Alan Partridge isn't the only game in town for Steve Coogan. The versatile actor, comedian and all-round bon viveur (at least when he's with Rob Brydon) has the emotional punch of **Philomena **still to come this year. The Stephen Frears directed drama has a new trailer which you can watch below.
Based on Martin Sixsmith's novel The Lost Child Of Philomena Lee, it’s the tragic true story of how Lee (Dench) became pregnant in 1950s Ireland and ended up giving birth at Sean Ross Abbey, a Catholic home for unmarried mothers in Tipperary. Three years into their life together, the nuns made her give the child up for adoption and he was sent to America. She was also forced to sign a pledge that she would never seek to find out what happened to him.
Lee moved to England and ended up married with a family, but never forgot her firstborn. In 2004, after meeting Sixsmith (Coogan), they began a quest to track him down. As the trailer shows, the search leads them to America.
"The film is a comic tragedy or a tragic comedy,” Coogan told Variety. “It's about two very different people, at different stages of their lives, who help each other and show that there is laughter even in the darkest places."
**Philomena **is out on November 1.