand why, because it's one of the few areas where you get to see him behind the scene. You're seeing the Alan that he doesn't show anybody, which is, you know more extreme and perhaps funnier than than his sort of public face. When you've got something like this time or or or this, There obviously There's so there's some things you can't do inside the confines of a T V show and and the sort of immediate backstage antics. And there are things that you can't do in a series that is supposedly made by and put out by Alan himself. And so I think it's great that they do work with you know, they challenge themselves and they put those barriers around what they're able to do. But I also think it does sometimes restrict some of the humour. And it might be funny just for once. to see Alan as he wouldn't want you to see him and go back to that I'm Alan Partridge style, you know, seeing him in all aspects of his life rather than it being through the prism of what he wants to present. I think that would be interesting. Um, just in terms of like new characters and stuff, I think Katrina was great and well cast, but doesn't sort of add to the narrative in the way that, say, Jenny Gresham did or even Angela. I think they had a bit more to contribute than just being sort of kind of vain, slightly nasty people. Um highlight of the series, if I had to pick a moment, it's probably the Lyntav. I really enjoy that. I enjoy the the power dynamic. I think it's y you have all the fun of Alan praying on Lynn and then you have all the fun of Lyn fighting back. You really get the best of both worlds. Overall there is a series. I think it's an exceptional hundred and thirty or so minutes. It's just a shame that that's spread over a three hundred minute series. I think I've kinda been making notes as we got along based on the things that have just come This feels a little bit similar to what happened to to your to what you spoke about, Tom, in terms of the evolution of what this show was gonna be and what it was called, et cetera. Feels eerily similar to Strap. in the sense of like that was first like this live show's coming, it's about a sort of like a fractured Britain and, you know, it felt like you may be leaning into sort of, you know, the political divide or, you know, s some kind of sort of more socially uh looking toward towards like sort of social issues and maybe a a bit of a political leaning. And then by the time the show actually came to stage, it was n it was really nothing like that. So, you know, what happened in that process to go from what was announced to what ended up being on stage. What what happened it's kind of similar to this. They announced the show it's called And Did These Ste feet and then There was a long time between that announcement and like confirmation that the show was like there were there were uh there was a couple of news articles featuring uh images of the show being filmed and at that point it was still and did these feet. And then a lot of time with a lot of silence and us not knowing what was going on, and then suddenly bang Uh it's the picture of him outside the airport with the suitcase saying he's come back from Saudi Arabia. Um but then I don't think there was a title mentioned and then suddenly, you know, a a few months later it was Um How are you? It's Alan Brackett's Partridge. So, you know, there's uh it's quite interesting and like you say, be fascinated to know I mean, we have absolutely no insider knowledge on on the writing process or anything like that. So you know, is this something that is, you know, they've suddenly realised they've boxed themselves into a corner and they have to pivot because what they've written isn't necessarily like working for the title that they've announced, or Um are they just, you know? Peter Batem in the back of a car, writing it fairly last minute and kind of retroactively. fitting it into a narrative because it doesn't feel like There's so much Uh uh you know, it it's mental health it's c maybe, you know, part of it could be just that's the joke. Alan doesn't learn anything, there's not really anything substantial to it. But then Like you said, Adam, Alan's had his mental health crises in the past, so why not mention driving to Dundee in your bare feet and having a bit of a mental breakdown? You know, BBC have the rights to that footage. I know it probably wouldn't work in the in the con in the conceit of it being a documentary, and obviously I Malin Party Series Two wasn't a documentary, so maybe it wouldn't work throwing to that. But you know, it was your series, you can mention it, and may you know or, you know, smashing up cereal boxes. You know, there are moments of mental health issues in Alan's past. So it's not why wouldn't you Maybe mention that. And just lastly. On Uh, Adam, your point, you know, obviously this is a partridge controlled project, so obviously it's gonna shine him in a good light. So that's maybe why he doesn't mention those things. But also It's a p it's a pear tree production, so it's obviously gonna be a bit crap. What actually could be better within a documentary format of like showing the Allen that people don't he doesn't want you to see. Is someone making a documentary about him? Like he's a fallen BBC sort of prime time chat show host to as you know gone through so many different sort of versions of himself. Arguably is that a bit like, you know, not quite the same as someone making a doctr documentary about Noel Edmonds, but like should someone be wanting to make a documentary about him that is kind of waltz and all that he doesn't have control of. So you do see that other side, which could lead to, you know, some really, really funny moments. Admittedly, at this point I'm just giving the Gibbons um creative ideas, but um we'll see if that happens. Ha ha. I I think it's really interesting, to uh just looking back through some some