Is TV's Richard Madeley the real Alan Partridge?

Aug 24 2008

SOFA king Richard Madeley and his long-suffering wife Judy Finnegan said farewell to their Channel 4 chatshow on Friday.

As the couple head off to digital channel UKTV, we look back at some of Richard's strangest on-screen outbursts.

The TV gaffes saw him dubbed the real-life version of comic Steve Coogan's foot-in-mouth chatshow host Alan Partridge.

Here, we look back at the best - or worst - moments that saw the nation cringing behind their sofas as Richard's guests cringed on his.

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When you are puzzled about some aspect of a character's personality you will write them a letter. Is that right? That's mad John. Judy: "He's David not John. John is his brother."

- To actor David Suchet

I really love ducks - they've always got a smile on their face.

You're just humming with sexual energy! Is it the fabric? Is it wearing tights?

- To transvestite artist Grayson Perry

Will the gentleman with one nipple please reveal it?

David Seaman is celebrating his 39th birthday today. His ponytail is 10!

Next time you go for a country walk, give a cow a cuddle. It's the new cure for stress!

Can we have a wooden stake, some petroleum and a rope? Because we are burning you at the end of the show!

- To mindreader Derren Brown

You then got a letter. It said: "Blood isn't thicker than water. I didn't want you then and I don't want you now. I've got a family of my own and you're not it. Get lost."

- To a woman abandoned by her mum as a baby

Do you think it's time we took a radical approach to dealing with paedophiles, as opposed to fiddling with the edges?

You looked as if your head was going to come off!

- To a guest struggling to control a stutter.

So, Jane, when did you first realise that you were quite clearly mad?

- To a psychiatric patient

I've never met a single woman who's happy with the way she looks, except Jordan, although I've never met her.

Weren't you once a storytelling raccoon in a theme park? What sort of stories did you have to tell as a raccoon? Did you have a special raccoon voice?

- to actress Claire Goose

Can you imagine if they'd had Morris dancers at Dunkirk?

Thanks for the story. It's over!

- To a caller

If you saw a mink with an electrode sticking out of its anus, would you wear it as a hat?

Maybe it was for the best.

- To a woman who missed out after her usual numbers won £928,000 on the lottery

Where did you get your face? It's Egyptian, almost cat-like. What's it like without makeup?

- To singer Sophie Ellis Bextor

I understand you have a little lad of 12. Is he a boy or a girl?

I once had a dream I was in the cupboard under the stairs. I woke up and I was in the cupboard under the stairs. Right at the back with the wellies!

Hello baldy!

- Greeting a young leukaemia sufferer

When we first got together, one of the things me and Judy had in common was a passion for the correct use of the apostrophe.

If I could throw a fishing rod into the corridors of time and reel you in, you'd throttle you, wouldn't you?

- To punk legend John Lydon

Five stone? Wow, that's concentration camp thin that is.

- To an anorexic teenager

Frankly, I don't think that what we see on television is erotic enough. I haven't seen a sex scene on television recently that has remotely turned me on. And I've been there till 4am waiting for it.

I've never met anyone who thought Sherlock Holmes invented the toilet. You're quite sharp. It's just that in the pure sense of the word, you're ignorant.

- To BB star Jade Goody

The really interesting question is, if the fridge door closes, is the light still on?