What Bill Oddie really thought of Alan Partridge jokes
Bill Oddie took Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge gags in stride. Asked about the bill oddie alan partridge running joke in 2013, the Springwatch star said he was not upset, calling Partridge “a good act” and treating the endless name-checks as a compliment—even after two unanswered letters to Coogan.
Key Takeaways
- Oddie was name-checked in every episode of the first season of I’m Alan Partridge, and later in Nomad and Mid Morning Matters.
- Speaking to The Independent in 2013, he said he saw the jokes as a compliment and called Partridge “a good act.”
- He wrote to Coogan twice about the references and never received a reply.
- Oddie, who has died aged 85, began in comedy with Cambridge Footlights and The Goodies before becoming a beloved nature presenter.
What did Bill Oddie say about Alan Partridge?
Following news of Oddie’s death at 85, fans have revisited how often Steve Coogan’s fictional Norfolk presenter dragged the birder into his world. For Partridge devotees, Oddie was a perennial punchline and supposed celebrity pal.
Oddie met the gag with dry humour. “Anything I can do to discredit the idea that I have even heard of Mr Partridge, let alone befriended him, is most welcome,” he joked to The Independent in 2013, as reported by AOL.
Asked how it felt to be cast as a thorn in Partridge’s side, he shrugged: why be upset? Some thought Coogan was “setting me up,” Oddie said, “but I don’t think he is, actually.” And if he were? “Well, it’s a compliment. Partridge is a good act.”
How often did Alan Partridge mention Bill Oddie?
Oddie turned up in every episode of season one of I’m Alan Partridge, often framed as a famous friend. The bit spilled into later projects, including the mock memoir Nomad and Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters.
Some gags were mild: a phone message from “B Oddie” was mistaken for a prank because it sounded like “body.” Others went darker. On Mid Morning Matters, Partridge asked a Special Forces expert what to do if Oddie led an RSPB “terrorist” attack, likening him to “a bearded Catherine wheel scything through the crowd.”
Writing as Partridge in The Guardian in 2016, Coogan claimed Oddie pinned Chris Packham to a wall—then realised, after putting on glasses, that it was Sue Barker. In the memoir, Partridge said Oddie taught him to stay still in undergrowth, a skill he used to spy on his wife Carol.
Why could Oddie laugh off the Partridge jokes?
Oddie’s own comedy roots help explain the shrug. He came through Cambridge Footlights, wrote and starred in shows such as Sorry I’ll Read That Again and That Was the Week That Was, then spent 1970–1982 in The Goodies with Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor.
He did try to get Coogan’s side of the joke. Oddie said he wrote “twice, in fact,” asking about the motivations—and heard nothing back. “Bloody typical, eh?” he quipped. “When you call his bluff, Alan is not there to respond. I suppose he thinks he’s staying in character…”
Friend and agent David Foster, announcing Oddie’s death on 27 July, called him “the country’s best-loved birder” and praised a career that valued conservation over fame. For more odd cultural crossovers, explore Bizarre World on BlasterPost.