Actor Steve Coogan has said he is planning to "cryogenically preserve" his wildly successful Alan Partridge character "in a morgue" before maybe bringing him back to life at a later date.

Coogan, 48, was in Soho, central London, to attend the premiere of his latest film, Northern Soul, about the 1970s' dance craze based around venues such as the Wigan Casino.

He said his secondary school teacher character in the independent film was inspired by "about 20 sarcastic and cynical" teachers who taught him growing up in the North West.

Speaking of projects past, present and future, he also said that there are plans to take his popular Trip series with Rob Brydon to the United States.

Asked if he was thinking about another Partridge film in the wake of the box office success last year of the Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa movie, Coogan confirmed the North Norfolk Radio DJ is not done yet.

"We will do a few more shows for TV and then lay him to rest and get on with other things," he said.

"I'm not going to kill him off, we'll just cryogenically preserve him, put him on ice, put him in a morgue, chill him.

"Maybe we'll bring him back at a later date but I think you can slip into overkill sometimes with a character, best to leave the audience wanting more, you don't want to oversaturate people."

After the release earlier this year of The Trip to Italy - a follow-up to the 2010 series which saw him and Brydon embarking on a restaurant road trip - Coogan said there were new instalments being mooted.

"There's been talk about doing it in America but I don't think it would be as much fun as Europe," he said.

"I liked the first trip because it was in the north of England, which is very close to my heart.

"I'm sure there will be another one but at the moment America is the favourite."

Asked if the new series might be set in typical American diners, Coogan said: "We would have to go to nice restaurants, I'm not going to slum it."

In Northern Soul the actor plays stern Mr Banks, whose two young pupils fall in love with the 1970s' dance scene.

Commenting on his character, Coogan said: "Northern Soul was a music that was an escape for many people from a dreary damp northern existence in the mid-1970s, which seemed to be danker and damper than it is now, before all the regeneration.

"One of the things they were escaping from were these rather depressing, sarcastic, cynical secondary school teachers.

"They weren't all like that at the time but there were a few of them and I play one of those, based on about 20 teachers that I had myself."

The film also features All Around The World singer Lisa Stansfield, who grew up listening to her mother's soul records in the North West.

Stansfield, 48, plays the mother of lead man and former Hollyoaks actor Elliot James Langridge, who portrayed party animal Dave Colburn in the soap.

She said: "The very first music that I heard was my mum's Motown, she used to listen to Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye."

Former Fast Show and Cold Feet star John Thomson features in the role of an older youth club DJ swept away by the Northern Soul craze.

Thomson, 45, explained that he got involved with the project after working with first-time director Elaine Constantine on a fashion shoot.

He said that the accomplished photographer had spoken to him of her love of Northern Soul and ambition to make a film about the scene, and he had decided to get on board.

After recently opening Manchester's first dry bar, he said it would be hard to imagine a Northern Soul all-nighter with no stimulants of any kind.

"I don't think you could guarantee a stimulant-free Northern Soul night, you might be able to do an espresso-driven Northern Soul night," he said.