The Saxondale story

Meet Tommy Saxondale, an ex-roadie with several bags of chips on his shoulder.

Back in the 70s and 80s he was the coolest of the cool – riding shotgun with rock stars as they played concerts around the country. But those days are long gone, and now he's a grizzled middle-aged man struggling to understand the modern world – and modern music... "If I want to hear electronic bleeps and farts, I'll put my foot through the windscreen and listen to the alarm going off."

Luckily, he has a lovely girlfriend named Magz, who may fancy herself as an anarchist (and run a t-shirt shop called Smash the System), but is nevertheless a sweet and caring partner – and the one woman who can put up with Saxondale's impassioned rants. In Coogan's own words, Tommy Saxondale is "genuinely witty, while still being a bit of a d*ck."

The next big thing

Steve Coogan co-wrote Saxondale, but the man who created the grumpy old roadie was actually Neil MacLennan – a comedy writer who had previously developed sketches for Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer.

MacLennan, who had also worked with Coogan before, sent Steve his idea for a sitcom about a used-up former roadie. Coogan loved the idea and felt it would be perfect for his first post-Partridge sitcom – and an ideal project for his production company, Baby Cow.

You may not have heard the name, but Baby Cow – which Coogan set up with his friend Henry Normal in 1999 – has given us some of the most cutting edge comedy shows of recent years, including Nighty Night and The Mighty Boosh.

Adios, Alan

Coogan had some very definite ideas about what he wanted Saxondale to be. Having been linked to Alan Partridge for so long, he wanted to create a new kind of character – a more rounded and realistic fellow who could arouse sympathy, and was actually smarter than most people around him.

While audiences laughed at Alan Partridge, Coogan wanted people to laugh with Tommy Saxondale. Well, some of the time, anyway. Naturally, Saxondale's also a bit of a snob and a fool, as the best sitcom characters tend to be.

On top of that, Coogan wanted to do something rather daring – and actually put a happy, functioning couple in a sitcom. "I didn't want the comedy to come from domestic strife," he later explained. "That's a well-tapped vein. When someone says 'We never have sex anymore', that's a bit boring. Tommy and Magz actually do have sex. They love each other - the comedy comes from the intimacy."

Marvellous Magz

So just who is the familiar-looking lady who plays Magz – Tommy's ever-reliable lady, and one of the most refreshingly pleasant characters to come out of sitcomland?

It's Ruth Jones. And while she's not a household name, chances are most people in this country have already appreciated her talents, as she turned up as a lesbian barmaid in Little Britain (the Daffyd sketches, to be precise).

The Welsh star – who coincidentally went to the same school as Steve Coogan's friend and comedy cohort Rob Brydon – has also been in East is East and Nighty Night. And how did she get the Saxondale gig? Coogan simply approached her during a showbiz bash and offered her the part.

The boy with the funny name

Playing Saxondale's dim-witted assistant Raymond is one Rasmus Hardiker, whom one journalist described as having "a face even more interesting than his name".

An up-and-coming star, Rasmus was shooting one of the BBC's Shakespeare Retold dramas when his agent called him up and asked: "are you a fan of Steve Coogan?" A dumbfounded Rasmus was then told that the comedy icon had seen him in the 70s drama The Rotters Club and wanted him for Saxondale.

He's bound to hit even greater heights in the future, so look out for him. Mind you, with a name like that he'll be hard to miss.