articles, some kind of At the beginning of twenty twenty four, when they were still talking about So baby cow we're still calling it And did Did those feet with Alan Partridge. And the con the the the pitching in any a few like kind of industry articles and like an article in The Guardian is still about Alan returning and in reintegrating into UK life after a year working in Saudi Arabia. And uh You know, that whole thing which You're led to believe is like the entire series premise. Essentially became One One section of one episode. Like one three minute segment of an episode. referencing his work in Saudi Arabia. So Yeah, I just think it's fascinating what has evolved and changed over that over that idea. And I also think maybe there's something quite clever in terms of the way they make it. For example, you think, Well if it's gonna if it was originally gonna be when they were filming it was gonna be a thing about British history. Maybe the episode in the peak district is like well They could totally change what voiceovers they're gonna put on the footage they've got there and things like that. So I really wonder what You know, if they were filming this like Two years ago now. what they filmed then and then what they actually modified just in the edit to make it fit what the what the show became. Um Yeah, I mean of w we'll probably never know. But I did think as well, when we were wrapping up uh last week's ep talking about episode six. I think perhaps Something which is just quite interesting just in terms of the series that the series that can see overall is The way the end of series uh the way the end of episode Wraps up. It's kind of like He's still selling the series? So, you know, in the in the APU I wonder if actually The show has been filmed, but he doesn't actually have a broadcast partner? So narratively there's the thing about he actually isn't back on the BBC. He's gone and made this Pear Pear Tree Productions six part documentary and is still actually trying to find a broadcaster to buy it. One more thing about maybe they had to pivot what the show was about. They obviously did have to pivot in some way, shape, or form. And you know There was I forget which episode episode it was where Steve at slash Alan was talking in front of a bookcase and we speculated is that actually Steve's because there's a book about Brighton, there was a few sort of like industry sort of stuff. So Uh, Steve's filming availability would be quite diminished because he was obvious probably working on other projects. They were like, Okay, well we're gonna have to come and do it at your house then rather than you be we'll come to you rather than you but you know, take a day you know, coming up to London or whatever, 'cause he had to be somewhere else as like. So I wonder if little things like that throughout the show are little clues that there had to be some like extra filming. um in order to tie this together in in in terms of narrative. And that was one of the solutions that, you know, they the filming crew will just come to him and film in front of his bookcase. Um I wonder if there no I can't think of any others that spring to mind, but I do wonder if there if there are others. I I will give one other location uh tit that I noted uh across this series as well. Um Yeah, I think in the first episode I was convinced this was the same Oost House That they'd used for all the The um the audible adverts that they you know, the video the video adverts that they put on YouTube and on audible socials and stuff. Uh and there was one in particular from a couple of years back where there's Alan and Lynn in the kitchen using an Alexa or something like that. And it look so, so similar. Having double checked this, I can confirm. The Oast House in this series is a different Oast House to what we've seen visually before. Um the yeah, the the the external windows and stuff are are different, but uh Yeah, so you know, that's sort of the thing. Most houses must be in uh high demand. They couldn't get the same one again. Also, what I will say about the Oast House that they are in this type like externally Whoever was like the the location uh put in charge of the locations absolutely nailed that because it's like It must be so difficult to one find an oast house, two find one that allows sort of like filming outside and also has a nice big house next to it that could logically be Uh Katrina's um at house as well. So 'cause the the Oast house in that was used for the promo for um from the Oast House was quite detached, wasn't it? It was quite isolated, it was like green there was like a lot of greenery around it around it, whereas this seems quite um residential. Um from what I remember. But yeah, the the the the the location seems to be absolutely perfect. Yeah, and it's interesting how that's morphed throughout the Ace Tower series as well. kind of the detail about it being in a cul de sac I don't think was something we were given In the first one or maybe even two series, it felt like it was a lot more on its own in a rural location. And then when they needed to bring in like more neighbours and more characters in, it's that in a cul de sac. So there we go. That's a good uh half an hour of our thoughts about uh how are you, the series, but due to the unique way that this podcast is funded, uh, to educate, inform and entertain, we also must give some air time to your thoughts. So um to kick us off uh with some insider information, uh it's Tom Dark. Yeah, so let's kick off with this. This this is very exciting. Um Hi Monkey Tennis Crate. Please keep me anonymous. No Domingo in little locally business here, please. Uh, since you're covering How Are You, I thought you'd appreciate a few insider tip bits. The main one is that much like the email to all BBC staff for the this time series one. Alan released a video message by the BBC internal aerial