History Series / ImAlanPartridge

* CurseCutShort: Several examples in the space of the farmers' phone-in: "You ignorant cu.."

** In Episode 1 of the first season, Tony Hayers introduces Alan to Peter Linehan during their lunch, who is revamping the BBC's News and Current Affairs department - Alan gives a blithe, uncaring shrug. Cut to Episode 6 of the first season and Tony Hayers' funeral; Chris Feathers, having taken over Hayers' job, introduces Alan to Linehan again, citing him as 'having just revamped our News and Current Affairs'. Alan's reaction is ''entirely the same'', despite him actually joking and trying to cajole Tony Hayers into giving him a second series.

* {{Oireland}}: Alan dispelling his list of Irish stereotypes to the RTÉ executives has the opposite effect, compounded by making conversation about the Great Famine over breakfast.

-->"It's difficult to understand you when you say 'splidding' as I know in real life you say ''splitting''. It's interesting, the way you substitute a D for a T when you're broadcasting. If you ask me it's the behaviour of a ''dosser''."

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** In-universe example; When Alan is screeching about ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' having been taped over, he declares that he wanted ''"to see Roger Moore necking with Fiona Fullerton!"'' - which actually happens in ''Film/AViewToAKill''. Curious, given Alan is a huge fan of Film/JamesBond and Roger Moore in particular.
** He also thinks "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" is a song about how boring and depressing Sundays in general are, and not a song about the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry.

* CorruptHick: How Alan sees farmers.

** Sue Cook is mentioned to a lesser extent as another of Alan's celebrity friends. Cook, in reality, is inoffensive and mild-mannered, but in the Alan universe she becomes a foul-mouthed and abusive heavy smoker. (Cook sent a letter to Coogan after the series, apologising for her behaviour.

* CassandraTruth: Subverted. In "Never Say Alan Again," Dave Clifton informs Alan that he's planning to spend the weekend doing archery with Tony Hadley, lead singer of Music/SpandauBallet. Alan cannot hide his overwhelming jealousy, but still tries to cover it up by dismissing Dave's claim outright.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Series 2 is this, compared to Series 1. In the second series, Alan is still recovering from [[spoiler:the effects of a SugarWiki/{{Toblerone}} addiction he developed sometime after the events of Series 1, [[note]](This culminated in a complete nervous breakdown, in which Alan drove up to [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Dundee]] in his bare feet. Upon arriving, he bought himself some shoes, and saw ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' at a cinema.)[[/note]]]] and has a harder time keeping his temper and various neuroses under control.

* DiggingYourselfDeeper: In "Watership Alan", Alan is given an opportunity to get himself out of trouble after insulting Norfolk's farming community by offering a complete apology to a representative of the farming union, but his own pride and inability to accept fault or back down causes him to needlessly escalate the situation instead. This ultimately results in him getting a cow dropped on him.

** "A Room With An Alan" sets up the premise of the series, including Alan's dismal living situation in a single room in a travel tavern.

* MrFanservice: John the muscular builder.

* StalkerShrine: [[spoiler:Jed Maxwell, Alan's LoonyFan, has a whole room devoted to Alan Partridge memorabilia. Also ''David Copperfield'', though he is, as Alan points out, losing the battle for wall space.]]

** He's a blinkered hypocrite.[[note]]He snidely calls Joni Mitchell 'blinkered' for not acknowledging his pedantic point above, despite the fact that he's the one apparently completely ignoring or failing to spot the intended metaphor and lyric poetry in the song just to make a pedantic point that supports his political views.[[/note]]

* StalkerShrine: [[spoiler:Jed Maxwell, Alan's LoonyFan, has a whole room devoted to Alan Partridge memorabilia.]]

* In the final episode of series 1, Alan laments his current life at the Travel Tavern, complaining to Lynn that he's been living at the hotel for a hundred and eighty-two days. [[spoiler:Later in the same episode, Susan finally snaps and yells that she's had to put up with Alan's crap for a hundred and eighty-two days.]]

