‘It definitely affected my work’: Steve Coogan reveals his heavy cocaine use impacted the second series of I’m Alan Partridge in 2002
Steve Coogan has revealed the second series of I’m Alan Partridge would have been funnier if he wasn’t snorting so much cocaine.
The funnyman, 54, said the excessive drug use affected the 2002 series of the hit BBC sitcom after the success of the first series in 1997.
Speaking in the biography Don’t Look Back In Anger which charts the hedonism of Britpop and the 1990s, obtained by The Mirror, he said: ‘I did a lot of cocaine. It made you feel elated and confident, but for several days after you were full of self-loathing.
Recovering: Steve Coogan, 54, has revealed his heavy cocaine use affected his work and impacted the second series of I’m Alan Partridge (stock photo)
‘It definitely began to affect my work. The second series of I’m Alan Partridge would have been better if I hadn’t been doing coke.’
Coogan confessed about the impact of his cocaine habit in the biography Don’t Look Back in Anger, which charts the hedonism of Britpop and the 1990s.
The comedian said: ‘Some of the live shows I did I was still intoxicated from the night before. I didn’t care. I had a feeling of indestructibility.’
The last laugh: I’m Alan Partridge starred Coogan as the hapless DJ from Norwich trying to change his fortunes after being dropped by the BBC
Back of the net: The second series of the sitcom depicted Alan in a static home with his Ukrainian girlfriend Sonja, playmed by Amelia Bullmore
I’m Alan Partridge depicted a hapless DJ and television presenter desperately trying to make a name for himself beyond the North Norfolk area.
The first series, which documented Alan’s graveyard shifts at Radio Norwich while living in the Linton Travel Tavern, was a huge hit, winning two BAFTAs and legions of fans.
In the second series, the DJ moved to a static caravan with his Ukrainian girlfriend Sonja and his book Bouncing Back was unceremoniously pulped after failing to sell.
After the second series, Coogan took a hiatus from his comic creation before returning in 2010, spawning a film and another BBC series in 2019.
Bouncing back: Alan returned to the BBC in 2019 for the spoof current affairs programme This Time
The actor has often been open about his drug addiction and revealed how he feared he was going to die after one drug-fuelled night at the Edinburgh festival.
In his 2015 autobiography Easily Distracted, he recalled how in the summer of 1992 he suffered a ‘cocaine-induced panic attack’ after spending ‘all night doing drugs’.
He said: ‘I’d been up all night doing drugs and when I sat down to have breakfast I started feeling dizzy.
Sober: Coogan, pictured in the 2013 Alan Partridge film Alpha Papa, says he will always be a ‘recovering addict’
‘My blood sugar level had dropped dramatically and I was on the verge of blacking out. I could feel pins and needles in my left arm, and my heart was thundering. I thought I was having a heart attack.
‘I couldn’t stop thinking “I am going to die. This is it”.’
The comedian was taken to hospital where he was given the all-clear. He saw a therapist and much later would undergo treatment in rehab, but said it took him years to acknowledge his addiction.
Coogan, who says he will ‘always be a recovering addict’, also described how for years he was supplied with cocaine for free and so never needed to pay for the drug himself.
Lucky escape: The comedian, pictured in 1993, said he suffered a ‘cocaine-induced panic attack’ in 1992 and thought he was going to die