platform. also aimed at BBC staff. As far as I know, this hasn't leaked. A little difficult with it being an embedded clip. The general gist is that Alan thanks BBC Staff for their hard work with a few sarcastic digs at the BBC's output. Before going on to talk about freedom of speech and being censored when veering towards the sorts on girls. There was a minor uh and then it moves on to it. Um Another uh couple other points. There was a minor SEO issue with some search engines displaying the show's name as I'm Still Alan Partridge in result previews. This was never considered as a title the show, as far as I know. My best guess is that it was a weird AI hallucination. It's never been explained. Uh, you may also have seen this already, but we also had Steve Cooking send an in character Alan message to Vernon K's radio two show. to promote how are you. Worth checking out. I think it's been clipped and uploaded to YouTube. The provided synopsis for the show lent heavily on the Alan returning from Saudi Arabia element of the show and quite vague. Updates mentioning the mental health theme were only issued quite close to TX. Uh the T X meaning broadcast dates. The It's Alan Partridge was also a relatively late addition to the title, with partridge brackets being even later. And then one one final uh tidbit here. Cakes Alan's face on from Alan were sent to various celebrities with a cynical note about how cost effective they were marketing wise, as the recipients were popular with how I use target demographic and the cakes were very cheap. I think Alice Jones and Dem O'Leary posted Instagram stories of their cakes. So that is from an unnamed listener, but that's uh That's some really interesting stuff there. And funnily enough, some of that stuff we've been talking about The last minute cycle changes and things. I think uh yeah, a huge amount of insider intel there, really useful. Um, I thought it was interesting that that I'm still Alan Alan Partridge turned up uh by mistake. Obviously that's not one of the many titles we've talked about for this show. And potentially that's quite a damaging title to have out there because it does imply that it's a sequel of sorts to Lan and Partridge, which probably would lead to some disappointment when you see what the series actually is. Okay, moving on. Um we've had some uh short, sharp feedback I'm gonna uh gonna describe this as. Um the first one is from um Mike Olson, um and he's he's talking about um Alan dressing as Rupert the Bear. He says, Hi, as a people, we Americans don't know who Rupert the Bear is. Yours, etc, Mike. Uh, of that. Basically just uh a nod to the fact that Rupert the Bear's demographic is probably quite high in Britain, although I'd argue not that big with younger people, maybe, but he's certainly not on sort of Paddington levels of notoriety, is he? I mean, I would say most of partridge output is kind of not very USA friendly. Um you know, there's quite a few references, you know, are Americans gonna know what Dixon's is, for example? Um probably not. So um Yeah. Yeah. Americans get in touch. Do you know what Dixon's is? Uh next we've had an email from Brad Winder. Uh he's not American. Um and he's uh emailed uh about the jet suit um that we see in uh how are you? Uh and he writes, uh agree, re Steve, not flying the jet suit. If you notice as the staff member walks past the camera, Alan's brackets loud trousers uh change. Um so we discuss this in Episode uh hundred and sixty five Monkey Tays. Um yours from a Danl Danlish shit, easy for me to say, uh Brad. Um so yes, we we did talk about this, the fact that we were like, Oh, is it Steve? Is it not Steve? And actually if you pay close attention, it's very much not Steve, but um yeah. Thanks for the email, Brad. think what what's really blowing my mind there because I I remember watching that backwards and forwards And figuring out I think where the cut happens, like he talks about the staff member walking past the camera. And I think they're just kind of green screen behind him. But I have not clocked his trousers changing. That is astonishing. Loud trousers. Loud trousers. Trous. And uh next, um this is from Darren Evans uh referencing uh Zusan. Uh just a quick point on the Zusan Susan uh chat. Uh you didn't mention the fact that Alan accused Susan of being a robot in I'm Alan Partridge. Zuzan might have dark hair, but it's possible Alan had the blonde bastard from the future in mind when he named her. Uh I I love that people really, really kind of uh pulling on two things to to make that work. But that is good knowledge, well remembered, and a great email. So thank you, Darren. Finally, I don't think there's an award for this, but if there was an award for um email contributor of the episode, it would be this, and this is from Bonk. On Spotify. Uh say thank you, Bonk. Thank you, Bonk. Lovely Bonk. Lovely bonk. Mr. Bonk. And Bonk Bonk writes. Bonk writes. In regards to Alan's uncharacteristically brackets, at least historically, close brackets, mispronunciations and waddling of merds. I love that bonk. I love what you've done there. I think that's really good. Uh he writes, have you discussed brackets? Um maybe you have, but I've forgotten close brackets. The theory that he's developing any mental problems, e g your dementias, your Alzheimer's, etc. His diet over the years, brackets, copious amounts of meat, Monday is mince day, close brackets, really would link to those. Uh maybe it's their way of starting to end. Uh brackets need a nicer word. Ideally, close brackets him. Finish. Um yeah. I love everything about that uh email. Um I really, really do. It's a it's a good theory as well that um possibly they're looking for an exit ramp. Um what do we think about Bulk's hot take? Just quickly. I like much like you, Nick, I love everything about especially waddling of Myrds. I I don't like the fact that if they're