City to host Partridge Premiere

Fictional DJ Alan Partridge will attempt to put Norwich "on the map" as he premieres his new film in the city today.

Comedian Steve Coogan will appear in character at the red carpet event to launch his new film Alpha Papa.

The decision to hold the premiere in Norfolk followed a Twitter campaign dubbed Anglia Square Not Leicester Square, calling for the event to be held at an unloved 1960s shopping precinct.

Since the announcement, Partridge fever has gripped Norwich with tourism bosses launching a walking tour based around the series, venues across the city planning premiere after parties and the Norwich Evening News printing a Partridge mask making kit.

Producers Studio Canal announced the event on Twitter, with a statement from Partridge reading: "You can imagine how hurt and litigious I felt when people said I was planning to debut my movie in London instead of Norwich, or that I'd allowed my head to be turned by the prospect of big city fame.

"Any suggestions I've hastily cobbled together the lunchtime Norwich screening in response to a local Twitter campaign will be met with the full force of the law."

Organisers say Partridge will greet fans and speak to the media outside the Hollywood Cinema.

Afterwards, Partridge - who once pitched to put Norwich on the map with his regional detective series Swallow - will be flown by helicopter to London for a second showing at Leicester Square.

The film was shot at locations across the county and producers say it centres around a "hilarious chain of events which see Alan having to work with the police to defuse a potentially violent siege" after a new media conglomerate takes over his radio station, North Norfolk Digital.