Free Partridge tickets sell for £46

One Alan Partridge fan will be almost £50 richer after selling his free tickets to the show's recording in an online auction.

Bidding for the four tickets has already reached £46 on ebay - and the auction still has several hours to run.

Audience tickets are given out free by the BBC, but demand for the return of I'm Alan Partridge was so high they were all snapped up within hours of them being released.

The enterprising fan put his allocation for the June 28 date on sale for £5, but bidding has rocketed in the past five days.

However, the eventual buyer may still be disappointed.

More tickets are issued than seats, to account for no-shows, and fans have been turned away from previous recordings.

And the action takes place in an enclosed four-sided set, so the studio audience cannot directly see what is happening.

Published: 19 Jun 2002