thinking of so you know, closing off the Alan character, let's have him get dementia. Yeah, yeah. It's probably a mistake, isn't it? Yeah. Feels like a slightly tragic end. I think it's more just yeah, he's just muddling his words because he's just that kind of guy. But um yeah, I appreciate the sentiment and also the commitment to using as many brackets as possible in your uh your conversation with us. Thanks, Bonk. Uh, over to me. I'm just gonna open quickly with probably our fate our most favorite comment on uh on Spotify, uh that was left by Pepe Gomez, who says, Love partridge, but you guys are so wet it's unbelievable. Downs and industry suck ups. Now, what I will say about that is that yeah, we are wet. Of course we are. Um but also I wouldn't say we're industry suck ups. If anything, we are probably, you know, more critical of partridge than than most people. I wouldn't say we were suck ups, but yeah, I mean, obviously we are wet. I'd also say this message came in as a comment on Spotify and a cursory look at Pepe Gomez's playlist reveal that they are certainly dripping themselves. So it's a bit of a case of the The soggy pots calling the damp kettle wet. Moving on, uh uh Andrew Loc uh Locky, sorry, got in touch uh via email and says I wonder if anyone has noticed the remarkable similarities between Alan Partridge uh sorry, Alan's How Are You epis uh episode four, uh Stick Cam Jaunt across the Derbyshire Peak District, and Alistair Campbell's similarly selfie pole enabled Winter walks through the Yorkshire Dales on BBC I player from twenty twenty one, which is still available. I haven't watched it because I hate Alistair Campbell. Uh that's me, by the way, not Andrew. Uh, and to quote Alistair in the show, I'm somebody with quite a big ego, and also when I'm in a bad way and get into a de tr I get into a depressive spiral, it's textbook partridge. Even the cartography graphics on both epis episodes had a similar hand drawn vibe to them. Coincidence? Possibly not, but the character similarities really did have me laughing. Andrew included some screen grabs from uh the Alister Campbell uh show in question and uh I mean, they're very nice. They're very nice drawings. Um but yeah, I can s I can see the similarities, but also You know, uh Steve is a uh staunch labourite, but I'm not quite sure about his uh feelings on uh Alistair Campbell. So there may be some uh some some coincidence, but um They're very uh very nice drawings. Just put lovely drawings. Uh yeah, I I think I think that there's basically um there's a similar show on more four that I quite enjoy, which is um pub perfect pub walks, I think it's called. And there's a lot of these Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's also uh documentaries on Quicksand. Um but this this kind of like f format uh of kind of animated animated maps of men sort of bobbing around uh is quite is quite familiar, but I still think great shout, uh Andrew, uh Pulling out something so recent and so spot on. Yeah. I think yeah, looking at them and knowing that it's Alistair Campbell, I think this is probably something that Coogan has drawn from. Um although I would take issue with calling him a staunch Laborite these days. I think he's a slightly changed position just the right not to not to misrepresent his political leanings in uh The year of our law twenty twenty six. Guys. Uh now talk now talking about episode three, a prolific commenter is our bonk. Um he says with the pub and cafe scene and you now finding it funny, I don't think every scene needs to be funny. They both build their own tension, which is classic, Alan. And some will obviously find that alone funny. Not every scene needs to be funny. It can just be more classic tropes of that character and reinforcement of their characteristics and telling us that they're still like that. They're now like that. Calm down with a requirement for constant comedy payoffs. Calm down. Calm down. Hey? Hey? Hey? Um Yeah. I mean I I take that point. I I don't think um I don't think we're saying every scene has to be hilarious, but I think I would say maybe there are episodes where some forty percent, fifty percent of the scenes are this sort of slightly vague world building mild humour rather than having any sort of big payoff, and I d I think that's too high a proportion. I would say excellent point bonk. Um W one disappointment with this uh uh with with this comment is that he seems to have used his bracket quota on the previous comment and because there are zero brackets on this one. Uh please try and improve that for your next comment, Bonk. Uh moving on, Drew Cameron got in touch uh on email with reference to episode four. He said, I really enjoyed How Are You a lot. Great addition to the ever expanding APU and most importantly, I just found myself giggling throughout multiple viewings. I did have one odd observation slash confusion though. I'm a big fan of Josh Pugh's stand up and was delighted to see him pop up in episode four as the Jesus liking bat lover. As a quick aside, Josh Pugh is a mate of Tim Key. I happen to know this as about three years ago I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself sitting next to Tim Key in the audience of Josh Pugh's Edinburgh Fringe show. He kindly indulged me in some chat before the show started, and said of Josh Pew, yeah, he's a mate of mine. Anyway, the Batman scene in How are You ends with Josh Pugh saying the injured's bat name bat's name is Kieran. Then when Alan asks him what his name is, he also says Kieran. But in the credits, the character is listed as Mark. So, have I missed something obvious? Or is this another case of the creators not having to pay much attention to details because the show is made by Pear Tree, therefore it's okay for lots of things to just be vaguely rubbish. Though even this doesn't satisfactorily cover it because the wrong character