Steve Coogan does anti-heroes like no-one else can. Alan Partridge is his most famous creation but I’d argue that with Tommy Saxondale, he’s more than matched him. Saxondale is a middle-aged ex-roadie running a pest control business. The perfect job, as it allows him to take out his innate anger issues on the pigeons, rodents, moths and bats he is variously employed to exterminate.

Now at the end of its second series, and richly meriting a third, Coogan’s latest creation has been steadily gathering speed. Rather than choose to unleash the series in a cloud of hype, the BBC have sensibly allowed it to mature quietly, allowing the dross that’s clogging up BBC3 to mop up most of the marketing budget (’Grown-ups’ anyone?). It still amazes me that many people still haven’t even heard of the programme, let alone seen it, but this only serves to greatly increase my enjoyment of it.

There’s a large number of people who refuse to let Steve Coogan grow out of Alan Partridge. But anyone that knows his work knows that he is one of the most dexterous comedians of our time – characters like Duncan Thicket, Paul Calf, Tony Ferrino and Ernest Moss are testament to that. And in the character of Tommy Saxondale he’s expertly captured the zeitgeist of the frustrated 70s rock child – the true ‘grumpy old man’. Saxondale is no fool – he’s witty, clever and at times even charming. But what he can’t do, as with all of Coogan’s greatest creations, is go with the flow. And I love him for it.