Alan Partridge actor Steve Coogan is starring in Netflix’s searing new spy drama Legends
Netflix fans want to know more about comedy legend Steve Coogan after his recent turn in the British 90s-set thriller Legends.
Legends only dropped today (May 7) on Netflix, but audiences are already watching the six-part series, based on an incredible true story.
The show follows a group of customs officers, who become agents and adopt ‘legends’ or alter-egos as they go undercover to infiltrate Britain’s most notorious drug gangs as part of Margaret Thatcher’s war on drugs.
Coogan plays Don, the head of a top-secret group, which has been sent out into the field with minimal training and no budget or official recognition for their dangerous but vital work.
Many audience members are keen to know more about Coogan’s life away from the cameras, here’s the lowdown including his famous ex-girlfriends and a “truly terrifying” experience.
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Steve Coogan’s famous ex-girlfriends
The star has dated some very famous faces in the past, most notably Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s ex-wife, Courtney Love.
The pair had a fleeting fling with the Hole star – and both parties had some choice words about the romance.
Love described the fling in a 2021 social media post as “one of my life’s great shames” and went on to compare it to her solo musical endeavour America’s Sweetheart: “Like Steve Coogan, or crack, it’s one of my life’s great shames.”
Meanwhile, Coogan told GQ of their brief time together: “Some of it was true, most of it was b******s. To borrow the title of the film [2005’s A Cock and Bull Story], it was 20 per cent cock and 80 per cent bull.”
Along with Love, Coogan was also linked to model and restaurant heiress China Chow between 2008 to 2011, model Elle Basey from 2011 to 2014, and former TV presenter Melanie Sykes between 2018 and 2019.
He is father to Clare Coogan Cole, whom he shares with TV producer Anna Cole.
Coogan is now thought to be dating model and actress Caitlin Walsh since 2021.
Steve Coogan’s real accent
The star grew up in Middleton, Lancashire and studied in Manchester however, he recently admitted how he rarely gets to use his real accent as part of his work until he starred in Legends.
He explained in a recent interview: “I’ve played a lot of different people in my career, and it was quite nice to play someone who is from the North of England, which is where I’m from.
“It’s the first time I’ve been able to do my unfiltered, native accent, and that’s also quite enjoyable.”
Going on to speak about his character Don in Legends, Coogan said: “He’s no-nonsense and plain speaking, and people who meet him for the first time might consider him to be rude, unfiltered and direct.
“But they soon learn that he does care very deeply about the welfare of the people who work for him.
“He’s quite a moral man, despite his bluff, forthright nature, and that’s always an interesting character to play.”
Steve Coogan’s ‘terrifying’ ordeal
Coogan spoke candidly in his 2015 book Easily Distracted as per The Guardian about his former drug use and mental health, saying that he had a “truly terrifying cocaine-induced panic attack” in 1992 while living in Edinburgh.
He went on to describe how he had “been up all night doing drugs” when he started to feel dizzy and he was on the “verge of blacking out”.
A distraught Coogan was taken to hospital by a friend and thought he was going to die.
However, he was reassured by the doctor that it was a panic attack and he would be kept in overnight.
Instead of staying at the hospital, Coogan left and explained: “I was scared of what might be written about me in the papers.”
He continued to have panic attacks which led to depression.
Coogan sought out a therapist, who explained he was having panic attacks and taught him breathing exercises to manage any feelings of “impending catastrophe”.
As his panic attacks lessened, the Philomena star admitted he started doing cocaine again.
He reflected: “I spent tens of thousands of pounds on everyone else’s addiction, but it took me a long time to face up to my own.”
In the 2020 book Don’t Look Back In Anger, which featured interviews from numerous other Britpop era stars, Coogan said: “Some of the live shows I did I was still intoxicated from the night before. I didn’t care. I had a feeling of indestructibility.”
He added: “But the bottom line is the drugs don’t work.”
Although the star has now given up drugs, he still considers himself an addict.
Legends is streaming on Netflix now