Dominic Cooper

James Corden enjoys homecoming drinks

James Corden appeared to be in jovial spirits as he enjoyed a homecoming drink with his pals Dominic Cooper and Justin Theroux on Saturday in London.

One of the best comic adaptations you've not heard of

In 2010, comic book movies were already big, but it would be two years before the first Avengers movie would hit theaters and they became an unstoppable force. So it was an ideal time for Tamara Drewe, a movie that was, and still very much is, an exception to the rules of the genre.

His name is Cooper, Dominic Cooper... currently stirring things up on Sky Atlantic as Ian Fleming, the chap who gave birth to 007. The History Boys actor settles himself down in Norton's studio for a chat alongside the charmingly bonkers Miriam Margolyes, who's heading to Australia later this year with her one-woman show, I'll Eat You Last. And Lily Allen, still flying high from her Christmas success with Somewhere Only We Know, gives us a taste of her perky new song Air Balloon.

Radio Times review

The incomparable Miriam Margolyes has become a semi-regular on Graham's couch in recent years. It's easy to see why: charmingly eccentric and outrageous (the last time she was on she told a show-stealing story about "assisting" a sex-starved soldier up a tree in Edinburgh), she's one of those daffy English wits we thought we just didn't make any more.

Remember when the likes of Peter Ustinov and Kenneth Williams would frequently turn up on Parkinson and Wogan, not to plug anything in particular but just because they were always good value? Margolyes is one of the few remaining figures we have in that vein.

So, should fellow guests Lily Allen and Dominic Cooper fail to cut the mustard, Graham can always rely on his real star turn to pick up the slack.

Late, great-girthed actor Richard Griffiths, aka Withnail & I's Uncle Monty, heads up the original stage cast in this screen adaptation of Alan Bennett's award-winning theatre comedy. Griffiths is Hector, an inspirational general studies teacher at a 1980s boys' grammar school with a reputation for unorthodox teaching methods - not least his penchant for fondling the pupils he offers rides home on his moped. To the boys (including a young Dominic Cooper and James Corden), Hector is an avuncular joke and their favourite teacher - until along comes Stephen Campbell Moore's Irwin to help them with the Oxbridge entrance exams. Think a sharper, British version of Dead Poets Society, realised with deadpan wit.