Steve Coogan reveals savage takedown from daughter as Anna Wintour wades in

Steve Coogan has revealed the praise he received from Dame Anna Wintour.

The won critical acclaim for last week’s Channel 4 drama Brian and Maggie. But he’s under no illusion about the role for which he will ultimately be remembered. In fact, Steve admits, he’s spent so long playing Alan Partridge, he even catches himself thinking in character sometimes…. a phenomenon he’s likens to a medical “condition”.

On the upside, he is at least at peace with his legacy nowadays - after years of trying to escape his Norwich-loving DJ alter ego. Speaking about Partidge, he says: “There was a time when I felt saddled with it. So, when I do Partridge, I do it through choice. Not because I have to.”

That might be true when it comes to TV and podcast projects. But he has less control over Alan popping up in his mind - and the weirdest times. “I’m on the train and I will laugh at myself as a Partridge comes into my head, and put it in my phone,” he says. “Or I’ll look in a shop window and think about ‘Oh, what would Alan say about that?’. I’m still doing [Alan] now, 30 years later, so it’s like a condition now. There’d be an acronym for it, you know.”

Steve’s next Partridge outing will be in his new TV series, How Are You? - which sees Alan touring the country asking people about their mental health - with typical results of someone not exactly known for his tact. It’s the first Alan Partridge show in four years. “Alan’s trying to jump on the mental health bandwagon,” explains Steve on the new episode of the Dish from Waitrose podcast with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett MBE, which is out tomorrow. “He knows that he can get back on TV if he talks about something important.”

The show is currently in post-production and is expected to be ready “in a couple of months.” Away from Alan, Steve, 59, has certainly been busy. He’s currently in the West End production of Dr Strangelove - and getting used to the daily performances. “That is a bit of a culture shock for me, but it’s quite a good discipline because you have to do the show, whether you’re in the mood to do it or not,” he says. “So, you’ve got to garner all this enthusiasm. So, I walk around backstage singing out loud, ‘We’re going to do a show, even though none of us want to’.”

Apart from being the show’s unofficial cheerleader, he’s also humble…. "There’s a big cast, you know, it’s not just me,” says the dad-of-one. “I’ve got to give them credit, you know. I am part of an ensemble.” After a pause, he adds: “I just do most of the heavy lifting.”

One imagines his tongue is properly in his cheek, otherwise it’s going to be chilly when he’s next backstage. As well as treading the boards, Steve’s a true triple threat - having just won critical acclaim for last week’s Brian and Maggie, the Channel 4 drama based on the real-life friendship between political interviewer Brian Walden and then prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Their friendship came to a shock end when he was faced with a choice in a live TV interview: protect his friend or go for the jugular. He went for the second option - and the 1989 broadcast was largely regarded as the beginning of the end of Thatcher, who eventually left Number 10 in 1991.

Playing Brian has made Steve somewhat reevaluate his opinion on the Iron Lady. He says: “I loathed Margaret Thatcher growing up but looking back through the lens of history, you definitely knew what her point of view was. “There was nothing wishy washy. Uh, she didn’t try and please all the people all the time, by, she wasn’t risk averse, like a lot of modern politicians are.”

The show is still streaming on All 4. Yet talking of people who don’t try to please others…. It certainly sums up Steve’s relationship with his peer and co-star of The Trip, Rob Brydon. Both have had huge success outside of The Trip, with Rob last on our screens in the Christmas Day Gavin & Stacey finale.

But putting two dry wits together for a show where they play versions of themselves, was always asking for trouble. And Steve admits he was often guilty of taking the ribbing too far - despite a pact they had made each other. “Rob and I, we had a gentleman’s agreement that we were allowed to take the p**s out of each other and risk upsetting each other,” says Steve. “Cause if you really want to needle someone, [and] you know someone well, you know what buttons to press to wind them up.

“Sometimes it would get quite frosty. Probably on my part, you know. And I’d go, ‘You want to go there? You want to go there? Do you want me to go there? Should we do that? Are we, are we doing that?’ But we like each other really.” During his new interview with Nick and Angela, Steve also admits one of his proudest parenting moments: getting his own back on his adult daughter Clare for criticising his fashion sense.

For there’s no sartorial seal of approval greater than a compliment from Anna Wintour. “My daughter always says that I’m sartorially challenged. When I dress, I go, ‘Do you think what I’m wearing is okay?’ And she’ll go, ‘It’s a bit fifty shades of beige,’” says the Night At the Museum star.

But after he won 2013 Best Adapted screenplay BAFTA for Philomena, Anna texted him the next day - having met him after he did a shoot for US Vogue. “I got a text from Anna Wintour saying, ‘Great speech. Good suit.’ I showed it to my daughter,” recalls Steve, who’s had Clare after a short relationship with her lawyer mother. “I said, ‘Anna Wintour says, Great speech. Good suit!’ And she, my daughter said, ‘It didn’t say, Good speech. Great suit.’” It sounds like Steve’s not the only with the tact of his beloved Alan…..

Steve Coogan appears on the new series of Dish from Waitrose with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett MBE. The first episode is available tomorrow, Wednesday, February 5, from all podcast providers.