This Time with Alan Partridge
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Hosts & Guest Hosts
Jennie
Jennie Gresham
Portrayed By: Susannah Fielding
Alan's co-host on This Time. A smooth, charming and professional young woman, Jennie is everything that a modern female television presenter should be, which naturally means that she can't stand Alan.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: We learn very little about Jennie when she's off-camera, but from what we see she's heavily implied to be this. In her first appearance, she's all charm to Alan's face but is quick to steal the off-camera jokes he makes which actually work, she snaps very quickly between on-camera smiles and charm to off-camera grumpiness, and it's implied that she's a bit of a two-faced prima donna behind the scenes.
- Hypocrite: She spends the entire episode memorialising John Baskell emphasizing both what a wonderful man he was and how close they were, but as soon as it's revealed that his personal life was quite unsavoury she instantly tries to distance herself from him.
- Male Gaze: Her primary function on This Time appears to be providing for this. One segment we see her making involves her wearing a leotard.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Frequently hinted at; Jennie's pretty and successful, but the trade-off is that she's a big target for lechery. Illustrated in episode two, wherein every male presenter (and potential presenter) that we see her working with pulls the same "cop a feel of her leg while pretending it's a chummy moment" move.
- Stepford Smiler: She's constantly kind of blandly cheerful whenever the show is on, and constantly has a big smile on her face. The smile begins to slip more frequently whenever Alan's screw-ups start to pile up, however.
John
John Baskell
Portrayed By: Peter Wight
The long-running host of This Time, and a broadcasting legend. John's sudden illness provides an unexpected opportunity for Alan to return to the BBC. It's quickly revealed, however, that away from the cameras he had plenty of secrets...
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In two key ways:
- Most prominently, his air of wholesomeness and charity work concealed a depraved sexual predator who used his charitable works to find, groom and prey on his victims.
- In a slightly less appalling sense, he was also clearly the kind of celebrity who made a big deal of appreciating his fans while clearly not caring about them in the least beyond what they could do for him. Notably, in the one photo seen of him interacting with Alan, he looks barely interested.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: John Baskell is clearly a stand-in for Jimmy Savile and a multitude of other once-well-respected male entertainment personalities who were revealed to be significantly less wholesome than they seemed in the wake of Operation Yewtree and the #MeToo movement.
- Evil Counterpart: To Alan. Say what you will about him, he's never been accused of doing some of the things that John apparently did.
- Fat Bastard: Not only a jerk, but also overweight as seen in his title sequence. Alan tries to contrast this in his title sequence by showing how active he is (including a slow-motion shot of him jumping over a log).
- Mirror Character: Of Alan. It is clearly suggested that both in personality and in talent, Alan and John were quite similar, with the only real differences being that John was better skilled at putting on a professional air of competence and that John was (or at least had more opportunities to become) more corrupt and deviant than Alan. Most notably illustrated through a list of his career highlights, which from the sounds of them were barely any better than the half-witted program ideas Alan keeps coming up with. They also both take an opportunity to grope Jennie's leg in a similar way.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Played with, since his death is only revealed in the second episode. The illness which leads to his death, however, creates the opening in the show that Alan fills, thus leading to the events of the series.
- Posthumous Character: We only ever see him in footage used after his death.
- Smarmy Host: Although much better at hiding his smarminess than Alan, it still clearly seeped out. Tellingly, a shot of him presenting the show with Jennie features him groping her leg in a similar fashion to Alan.
- Un-person: Is not mentioned on the show again once the truth about his unsavoury nature has been exposed, with Alan replacing him on the title sequence.
Sam
Sam Chatwin
Portrayed By: Simon Farnaby
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Although he presents a charming facade, he's obviously an ambitious manipulator out to steal Alan's job right out from under him. It's also perhaps a little telling that when Alan asks if he can say for certain that the allegations about Baskell are false, he clams up.
- Expy: Of Dan Snow, a television historian whose career may or may not be owed to his fahter, legendary BBC journalist Peter Snow.
- Hypocrite: He spends an entire episode of This Time boasting about his close personal friendship with the late John Baskell, but when revelations about Baskell's sexual misconduct emerge before the episode's end he quickly and clumsily tries to distance himself.
- May–December Romance: He clearly wants one of these with Jennie, who's substantially younger than him.
- Nepotism: It's pretty clear he's where he is largely due to his father having been the Head of Factual Programming at the BBC.
- Smarmy Host: Although better at fooling audiences than Alan, he's no more sincere.
Other Staff
Ruth
Ruth Duggan
Portrayed By: Lolly Adefope
The roving reporter for This Time, often seen via live cam. Alan once spilled shandy on her at a behind-the-scenes function at the BBC, and she hasn't forgotten it.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: We only ever see her on-air, where she is effortlessly charming and pleasant — even when clearly trying to undermine Alan.
- Commander Contrarian: She appears to be devoted to contradicting every single thing Alan says or every question he asks her, even when it's perfectly reasonable. This even extends to when he comments that she must be happy about getting engaged.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Her deeply-held grudge against Alan stems from him spilling shandy on her once. Of course, that's Alan's story.
Tiff
Tiff
Portrayed By: Natasia Demetriou
- The Gadfly: She might like Alan, but that doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy fucking with him when he deserves it, often by playing on his insecurities.
