“The biggest Christmas cracker in the world, a potty-mouthed TV chef, a genuine virgin Mary, (Alan) Partridge in a pear tree and Mick Hucknall singing Ding Dong Merrily On High, Knowing Me Knowing Yule has everything you/I could possibly want from a Christmas special,” says Gareth Watkins.

“Harking back to a more innocent era of TV when Saturday nights were spent in the company of Mr Blobby rather than endless reality competitions, the 1995 show did such a good job of satirising the traditional ‘special’ – a Star Wars-bar selection of B-list celebs, overenthusiastic members of the public, cute kids in costume, a bemused pop star – that watching it is as nostalgic as it is funny. It’s become an annual tradition for me, my Christmas comfort blanket.

Incredible as it seems, this one was a low point in Alan’s career, the show closes with him being told he’ll never work on TV again and KO-ing his boss with a fist stuffed in a partridge. But it wasn’t the end. In a life-imitating-art-imitating-life kind of way, which I’m calling ‘The Partridge Paradox’, Alan has now become part of the very fabric of British broadcasting. You could happily do a like-for-like swap with him and Noel Edmonds in the I’m A Celeb jungle. And just as Edmonds clawed his way back from the TV wilderness, so Alan will make a triumphant return to the BBC next year. One can only hope a new festive special will head our way. Christmas memories are made of this.”

Knowing Me Knowing Yule with Alan Partridge (season one, episode seven) is available to watch now on Sky

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