Lynn Benfield

Lynn Anne Benfield is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom "I'm Alan Partridge". She is played by Felicity Montagu. Montagu's other credits include "Nighty Night" and "Bridget Jones's Diary".

General characteristics

Lynn, a spinster, was born in 1946, or 1947. Alan Partridge mentions on a St Valentine's Day edition of his radio show that she's 50 in 1997, the year in which the first series is set).

Her domestic arrangements are never made clear. She either regularly visits, or lives with her mother, Peggy, who is perhaps housebound, or disabled to one degree or other as it is mentioned that she wears cataract glasses, needs help to get out of the bath, and has needed Lynn to change her sheets every day for the last ten years. Alan also said to Lynn, once, "she was a bit of a heffalump, God rest her soul. Yeah, she was a biiig woman". This was in reference to Peggy's death in 2001, a year before the second series began, upon which Lynn seems to have benefitted financially from the will, or an insurance policy.

She earns £7,000 a year, later £8,000, and eventually £9,500 from her employment as Alan's personal assistant.

Lynn is a staunch Christian of the Baptist denomination and takes the Bible and its teachings very seriously. She is often seen as timid and quiet but harbours certain outdated concepts and strong opinions, most noticeably a tinge of xenophobia when discussing the ethnicity of Jesus Christ (a trait she shares with her mother). Alan describes her on several occasions as being like a mouse or a badger; this is justified through both her behaviour and physical appearance.

She is often passive and quiet when Alan is either telling her off or saying something completely misguided and when she does take a stand with Alan she is frequently shot down by his skewed reasoning and banal putdowns.

She is seen to be very prudish with language, sex and non-Baptist activities or beliefs, though comes across as quite an agreeable and pragmatic woman with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of patience and tact. She is probably the only person that Alan has been close to in his life for longer than a few months or years and is also the only person that Alan feels he can control and manipulate.

"I'm Alan Partridge I"

Though she is only employed as Alan's PA she is frequently seen as practically running his affairs and helping him out with his personal life. She often subconsciously slips into the role of Alan's surrogate mother, doing things like buying foot powder for him, tidying up his hotel room and laying out his clothes for special occasions (such as a guest announcer at a country fayre.)

She can be very protective of Alan, particularly if he transgresses her sense of morality and decency, such as when she realises that he's going to sleep with his secretary, Jill, or when he states that he's going to hire an actress to play his wife (Alan is divorced) in a promotional video for 'Hamilton's Water Breaks'. Lynn volunteers herself, but Alan prefers a "40-year-old scorcher" (he is always disconcerted when strangers mistake Lynn for his wife).

Alan often gets Lynn to do his dirty work such as making her talk to his ex-wife on the telephone and also making her impersonate an interviewee on his radio station after the said interviewee walked out after being insulted by him.

"I'm Alan Partridge II"

Now 55, she is forming a relationship with retired policeman and fellow Baptist Gordon, who is instrumental in getting Alan to raise her salary to £9,500. Gordon has only just recently moved to the area, and Alan, jealous and perhaps fearful of the relationship (she might leave him), causes him to selfishly state that he could be a serial bigamist who's only after her money. They are big fans of the weather.

Gordon, however, knows exactly what kind of man Alan is, from the (no doubt toned-down) stories Lynn tells him. He tells Alan that he thinks he's bullying her, and if he doesn't stop he'll "knock his block off". Alan takes the threat seriously, and begins to treat Lynn a bit better, and gives her the pay-rise.

Lynn is still seen as a busy mother-figure for Alan, sorting out his affairs, and taking his girlfriend, Sonja, on a trip to London for a day (because Alan hates London) and drawing a chalk penis on the back of an old enemy of Alan's coat.

She is also credited with being the researcher for Alan's "Anglian Lives" interview with Ray Woollard (Peter Baynham).

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/400/imalanpartridge_2.jpgPhoto of Felicity Montagu in character as "Lynn Benfield"]