Alan Partridge was originally created by Steve Coogan and producer Armando Iannucci for the 1991 BBC Radio 4 programme On the Hour, a spoof of British current affairs broadcasting, where he served as the show's sports presenter.

The character was further developed in a 1992 Radio 4 spin-off chat show spoof, Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, before transferring to television as The Day Today (1994) and then Knowing Me, Knowing You, which ended with Partridge accidentally shooting a guest.

Iannucci said that while researching the first series at a motorway service station hotel together with Coogan and Patrick Marber, they discovered 'some depth to this situation – a kind of social X-ray of male middle-aged Middle England,' which became the show's guiding concept.

The writers found the second series (2002) difficult to make, feeling that too much time had passed since the first series and that audience expectations for sitcoms had changed in the interim.

I'm Alan Partridge won the 1998 BAFTA awards for Comedy Performance and Comedy Programme or Series, among other honors including two British Comedy Awards and a Royal Television Society award.

In a 2000 poll conducted by the British Film Institute among industry professionals, I'm Alan Partridge was named the 38th-best British television series of all time.

In a 2017 poll of over 100 comedians, a scene from I'm Alan Partridge in which Partridge visits the home of an obsessive fan was voted the best comedy scene.

In a poll of British comedians conducted by TV channel Gold, I'm Alan Partridge was named the second-best British sitcom of all time.