WHAT makes Latitude so different from many of the other UK festivals is the huge variety of entertainment on offer, much of which is hidden away in quiet corners or billed surprisingly early in the schedules on the main arenas.
A highlight yesterday for hundreds of comedy fans was a Bafta-organised session in the film and music tent with Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, stars of BBC’s The Trip.
Coogan, fresh from his latest starring role on Newsnight as one of the public faces of Hacked Off, a campaign calling for action over the phone hacking scandal, took to the stage with friend and co-star Brydon, along with series producer Andrew Eaton.
The trio took questions from Bafta stalwart and Comic Relief founder Richard Curtis, a regular at Latitude over the years (he has a house up the road, after all).
The arena was packed with long queues of people waiting to get just a glimpse of the I’m Alan Partidge and Gavin and Stacey stars.
Coogan and Brydon sat back and joined the audience in watching clips from the show, including a hilarious Michael Caine-inspired sequence.
They spoke at length about the extent to which their portrayal in the show reflected their real-life relationship.
Today Curtis’s partner Emma Freud will take to the stage to grill another big name - Ralph Fiennes, another session that is expected to prove popular.
ELLIOT FURNISS
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