name appears in the real credits next to Steve Coogan and the other actual people who created the show. Just another classic partridge continuity bomb, I suppose, Dull Observation concluded. Alrighty, thanks for keeping up the quality work on the podcast. I feel it has true belf benefits for the listening community. Um Yeah, thanks, Dre. That one is a mystery to me as well. It seems like it's too big an oversight, an actual like, you know, a speaking character's name. to have to be to have been gotten wrong. Um Could it be a genuine mistake or is there something we're not seeing here? I wonder. With that character was it? I guess we'll never know. I'm trying to remember now. Did he say the bat had the same name as him? So yes. Yeah. Yeah. His name isn't really Karen and he's just being weird for some reason. I don't know. Doesn't really uh it's hard to really or misunderstands what Alan is asking. Um okay, should we move on to some uh some lin? How about the how's this for a time for an email? Benfield Tauntings. I did wonder whether that's a tiebone is supposed to be hauntings, but uh let's see. So this is an ebo from Dan Buttress. Dan writes, Hello gents, after your mentioning of the Benfield files in a recent episode. I thought there might be some mileage in creating something with the above title. A play on the late seventies Enfield poltergeist hauntings. So yeah, just to reiterate. The email was called Benfield Tauntings, but perhaps it means Benfield Hauntings. This could potentially delve into when Lynn has either placed him has all been a co mocky towards Alan. or on more subtle occasions where she's been more passive aggressive towards her employer. Clin rises. For Richard in such a montage. Loving it work. I think that could be quite a lot of fun. What do you guys reckon? I think uh long term listeners of the podcast will know that um our producer Jed is very involved in the uh the horror scene. uh as the uh producer of uh the lockdown hit horror Uh Zoom based comedy host. Um I think. Also Zoom based comedy. Zoom based. I haven't seen it. Um Zoom based horror. Sorry, I do apologize, Jed. But also it's just like it feels like Jed could be the person to mock up this as a treatment. Have you guys seen You get people recut like film trailers and put different music. So I think the famous one is like Mrs. Doubtfire like it's a horror. Like Mrs. Doubtfire is stalking the family and stuff like that. The sh the shining's a comedy. So I think it could I I think something that could really work. And you know, kinda like Lynn just Kind of We'd have more aggressive moments. Choose the right music and I think you're away for for some kind of Dark Lyn hauntings type film. Yeah. There's uh there's that clip in um Uh there's that bit in this time, isn't it? Where it's uh Was it uh have no fear, little one. I'm here to protect this. Yes. And it's like yeah, Lady e evil Lin, dark Lin. Yeah, and I I think that would be like that would be like the main bit of dialogue on it probably. Everything else would probably be slightly sound effects and stuff. Uh, I think that calls for uh a ring of the commission bell, please. And this actually talking about the I I think the idea with something like this is all about change of use of music and how that changed the mood. This links us perfectly to our next email from Joseph Rogers in our discussion where he's joining our discussion about the use of Coldplay Fix You. Joseph writes Hi guys, I was listening to your episode regarding the episode of How Are You when Alan does up someone's house and uses the cliched fix you music underneath. It reminded me. uh of an Adam and Joe XFM episode where Adam creates his own redesign show and places a song Underneath it. Then Adam and Joy go on to make their listeners call in and read innocuous things and play the song underneath it to make the words feel more powerful. Uh love the show. Can't wait to hear you guys discuss from the S House series four. Um so yeah. Same idea basically, just th how much the use of certain music can really create an influence, a feeling and a tone and emotion to what you're watching. Uh, Jason's email's also jogged my memory. Um, he says it reminds me of the Adam and Joe X F M episode. This email has reminded me that Adam and Joe in the original uh series of the Adam and Joe show also did a sort of piss take um like room renovation. um called A Room for Change. I don't know if anyone will remember this, but Keen Adam and Joe viewers of the uh the early or the late nineties I think would have seen them do a sort of pastiche where they basically ruined someone's front room beyond all repair and like made a made a mirror out of old CDs and like through a load of broken shells in a disused fireplace and then we're like, Here's your room for change And actually, now I think about it, it's very similar to what happens with Alan in this series of How Are You? Okay, moving on. Um we've had an email in from John Collins. Um this is on uh how are you uh feedback. Um and he writes in anticipation And he writes, in anticipation of a future feedback episode, I wanted to share a few thoughts on how are you? It's Alan Partridge. I have to disclose I'm only four of the six episodes in, great. Uh and it's possible it could all go downhill by the end of it, but I Ruddy well loved it. Uh I was really prepared to be disappointed. I didn't love this time, and Stratagem was that word I'm not allowed to say in front of ladies anymore. Oh what's the word? Anyway. Add that to the frankly confused messaging around the series. Uh it seemed to be at least three different types of show during uh press releases, um, and I really feared the worst. But I really liked it. It sits very snugly within the Oast House world, and I rather like the fact that though I'm sure you could watch it um with no knowledge of the Oast House podcast. Um, for us Fops, I feel as if it was well ahead of the game. Uh we saw the Ost House, we saw and heard Katrina, uh, we saw the chaps at the Rackets Club, and we saw Alan Puncing around Norwich, uh dressed as Rupert the Bear, and gave me a rather smug feeling of being uh head of the casuals, which I'm afraid I rather liked. Um this surpassed my expectation and how are you nestles for me in the mid to upper rankings of my favourite. Partridge. Uh, I would make a football simile here and compare the show to Bournemouth or Crystal Palace, only one of you would understand uh that. Brackett's disgusted face. He's quite right. