Alan Partridge: Big Beacon

By: Alan Partridge

Narrated by: Alan Partridge

Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

In Big Beacon, Norwich's favourite son and best broadcaster, Alan Partridge, triumphs against the odds. TWICE.

Using an innovative 'dual narrative' structure you sometimes see in films, Big Beacon tells the story of how Partridge heroically rebuilt his TV career, rising like a phoenix from the desolate wasteland of local radio to climb to the summit of Mount Primetime and regain the nationwide prominence his talent merits.

But then something quite unexpected and moving, because Big Beacon also tells the story of a selfless man, driven to restore an old lighthouse to its former glory, motivated by nothing more than respect for a quietly heroic old building that many take for granted, which some people think is a metaphor for Alan himself even though it's not really for them to say.*

Leaving his old life behind and relocating to a small coastal village in Kent, Alan battles through adversity, wins the hearts and minds of a suspicious community, and ultimately shows himself to be a quite wonderful man.

* The two strands will run in tandem, their narrative arcs mirroring each other to make the parallels between the two stories abundantly clear to the less able reader.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Alan Partridge (P)2023 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Critic reviews

'It may be the funniest thing ever committed to sound' DAVID BADDIEL

'Partridge... has become the man our time deserves. Aha!' THE TIMES

'The audiobook is an absolute dream' RICHARD OSMAN

More of the same... still quite good

If this were my first Alan Partridge experience, I might likely be more effusive in praise for this book. Steve Coogan is a brilliantly clever writer and performer, and those skills are on full display here. But after numerous iterations of the character, the familiarity of the formula begins to tax the audience's attention. As mentioned in the headline, it's still funny, but Alan over-explaining double entendres, or saying something inappropriate, then being told by an assistant that it's inappropriate, and him responding with something more inappropriate, have become well-worn tropes. If only we all could have such reliable revenue streams. Still, it's a comfortable pair of shoes before moving on to the next book.

Classic Alan

As good as it gets really.. Worryingly I admire Alan.. Five more words required. Thanks

Richard Keys and Andy Gray... hilarious work.

it's basically like watching Alan partridge, you know the character so well, with characters like this, Saxondale and others he never uses anymore, Steve Coogan shows us in this book the raw British Talent that will make him one of the all time great comediansnin British History.

A Masterpiece!

These audiobooks are getting better and better… I’ve only ever listened to the audiobooks but I’d imagine Steve’s performance is half of the enjoyment of these books. Keep up the good work Steve!

So good!

I loved it! Also, something in the bonus material, no spoilers, made me laugh harder than I have ever laughed in my life. I needed this book!

Steve Coogan has spent a lot of time I a recording studio lately…

Between Big Beacon and two seasons of the From The Oasthouse podcast, Steve Coogan has been writing and recording a ton of Alan Partridge material and I honestly think it’s some of the best work we’ve gotten from the character. Big Beacon is fun and the dual narrative format keeps things pretty fresh.

I would put Big Beacon on par with I, Partridge, and above Nomad. If you are a fan of these at all and haven’t checked out the podcast, definitely get those too. I drive a lot and the Oasthouse podcasts have been a lifesaver for me.

Alan has got to try stand-up!

During the Christmas break here in Iceland, I found myself stuck out in the countryside, about 70 km west of Akureyri, in a small summerhouse. As you can guess from the name, it was not particularly suited for winter.

With no internet, no hot water, and 3 small JBL portable speakers—but no charging cable!—I had only my iPhone 11 Pro Max with charging cord for company.

The JBLs were at various stages of charge: two dots, one dot, and four dots out of a possible five. With a full charge lasting roughly 4 hours on medium to medium loud volume, I figured we had about 7 Hrs and 51 minutes of play time, between the 3 JBLs, before the whole summerhouse fell radio silent, leaving me to my thoughts in the dark Icelandic winter night or day as the sun doesn’t really rise.

The lack of service left me with very limited listening options: I had accidently downloaded or “make available offline”-ed Adele’s debut studio album “19”. Then, of course, there was this spectacular epic “Big Beacon” with a running time just under 8 hours that might just work with the expected battery life of my JBLs (combined).

However, I did start with a little listen to Adele and 4 hours and 27 minutes later I had drained my 3 JBLs—over three hours less running time than I predicted. This can be explained by my insistence that Adele’s always be played at full blast snd linking my JBLs in parallel to create a kind of “Adele everywhere” surround sound experience.

Luckily, I had completely forgot about the internal speaker of my iPhone 11 Pro Max, so I was able to listen to Big Beacon seven times in a row before being rescued by the regional snow clearing service.

It was a joy from the first moment. I was forced to hold the phone to me ear because of pocket crumb induced speaker damage and this made the ecperience even more intimate—like I was having a nearly 60 hours conversation with the man himself, Alan Partridge.

I am forever grateful for this wonderful audiobook. What could have been a tedious stretch, snowed in at a summerhouse by myself over Christmas, became instead, a rollicking goodtime—like being snowed in at a summerhouse over Christmas with a famous person who only speaks to you in the same 8 hours of prepared material, repeated again and again, and-dare I say?—more moving each time.

Rhinocerene

Like a man who consumed too much Viagra and cornflower.....
I want the amount of caffeine Jason Statham would order... a very strong black coffee, with milk

So many laugh out loud moments, you know why you are here, reading these aren't going to stop you enjoying Partridge's peerless production.

Another Oasthouse coming next year too, I can listen to Partridge now pretty much all day and never get bored!

Bombast; tempered by the absurd

This book renews and expands on the tempered bombast of Alan Partridge. His character is slightly unaware of his weaknesses but the memory of his failures build a creeping maturation and change.
Is he learning and hugging his way to enlightenment? Nah. But he is moving and aging. Bravo Steve Coogan.

Tedious

Totally disjointed. Read too quickly - just very irritating all round. Don’t bother downloading it at all