Ah-haa! It's 'Brave Alan'

This is the third outing from series two, in which our favourite Norwich DJ meets his soulmate in a petrol station. Like Alan, Dan Moody drives a Lexus, drinks Directors Bitter and adorns his armpits with Lynx deodorant (oh, and they both 'dress on the left'). However, it later transpires that Dan and his wife are swingers – and they’re quite keen to get a piece of Alan action.

Why is it our favourite?

Immortal moments abound in this perfect piece of televisual comedy genius (no, we’re not exaggerating). One thinks, for example, of Alan’s ill-fated attendance of the Norfolk Bravery Award ceremony, where he ends up stuffing his mouth with several dollops of English mustard (it brings tears to the eyes just to watch it).

But the centrepiece of the episode is his friendship – and virtual infatuation – with Dan Moody (played with grinning, cocky brilliance by Stephen Mangan, who’d go onto star in Green Wing). It’s almost touching to see Alan brimming with such honest affection for another human being for once, although he is perhaps a little too keen. (Spying his friend across a car park, Alan calls out: "Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan!" before he finally gives up).

Naturally Alan is horrified when Dan and his wife turn out to be swingers – or, to use Alan’s phrase, 'sex people'. You can never tell these days, can you Alan?

Other strong contenders...

No Alan aficionado can fail to rejoice in the episode To Kill a Mocking Alan from series one, in which Alan tries to impress two Irish TV execs by forming a bond with his very own stalker. (His disastrous attempts to impress the Irishmen include an appreciation of U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday, which Alan misreads as “really encapsulating the frustration of a Sunday”.)

Watership Alan witnesses a confrontation between Alan and a farmer who accuses him of slandering his industry. Refusing to be intimidated, Alan tells the man that he "makes pigs smoke" and is "a big posh sod" with plums in his mouth. "And the plums have mutated and they’ve got beaks."

The very first I'm Alan Partridge, A Room with an Alan is an undeniable classic, with Alan pitching programme ideas - Monkey Tennis, Arm Wrestling with Chas and Dave - to an aghast BBC executive before attacking him with a vast cheese on a fork.

Agree? Disagree?

Tell us what you think here!