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about, John Borg. Yeah. Uh genuinely love the pod, thanks for running that word. And thank you for it. Cheers, John. Um love that. Uh a nice little uh uh summary of uh John's feelings on the show. Very good. Um we've had Morphe back in. This one is from Matthew Smalley and he says, Hi Monkey Tennis, huge fan. You've been my top background noise for years. Is that good? That is good, isn't it? That is good. Not my background noise. Yeah. Um yeah, so I'll repeat that, huge fan, um happy for he is um enjoying your background. Uh I quite enjoyed How Are You, but I wonder if you agree with one point about the ending. I was genuinely surprised to see Alan back with Katrina, and I think it makes the ending Dark. The way we see her treat him in the relationship is genuinely awful and arguably abusive, and when they split up, I was thinking Don't worry, Ellen, you're well out of it. Uh to see him back with a at the end of the epis at the end of episode six is actually really sad. Um I know Alan always has a bit of a sad ending and can never totally win, and the joke here is that he hasn't developed as a person or moved on at all by the end of the series, uh despite the supposed mental health kick. I thought maybe this is a bit much. I wasn't sure what to make of it. So yeah, just wondered what you think. Um well since since he's asked, any anyone got any thoughts on on that? Yeah, I mean I'd agree that it is It is a bit sad, but I think they've had to do it to queue up future narratives, I think. they realise they're onto a relatively good thing with Katrina and it's a dynamic that Alan's not been in before where he's sort of You know, he's quite uh under the thumb. Um, so I think they probably feel like there's too much mileage in it to have the relationship end. Yeah, I mean I mean, I would agree that I think the way Matthew argues the case here Um You know, it's it's it's a really w well read email and I I think he has a point that it is Because Do you think There is a bit of emotional gravitas in in in a very comic but also dark way when you see those interactions with Alan and Katrina throughout the series and How kind of dismissive She is of him and think I talked about, you know, there there's literally a thirty second scene. in the kitchen when she's there with her friends just like Ignoring him and then laughing at me. It's just like it communicates so much about the dynamic of the relationship in with like so few kind of words and actions and stuff. But I think Yeah, it's kind of like you don't want an Alan series to end with Alan being a complete winner, basically. I think You all he always has to be slightly on the downward slope. Um 'cause he has had a few wins across this series. And and in the same way that we um over things like this time. He has a few wins there, but then The way that show ended overall. Is with Alan kind of At C should be say. So I think I really see the point Matthew's making, but I feel it would be It'd be two Too positive and a bit too clean for Alan to have just kind of like moved on. It feel it feels very true to the character. that it has been drawn back into this. borderline abusive relationship that is clearly not a good thing for him. Right, it's time for some poll results. Uh we ran two in our first two episodes of the series. Um I'm gonna go through the results now. Uh in episode one we asked which item of clothing do you put on first when getting dressed? Now I think What makes sense here is that there was an overwhelming winner, which was of course Pants on first, which on Twitter was eighty nine point five percent. And on Instagram seventy eight percent. The thing the real key thing that I want to pull out from these results. Is that on Twitter, uh, it was uh four point eight percent, and on Instagram it was seven percent of people who put bottoms on before pants. So there is a substantial amount of our audience who are going commando on the regular. Just superhero and perverts on in that vote. Who's also putting socks on? That that is such an I think if you look at yourself in the mirror, you'll conclude that you look ridiculous. Have a think. Think on Uh, and in episode two we asked who of this four would you most like to receive a cameo from? And the options were Alistair Green, Big John. Wagner from X Factor or John Thompson as uh Max uh as Joe Beasley with Cheeky Monkey. Now I uh I don't think any of us would be surprised with the result is that a majority of people, uh 54.5% on Twitter and 50% on Instagram, went with John Thomson in character as Joe Beasy with Cheeky Monkey. But uh as a big John fan, it's lovely to see that he got 11.4%. on Twitter and nineteen percent on Instagram. BASH! I would say looking at this as well, it's in descending order of how much time they've spent in the APU or how likely they'd be to appear. So you've got John Thompson at the front, then Alistair Green, he's been in it a bit, then you've got Big John who maybe has an outsider's chance of making a cameo, then you got Wagner from X Factor, he frankly can get to fuck. Um I d I do wonder if if so I'd like to say, just to repeat on Instagram uh uh sorry, on Twitter it was eleven point four percent for Big John. On Instagram it was nineteen