Steve Coogan used to feel "saddled" with his comedy character Alan Partridge

During an appearance on the 'Dish' podcast, Coogan explained: "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. "

Coogan is currently working on another new Partridge project - a six-part BBC series called 'Alan Partridge: How Are You?' - in which the inept broadcaster tackles mental health issues.

He said: "I'm doing some stuff at the moment, and it does make me laugh, so... I make notes in my phone.

"I think, I have a funny idea, I'm on the train and I'm chuckling to myself. I will laugh at myself as a Partridge comes into my head, and put it in my phone, on my own.

"Or I'll look in a shop window and think about, I might say: 'Oh, what would Alan say about that?' I'm still doing it now thirty years later, so it's like a condition now."

Coogan added of the new show: "[Alan] knows that he can get back on TV if he talks about something important. We're editing it now, so ...

"For me to try and describe it is so risqué some of the stuff, I can't even describe, you have to just listen to it.

"But there's some stuff, you know there is some stuff that's so wrong that it makes me laugh, because there's some things he says that no one could say, and I certainly couldn't say.

"But because you, the audience know who he is and that he's sort of ill-informed but is trying his best. He's not an evil person. He's just a fool.

"But sometimes the fool says things that people secretly agree with. So, that's quite enjoyable that having that little bit of catharsis.

"And also, you can satirise, sort of ... I mean, if I want to sort of take the mick out of someone I don't like, I just make Alan say that they're his best friend."