‘The Trip’ is returning – and we found out because Steve Coogan was caught speeding

6 February, 2025

Steve Coogan has revealed there is a planned fifth series of the comedy The Trip in an unusual fashion, via a letter to Birmingham Magistrates Court.

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The star was caught speeding at 97mph in July 2024 and was found to already have six penalty points on his licence. The infraction would potentially have seen him given a driving ban, and the Alan Partridge creator pled to authorities for lenience.

In the letter, first reported by The Standard, Coogan wrote: “I have a series of important film commitments scheduled for 2025, many of which involve driving as a central component of the work. I am due to appear in a well-established TV series called The Trip (with Rob Brydon), which as the title suggests requires me to drive”.

The letter revealed that filming is scheduled for “towards the end of June 2025” with Coogan saying: “If I were unable to drive, the production would likely be unable to proceed”. He argued that aside from his own work, “the many individuals dependent on these productions for work” would be affected.

He explained: “These include camera, sound, and lighting technicians, riggers, and others on modest wages who would face cancellations and financial hardship, as rescheduling such projects is often highly complicated”.

The report says Coogan “entered a guilty plea and was handed five penalty points, leaving him one point short of facing a ban. He was ordered to pay a £2,500 fine, plus £90 costs and a £1,000 victim surcharge”.

This news will come as a surprise to fans, who had been told by the show’s director Michael Winterbottom as recently as last year that no continuation was planned. In an interview with NME, he remarked: “I don’t think any more Trips. Steve and Rob were always keen on America but it’s too big! I think it’d be better to go smaller. Wales for Rob! But no, there’s no more Trips”.

This came in spite of Coogan himself saying he’d like to do one more series of the comedy travelogue on co-star Rob Brydon’s podcast. “I think certainly there will be more stuff to say, because middle age is different to just getting old,” he said. “I think we should do another one, at a time and place to be determined”.