percent, but I do wonder if that was skewed by the fact that the background image that I used for that poll was a picture of Big John. I think that might have skewed it slightly, Tom, yeah. Yeah, this needs to go to VER. Right, moving away from how are you chat, but uh we've got a few uh exciting bits of uh uh uh uh of input from you guys about partridge in general. Um the first one coming from Ian Brown. He said uh this is titled And On That Bombshell he says Hi guys, I often re listen to all the partridge audios. I work my way through Nomad, but as always listen to your pod after. If you listen to episode eighty, chapters thirteen to sixteen, that's of of Monkey Tennis, and go to forty minutes and twenty four seconds, you will hear why Alan has to try stand up, but can't. I'm convinced that they, the writers, listen, and I feel they had we have to dash their plans. So um moving around. What I said in that episode that that Ian's referring to is I said um I think Alan could potentially make a semi decent, observational stand up comedian, and I thought could in a very meta way stand up be the next format that Alan attempts, or some sort of documentary where he tries his hand in little comedy clubs. And then Tom Dark said, The Gibbons have said, if fans can think of it, we won't do it. Well There's an example of the fans very much thinking of it and then them absolutely doing it. And and just to point out, that episode went out in November twenty nineteen. And the first reference of Alan saying gotta try stand up is in Oast House Series One, which was twenty twenty. So We can't rule it out. We certainly can't rule it out. I guess we'll never know, but if uh perhaps the Gibbons brothers would like to come on the podcast at any point and have a chat about where they get all their crazy ideas from, they'd be more than welcome. Uh moving on then, we have an email from Tim Oscroft. Uh Tim has been uh diving into the streaming services and catching up with his Steve Coogan. Back catalogue here. He writes, I thought I'd drop you a line as I stumbled across the man who thinks he's it on ITVX last night. Anyway, it's been a long time since I've seen it, but it holds up pretty well. The most alarming thing is seeing a young and heavily made up Steve in the backstage sequences. Also, Stan and Ollie, this is at the time of writing, is still on iPlayer for a few more days. I thought Steve was superbistan, and some of the facial expressions and physical gags he's done since, like the plant put sequence of the monks in this time, are Laurel esque. There can be no higher praise. Thanks, you blunt bastards. From the future. Thanks for that, Tim. Good to know that uh Yeah, you're getting all your viewing in order there. And then James Coglan uh has emailed. Subject title Dog's Dead. James writes, Heard your thoughts on the passing of Seldom and wanted to share my take. I think that art might be imitating life here a little. Don't know if you noticed, but the seldom dedication in Stratagem's interval. featured pictures of the dog both on and offset. In a fourth wall break there were shots taken with the dog's handler slash owner. So my read is that I R L, the dog passed away and the Gibbons chose to use the opportunity to write the character out at the same time. Obviously they could have used a different dog in future filming. So your ramblings about having mined all the comedy out of the character and killing him off are still valid. Of course, if Seldom is anything like Michael, he could be working as a creepier in New Orleans or maintaining a fleet of out of season peddlers in the soil. Uh I now I'm trying to think about the the photos used in Stratogem. I feel like some of those they used have just like wasn't there one of like big dog in a van, which is kind of a bit of a meme and stuff. I don't think they were all of the same dog, were they? That was used at that was used at Stratagem. It was the half it was the half time Half time, it was the interval image on screen. Yeah. So yeah, I mean we'll say I'm definitely not gonna go back and watch Straus Gym to double check this either. So we'll just go with whatever James is saying at this point. Um Nick, I think over to you for some more communication from Email Corner. Yes. And it's from Daniel Buttress on Seagull Offings. He writes, Hello, gentlemen. I was listening to the Tom Dark uh Victoria Station Seagull incident, which is hilarious. It's really, really good. Do dig that uh uh episode out where I talk about uh when the time uh the time when Tom Dark got covered in um Poo at Victoria Station. And then uh and then I saw Neil Morrissey. It was just a brilliant day. But we're not here to talk about that. You had to shower. I think you had to shower, Jackie Smith. Yeah. Well I thought it was just on your shoulder. We can't get bugged down on that. Uh well it's reminded Daniel of a story of a time that he went up the A twenty three from Brighton. I'm still thinking about it. Uh for Brighton on our way to Gillingham in Kent to watch a home game when Brighton shared a stadium with the Gills. Tom Stab, have I said that right, the Gills. It is the Gills. Jills. Okay, great. Jill Michael Jar. Okay. When um Bryson shared a stadium with the Jills seventy five miles away in the late nineties. Uh during the early part of the journey a seagull managed to send a message through the uh great slightly a char passenger window. And it hit one of my fellow supporters uh mainly on the club crest. After the inevitable joy this brought to an otherwise mundane, dutiful trip to the home game, we started thinking that this could bring us much needed luck. We lost four nil to Darlington. But as we worked for the match sponsor that day, we got to choose the Brighton man of the match. Between choosing the average defender and it being announced over the Tannoy brand name, he goes and scores an own goal. If we