Veteran television presenter Sue Cook has expressed her irritation and bewilderment over a running joke by comedian Steve Coogan's fictional character, Alan Partridge. The gag, which features prominently in the sitcom "I'm Alan Partridge," centers on the character claiming Sue Cook has canceled an appointment by saying, "Sue Cook's pulled out."
Cook, 77, shared on The Peter Purves Podcast that the repeated references have impacted public perception of her. "It's a bit of a pain in the neck, to be honest, at times because people are always saying 'Oh, Sue Cook's pulled out'," she said. "So people think that I'm the sort of person who pulls out of things. If they don't understand the reference, they wonder why they keep seeing things about me pulling out of things."
The joke, which poked fun at Cook's perceived squeaky-clean image, became a recurring theme over several years. However, Cook noted that the constant mentions eventually led her children, Megan and Charlie, to realize she was a well-known public figure. "My kids thought I was dead cool," Cook recalled. "We were sitting at home on the sofa watching Alan Partridge, and to our amazement suddenly he started talking about me."
While her children found the association with the popular character amusing, Cook mentioned that other family members did not react as positively. "My mother was really shocked because there was another one where he said, 'Take the fag out of your mouth!' My mother was like 'But you gave up smoking!'"
Cook, who co-hosted the BBC program "Crimewatch" for over 11 years in the 1980s and early 1990s, and also presented "Breakfast Time" and "Children in Need," described Coogan's apparent obsession with her as "bizarre."
Coogan's character first introduced the running gag by setting up a display board for "An afternoon with Alan Partridge with Sue Cook." When informed that "Sue" would not be attending, Partridge announced to his audience, "I might as well say this now, Sue Cook has pulled out."
The character revisited the gag in 2013 while promoting "Alpha Papa - The Alan Partridge Movie," telling Vue Magazine that he and Cook "go way back" and that she is a "straight-talker."
In a 2023 Partridge "memoir" titled "Beacon," the character claims to have "developed incredibly strong feelings towards" Cook.
Reflecting on her career in a previous podcast appearance, Cook commented on the changing landscape of television. "I'm female, I'm well-spoken... I'm white-skinned, middle-class. I'm all the things you shouldn't be. So, I'm sure I'd never get a job [in TV] now. But women were quite a rare thing on television [when I started]."