Back of the net! Partridge is back to his cringeworthy best

Chris Broom on How Are You? It's Alan

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In these troubled times, it's reassuring to see that fearless broadcasters like Alan Partridge have got their fingers on the nation's pulse and daring to go where others fear to investigate.

Norfolk's finest export (sorry Delia) has brought us a long overdue new six-part documentary, How Are You? It's Alan-Britain's first ever documentary mental health issues-in association with Flench and Son Tanning Salons.

It is of course the latest outing for comedian and actor Steve Coogan's most enduring alter ego. Since first appearing on the Radio 4 satirical news show On The Hour back in 1991 he's been through several TV series-first as the sports journalist who was part of The Day Today ensemble ("Eat my goal!") before graduating to his own talk show, Knowing Me, Knowing You With Alan Partridge ("Aha!") and I'm Alan Partridge ("Monkey tennis?") which dealt with the fallout of the chat show's disastrous demise.

Coogan put the character down for a while-which was probably best for all concerned-but you can't keep a good man down forever. Coogan teaming up with brothers Neil and Rob Gibbons on the writing front in 2010 breathed new life into Alan, and he's been on a role ever since.