Coogan plans lunar sitcom

Steve Coogan and Armando Iannucci are planning a futuristic sitcom set on a British moon base.

The long-term collaborators have been discussing the idea for more than three years, Iannucci revealed in a newspaper interview today.

But he also added that he wanted nothing more to do with their most famous creation, Alan Partridge, despite Coogan’s plans to make a movie.

He told the Daily Telegraph that writing the last series was like being “stuck in a room for 18 months with Alan Partridge” because Coogan writes by improvising in character.

Ge added: “Steve never physically writes anything, so I was the one at the typewriter trying to turn it into something coherent. There was a period after it when I thought, 'F**k off, I don't want to see you again.'

"Steve wants to do an Alan Partridge film, but I couldn't bear to go through that again. For me, the idea of spending two more years in a room with that voice is more than I can take.”

Iannucci also revealed that his has almost finished writing his first novel, described as H G Wellsian fantasy, which he expects to complete this summer.

>> Telegraph interview in full

Published: 7 May 2005