suffered this sort of luck with just the spraying of a badge, then poor Alan must have been in for hell with the mouth full of feathered. F Oh that was good. So uh are Jilling him also in the Premier League. How's that gone for the Jills? It should Brighton have gone one way, the jewels have gone the other. So actually it's quite in the long in the it's worked out. So we blown this shit wide open, literally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um right, I'm gonna move on to an email from Joe Soly, um who says Alan says that Jill is now a grey haired lollipop lady from Holt, and you said that it must be Jill from I'm Alan and Partridge Series One. If you remember, on the call in Mid Morning Matters her name is Judith. He calls her Jill by mistake. He panics and calls her the Rudith Judith. You're from old Jill. My name is Judith. Well you are the Rudith, Judith. Basically replaying replaying the bit there. Um I'm afraid your theory is bam wrong. Love the pod though, bye. This is great, basically, when people correct us on things that even we've forgotten. So keep coming in with your messages and do keep correcting us. And thank you, uh Joe, for pointing that out. Can I say though, I I do think it it is so hard to remember everything Totally correctly. Oh gosh, absolutely. Yeah, it's it's bloody difficult, you know. And next up we have an email from Tom Love who says hello, commuters with your computers. I have just clocked that the shirt Alan is wearing when interviewing uh Katrina Parfitt in the day to day is the exact shirt worn by Alan with the Chevron Action Flash. Brackets Lumbderspor. in Knowing Me, Knowing You. And he sent in two uh screen grabs. And I say I must say this is an incredible spot. And I would be really surprised if anyone else uh who is a fan of Partridge Ever spotted this, but You kinda have to zoom in on the uh the interview. Uh screenshot. But you can quite clearly see it's the same green colour and sort of white trim where the buttons are. um as the uh uh photo uh sorry, the screenshot of that he's provided of Alan uh in Paris wearing the uh Lom de Spur outfit. And yeah, like I said, that is an incredible spot because I I don't think anyone else has picked that out. fan base or I I do wonder even if the actual creators uh knew that or you know what the proximity was to those two pieces being filmed quite a few uh well, a few years apart. Um so yeah, excellent spot, Tom. Um And then next up we have an email from someone who I don't think it's their real name. They're called Rinker Stinker. And they write. Maybe they're like bunk. They write hello. I was rewrite. You're thinking about you. No, no, this email has already done me. I was re-watching both series of IMAM and Patrick this summer, and it occurred to me how much of it had sex jokes in. This led me to think, has there been a porn parody done yet? Mabel maybe anal porn fridge. I can't look that up as I'm at work. Thanks. Bye. I mean we're opening ourselves up to a flood of potential uh porn fide partriage on me at this point. W uh can I just say would not watch? Do you like that? Do you want me to move on to the other one? I also love the that co-starring Lynn Ballingfield. I just really love the the fact that They have this store. They're at work. They have to stop what they're doing at work. Send us his email and then go back to work. It was that. This has really set me off on a train of thought that I think might ruin the rest of this episode. I've already got uh mid moaning matters with side dick Simon. Too quick. Side side Dick Simon. Side Dick Simon. Come on, right, this is it. This is next round of feedback. Send us your y your sexy Alan names. Paul fucks digitally. Adam's nailing this. Yeah. Got a hat hard on. You come again. Uh and so that uh Rietus Exchange brings us to the end of your feedback, but thank you so much for getting in touch with us. We really do appreciate it. We read almost everything we're sent. Um you can get in touch uh Instagram at Monkey Tennis Pod, uh X or Twitter at the Partridge Pod, Facebook.com slash the partridge pod. You can email the partridge pod at gmail.com. You can certainly follow or subscribe us. You can give us five out of five on Spotify. Tell a friend, throw us some money at K Fi.com slash monkey tennis, or just share an episode. Every little helps. Um that is the end of the current series, the seventeenth series, if you can believe it, of monkey tennis. Uh, we'll be back later in the year where we'll be giving our thoughts around Oast House Series four. Uh, thanks to those of you that have chased us uh for that. We're on it, we promise. Um in other semi exciting news, Monkey Tennis itself is gonna turn ten at the end of April. It's our tenth anniversary, believe it or not, since we all first gathered round a picnic table in uh London's lower east side, uh and uh and banged out the first episode of Monkey Tennis all those years ago. So I'm sure we'll do something special to mark the occasion and we'll let you know nearer the time what that might be. Um but for now from all of us at Monkey Tennis, the Alan Partridge fan podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time. Goodbye. I feel like something with big beacon, like big Big Bellant. I'm hopping, Matt, and I want something in the middle. Aha! Yep, yep, absolutely. Monkey tennis, bring, bring. There's a new chat in town. I have the last laugh. Damn! Monkey tennis. Love this my foot of the spine. With a chuckle. With a chuckle. Monkey tennis. Radical. Awesome. Mega. Tennis? Okay. Where's my assistant? I do not want to. Edwards is a total wazous guy. Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. It's harder than the sun! They said all the hell is back. This is great, Anthony. Monkey tennis, back of the net. The people who enjoy Alan Partridge will enjoy this podcast. People who've never got it still won't get it.