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Veteran TV presenter Sue Cook has spoken of her bewilderment and irritation at being the butt of a long running joke by comedian Steve Coogan's alter ego Alan Partridge.

Crimewatch host Ms Cook was for years relentlessly targeted by Coogan's spoof sitcom character, who uttered the classic line 'Sue Cook's pulled out' when he claimed she had telephoned to cancel an appointment with him.

Now she has revealed the full extent of how hearing her name mentioned repeatedly on the 'I'm Alan Partridge' show affected how people viewed her and how it has impacted on her life.

Ms Cook, 77, told The Peter Purves Podcast: 'It's a bit of a pain in the neck, to be honest, at times because people are always saying 'Oh, Sue Cook's pulled out'.

'So people think that I'm the sort of person who pulls out of things. If they don't understand the reference, they wonder why they keep seeing things about me pulling out of things.'

The Sue Cook joke was poking fun at the broadcaster's squeaky-clean image, and became a running gag over several years.

But she added that eventually she became accustomed to the mentions, leading to her children Megan and Charlie realising that their mother was a household name.

Sue told the former Blue Peter presenter Peter Purves, 87: 'My kids thought I was dead cool, but I wasn't expecting it. We were sitting at home on the sofa watching Alan Partridge, and to our amazement suddenly he started talking about me.

Sue Cook (pictured) has spoken of her bewilderment and irritation at being the butt of a long running joke by comedian Steve Coogan's alter ego Alan Partridge

For years Ms Cook was relentlessly targeted by Coogan's sitcom character Partridge (pictured), who uttered the classic line 'Sue Cook's pulled out'

'And the kids, because I didn't really tell the kids much about my job - I didn't bring my job home much really when they were young, and so they didn't really know that ! was a thing or well-known at all, so when I came up in Alan Partridge they decided I was cool!'

But not all her family took the skit in their stride. My mother was really shocked because there was another one where he said, 'Take the fag out of your mouth!' My mother was like 'But you gave up smoking!'

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Ms Cook was one of the most instantly recognisable women on television, best remembered as the co-host of BBC's Crimewatch for just over 11 years as well as fronting BBC shows including Breakfast Time and Children in Need.

Previously the TV presenter and broadcaster said she found Coogan's obsession 'bizarre' and their association pure conjecture adding: 'I am in his book, and he sent it to me with a letter. I haven't read it properly, but you look at the index, and it says Sue Cook page 9, 17, 22, 32, 34 etcetera...'

Coogan's character's obsession began with him setting up a display board advertising 'An afternoon with Alan Partridge with Sue Cook.'

Later, after receiving a call from 'Sue' telling him she won't be there, he tells his audience, 'I might as well say this now, Sue Cook has pulled out. So, if anyone wants to leave, then please, now's the time'. Two men in the audience get up and leave.

Partridge revived his imaginary relationship with Ms Cook while in character promoting Alpha Papa - The Alan Partridge Movie in 2013. He told Vue Magazine: 'Sue and I go way back.

'She's a straight-talker - she'll really go to town on you if you displease her. I mean, she'll call you all the names under the sun. I've seen her reduce John Stapleton to tears more than once, but it's only because she cares. It's funny that she's called Sue Cook - she can't cook, but she will sue.'

In Beacon, another Partridge 'memoir published in 2023, the character claims to have 'developed incredibly strong feelings towards' Ms Cook.

In an earlier chat with the podcast, Ms Cook said: I'm female, I'm well-spoken... I'm white-skinned, middle-class. I'm all the things you shouldn't be. So, I'm sure l'd never get a job [in TV] now. But women were quite a rare thing on television [when I started].'