Administrator ‘defamed’ in Coogan’s Richard III film wins damages

Former Leicester deputy registrar sued Alan Partridge actor and production companies over 2022 film which showed him in a ‘negative light’

Published on
October 27, 2025
Last updated
October 27, 2025
Tom Williams
rest on the wall of Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand in central London
Source: iStock/Maddie Red Photography
Read more about
Read more about: 
Management and governance
Communications and marketing

Register to continue

Why register?

  • Registration is free and only takes a moment
  • Once registered, you can read 3 articles a month
  • Sign up for our newsletter
Please
or
to read this article.

Related articles

Reader's comments (7)

#1 Submitted by ... on October 27, 2025 - 7:47pm
Excellent news!
#2 Submitted by ... on October 27, 2025 - 7:59pm
Bit demeaning to refer to Coogan as the "Alan Partridge actor" ? He has done other stuff under his own name. I saw him in that Dr Strangelove theatre adaption for example where he played four roles (one more than the late great Peter Sellers!!). Mind you unlike Sellers, who was brilliant in three roles, he was crap in all four of the roles he played. Aha!
#3 Submitted by ... on October 28, 2025 - 8:00am
Aha! Yes I tend to agree, the thing about Coogan is that he is, to my mind, a very gifted impersonator rather than a trained actor and he tends to play roles at one remove as it were. Now it is a very good thing that Richard Taylor has challenged him and his company which takes a deal of courage given the costs involved and we all owe him a debt of thanks here if they try and stitch us up should we ever be depicted in celluloid as it were! But of course, this is only a limited victory in the sense that if the subject of the misrepresentation passed away then they can represent us exactly how they want and our nearest and dearest may complain but that's about all.
#4 Submitted by ... on October 29, 2025 - 8:44am
Well yes, as in the case of Richard III which I think was the point of the film in some respects. Personally, I have never understood all those rather odd and eccentric people who champion Richard III's integrity and innocence. He was just another brutal warlord from a very brutal time. I would imagine none of them would have much compunction killing a couple of brats who got in the way of securing power. And he's a pretty boring King historically, Shakespeare's version is much more interesting in my opinion. Who cares where he ended up and all that palaver about reburying him etc. And as we see from the news today, the present lot aren't much better, actually they are probably a lot worse, at least Richard was a hands on, working sort of king and you have to admire that.
#5 Submitted by ... on October 28, 2025 - 8:03am
Aha! Well on the positive side Mr Coogan, via his Avatar, Alan Partridge, has done a great deal recently in raising issues of mental health in his bold new series How Are You which I think is very courageous and frank and I highly recommend it to you, so we should not be too censorious on the whole. He's also promoted the city of Norwich to good effect, a very dreary place in a dismal county in my view.
#6 Submitted by ... on October 29, 2025 - 8:47am
Aha! Yes I am after the narrative they were trying to peddle is the usual one of the enthusiastic outsider, crusading for truth and confronted by hostile, jealous, mean-spirited academic types wanting to discredit and demean them. It is however a powerful narrative, though I think there is, on the whole, little truth in other. But the public love that sort of thing and Coogan and his pals were peddling it. So it's good there has been some push back I think.
#7 Submitted by ... on October 31, 2025 - 9:07am
Mr Coogan seems to have doubled down on his position and responded with a rather graceless statement about the whole thing.

You might also like

Sponsored

Featured jobs

See all jobs
ADVERTISEMENT