* LoonyFan: [[spoiler:Jed Maxwell, Alan's "biggest fan," has an [[StalkerShrine entire room covered in photos of him]], complete with a life-size mannequin. He also has a larger-than-life-size tattoo of Alan's face across his entire chest.]]

* AgonyOfTheFeet: [[spoiler:Happens in "The Colour of Alan," when Alan impales his foot on a very sharp piece of fencing.]]

* BreakTheCutie: After ''six months'' at the Linton Travel Tavern, Alan is finally ready to check out. On his last night as a guest, he throws a party in his room and invites the hotel staff. Susan, the warm and friendly receptionist, decides to tell Alan what she ''really'' thinks of him.
-->'''Susan:''' ''[shrieking]'' ''I'll tell you what my problem is! Having to listen to your crap for the last'' '''''six months!''''' ''You've been in this hotel for'' '''''a hundred and eighty-two days,''''' ''you little'' '''''shit!'''''

* In the final episode of series 1, Alan laments his current life at the Travel Tavern, complaining to Lynn that he's been living at the hotel for a hundred and eighty-two days. Later in the same episode, Susan finally snaps and yells that she's had to put up with Alan's crap for a hundred and eighty-two days.

** "Aha!" used on his radio show (carried over from ''Series/KnowingMeKnowingYouWithAlanPartridge'').

* DarkerAndEdgier: Series 2 is this, compared to Series 1. In the second series, Alan is still recovering from [[spoiler:the effects of a SugarWiki/{{Toblerone}} addiction he developed sometime after the events of Series 1. [[note]]This culminated in a complete nervous breakdown, in which Alan drove up to [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Dundee]] in his bare feet. Upon arriving, he bought himself some shoes, and saw ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' at a cinema.[[/note]]]] Alan is still affected by his ordeal during the second series, and has a harder time keeping his temper and various neuroses under control.

--> '''Sophie''': ''{{Beat}}'' Tits?

* WittyBanter: The on-air interactions between Alan and Dave aim for this. As they are two not-particularly-witty men who genuinely detest each other, the effect is somewhat lost.

* LoonyFan: Jed Maxwell, Alan's "biggest fan," has an [[StalkerShrine entire room covered in photos of him]], complete with a life-size mannequin. He also has a larger-than-life-size tattoo of Alan's face across his entire chest.
-->'''Jed:''' ''[proudly]'' It took fourteen hours! I fainted three times!

* BirdRun: Alan's attempt to flee from [[spoiler:his LoonyFan]] have to be seen to be believed.

* AgonyOfTheFeet:
-->"LYNN! I'VE PIERCED MY FOOT ON A SPIIIIIIKE!"

* BigWordShout: "DAN!"
* BirdRun: Alan's attempt to flee from his LoonyFan have to be seen to be believed

* AmbiguouslyBi: The only characters Alan develops crushes on or ends up being together with are women, but he has bizarre [[EroticDream daydreams]] in the first series, which ''all'' involve dancing for the producer who cancelled his series, and then there's his obsession with 'ladyboys'. He has displayed slight homophobic tendencies, however (describing himself as a homosceptic), but later becomes more tolerant in his attempts to be seen as politically correct.

** "Jurassic Park!"

** "Spiceworld!"

*** And on the valance! [[note]]The skirt thing round the side of the bed.[[/note]]

** While Alan is not above discussing revenge fantasies in an Apache Attack Helicopter with Michael, he becomes visibly worried when Michael discusses his fantasy in great detail.

-->'''Kate Fitzgerald''': ''(after describing her history with drugs)'' I notice you end almost every anecdote with the phrase "needless to say, I had the last laugh".

* LoonyFan: Jed Maxwell, Alan's "biggest fan," has an [[StalkerShrine entire room devoted to photos of him]], complete with a life-size mannequin. He also has a larger-than-life-size tattoo of Alan's face across his entire chest.

* MailOrderBride: Sonya, Alan's Ukrainian girlfriend. Also Michael's Thai wife who "didn't fit in with the culture in Newcastle", and left him to move to... Sunderland.

--> '''Susan''': Well, we thought it looked like "body".

--> '''Sophie''': Tits?

* StalkerShrine: Alan's LoonyFan has a whole room devoted to him.

* CelebrityLie: In Series 2, Alan inexplicably claims to know [[Music/{{U2}} Bono]] in order to impress Sonja. [[spoiler:Sonja immediately calls his bluff, and despite Lynn's heroic effort to help Alan save face, the entire deception is laughably amateurish.]]

* CelebrityLie: Alan claims to know [[Music/{{U2}} Bono]]. He is not saved by the actual Bono.

* CassandraTruth: Subverted. In "Never Say Alan Again," Dave Clifton informs Alan that he's planning to spend the weekend doing archery with a member of Music/SpandauBallet. Alan cannot hide his overwhelming envy, and tries to cover it up by dismissing Dave's claim.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Series 2 is this, compared to Series 1. [[spoiler:In the second series, Alan is still recovering from the effects of a SugarWiki/{{Toblerone}} addiction he developed sometime after the events of Series 1. [[note]]This culminated in a complete nervous breakdown, in which Alan drove up to [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Dundee]] in his bare feet. Upon arriving, he bought himself some shoes, and saw ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' at a cinema.[[/note]] Alan is still affected by his ordeal during the second series, and has a harder time keeping his temper and various neuroses under control.]]

->''"... Monkey Tennis?"''

* BreakTheCutie: Sweet and smiling hotel receptionist Susan on the night before Alan checks out:
--> I’LL TELL YOU WHAT MY PROBLEM IS! HAVING TO LISTEN TO YOUR CRAP FOR THE LAST SIX MONTHS! YOU'VE BEEN IN THIS HOTEL FOR A HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-TWO DAYS, YOU LITTLE SHIT!

* DarkerAndEdgier: Series 2 is this, compared to Series 1. [[spoiler:In the second series, Alan is still recovering from the effects of a SugarWiki/{{Toblerone}} addiction he developed sometime after the events of Series 1. [[note]]This resulted in a complete nervous breakdown, in which Alan drove up to [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Dundee]] in his bare feet. Upon arriving, he bought himself some shoes, and saw ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' at a cinema.[[/note]] Alan is still affected by his ordeal during the second series, and has a harder time keeping his temper and various neuroses under control.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Series 2 is this, compared to Series 1. [[spoiler:In the second series, Alan is still recovering from the effects of a SugarWiki/{{Toblerone}} addiction he developed sometime after the events of Series 1. (This resulted in a complete nervous breakdown, in which Alan drove up to [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Dundee]] in his bare feet. Upon arriving, he bought himself some shoes, and saw ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' at a cinema.) Alan is noticeably affected by the ordeal during the second series, and has a harder time keeping his temper and neuroses under control.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Series 2 is this, compared to Series 1. [[spoiler:In the second series, Alan is still recovering from the effects of a Toblerone addiction he developed sometime after the events of Series 1. (This resulted in a complete nervous breakdown, during which Alan drove up to [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Dundee]] in bare feet. Upon arriving, he bought himself some shoes, and saw ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' at a cinema.) Alan is still noticeably affected by the ordeal during the second series, and has a harder time keeping his temper and neuroses under control.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Whereas the previous seasons basically showed Alan's public persona as a hapless, dimwitted buffoon and were a lot more light-hearted and goofy, the fact that this episode was set in Alan's day-to-day life meant that it exposed more of Alan's personal failings, desperation and bitterness.

* {{Determinator}}: One of Alan's few virtues is on full display in "The Colour of Alan," where he insists on hosting a sales conference despite a badly-wounded (and still bleeding) foot. Alan decides to push through his presentation as best he can, and even dismisses Lynn's (very justified) urging to withdraw his commitment out of hand.