James Corden

James Corden: Brit Awards 2014 might be my last

James Corden, the three-time host of the annual Brit Awards ceremony, has hinted he may call it a day after next year's event, and pass on to someone new.

I quite enjoyed the beginning of The Wrong Mans (BBC Two), this new (very) British comedy crime caper written by and starring Matthew Baynton and James Corden. Bayton's character, Sam, gets up with a hangover while flashing back to a wild evening before. Then there's a car crash, which is surprising.

After which it surprises - and I liked it - less. In Sam's council office, where we meet James Corden (who plays James Corden - I'm not his number one fan, I'm afraid), it seems to be trying to be a bit like The Office, though less subtle and a decade on. Then, in a hospital, there's a hint of Green Wing about it, with the same speeding-up-the-action trick, but without the surreal joy. This is pretty crude, most of the humour based on mix-ups and misunderstanding (a trolley swap would have been funnier if the wrong leg had actually been amputated, instead of nearly amputated, though admittedly it would have made Bayton's role harder afterward). Nor am I gnawing my knuckles at the tension.

My editor, who is sane and wise and who has seen more of it, says it gets better. Hope so, because so far I'm not convinced by a comedy/thriller that isn't doing it for me as either. Nor that performers (mainly) necessarily make the best writers. Oh, and what's with that title? There's something wrong with it, isn't there? Grammatically?

James Corden on the right track with The Wrongs Man

Comic duos are built on sharp contrasts and Corden and Baynton have got them all going on: fat and thin, optimist and pessimist, extrovert and introvert. It's a winning combination of clashes and, though the first episode of The Wrong Mans has to work overtime to set up its elaborate plot and characters, it fulfilled the essential law of opening episodes: it left me wanting more. In fact, the one thing working against The Wrong Mans is its length.

I'm holding out hope for BBC One's The Wrong Mans. Mathew Baynton from CBBC's Horrible Histories plays Sam Pinkett, an employee of Berkshire County Council who gets mixed up in a thriller plot-line entirely at odds with his mundane existence to date. Gavin & Stacey's James Corden (who also co-wrote the script with Baynton) plays his colleague Phil Bourne, a man who makes up in enthusiasm what he lacks in common sense.

Wisely judging that the Hitchcock reference will go over our heads, this first episode of six spent much of its time in setting tone. Thanks to slick direction and, one suspects, a large chunk of the BBC's autumn budget, it certainly looks as good as a Hollywood thriller.

It's only a shame that the combination of ordinary blokes and extraordinary setting won't feel original to anyone who's seen Shaun of the Dead or any other Simon Pegg/Nick Frost collaboration. Unlike Pegg/Frost, Baynton/Corden isn't yet a natural double act with natural chemistry. Instead, they came across like the straight man(s) in search of a comedian.

Still, if Baynton and Corden don't do it for you, we're promised forthcoming episodes will include a supporting cast of contemporary comedy talent to compensate. There's Him & Her's Sarah Solemani, The Thick of It's Paul Higgins and Dawn French, among others. As the trail for next week's episode revealed, Lock Stock's Nick Moran will also be stomping around doing his well-worn cockney gangster bit. But don't let that put you off.

The Wrong Mans episode 1 review

James Corden and Mat Baynton's great new BBC comedy has a touch of Hot Fuzz and Spaced about it.

Laughter, a doctor once said, is the best medicine. This week's opening episodes of two new sitcoms should only be prescribed by a Crippen-like physician, such was the dearth of merriment among them.

In its defence, The Wrong Mans is essentially more comedy-drama than straight sitcom. It's saved from being yet another James Corden vanity project (I'm not a fan of his, let's get that out of the way) by being co-written by and co-starring Mathew Baynton, who appeared in Gavin & Stacey but is also part of the marvellous Horrible Histories cast.

Baynton's character Sam is a meek council worker who witnesses a car crash, and after answering a mobile phone at the scene he's plunged into a world of intrigue and kidnapping. Rather than go to the police with any evidence he's got, he's persuaded by office mailman friend Phil (Corden) to keep in touch with the kidnappers and rescue the mystery lady in trouble.

And this turn of events is the main problem - Sam would have gone to the police, and would have ignored any stupid 'advice' from his frankly stupid friend. The opener didn't know if it wanted to play it for laughs (there was some slapstick involving a hospital bed and an anaesthetic) or veer off into crime thriller territory (the episode ended with the pair of them blindfolded and bundled into a van themselves).

The programme therefore fell between the two, and was neither funny or tense enough. Having said that, pilots can be tough so it warrants a second look, mainly because of a strong performance from Baynton and a decent supporting cast including Tom Basden and Sarah Solemani.

Cheeky chappy James Corden sticks to type but nevertheless tickles with former Gavin & Stacey co-star Mathew Baynton in this fun comedy-thriller about two office drones embroiled in a case of mistaken identity. After answering a lost mobile phone, Sam (Baynton), a figure cut closer to a Quentin Blake illustration than an Iron Man-style superhero, is burdened with the company of eager beaver colleague Phil (Corden) when he goes to the rescue of a hostage.

The evolving bromance has a familiar flavour, but it's by steering clear of complete spoofery that The Wrong Mans finds its surprisingly comfortable stride, somewhere between gags and action. The success of films like Kick-Ass suggests we're a public with a soft spot for have-a-go heroes, making Corden and Baynton's offering well gauged. It's the television equivalent of jelly: not particularly sophisticated, but a pleasant treat all the same.

Famous faces (David Harewood, Dougray Scott) are underutilised, sliding past the camera as if on a conveyor belt peopled by Corden's celebrity pals. Luckily, Baynton's impressive comic dexterity covers everything from deadpan to daft, tempering Corden's potentially dominating presence and making for a balanced double act.

James Corden and Mathew Baynton write and star in this new sitcom as Phil and Sam, two friends whose dull existences are complicated by the discovery of a strange mobile phone and an associated gangland hostage situation. These wrong men live in a weird grey twilight with a Belle & Sebastian soundtrack: stylish, but potentially at the expense of much actual comic substance. Corden is on top form with an uber-pathetic variation on his usual shtick, though, while the always brilliant Tom Basden plays the guys' nasty colleague.

James Corden's new six-part comedy caper is assured of a better reception than his last TV outing with the very iffy sketch show Horne & Corden. Maybe because he's got a new comedy writing partner and co-star in Mathew Baynton, of Horrible ­Histories, who played Deano in Gavin & Stacey. So this could well be a case of the wrong man(s), but the right Mat.

This is a hugely ­confident, well-plotted and hilarious new series. Imagine 24 written as a sitcom with Corden taking on the Kiefer ­Sutherland role.

The pair star as workers at Berkshire County Council whose lives are turned upside down when Sam (Baynton) witnesses a ­car crash - the first of many action- packed stunts that set this apart from the comedy run of the mill.

He finds a mobile phone at the crash scene and is drawn into a dangerous kidnapping conspiracy populated by real villains. Mail room boy Phil (Corden) is busting a gut to get involved.

Several years in the planning, the pair have worked all the angles and the action scenes are as convincing as the comedy.

The snow in the opening scene probably wasn't scripted but it gives it a wonderfully cinematic look, while the casting of David Harewood (long before he became a big star in Homeland) is another happy accident.

And just like 24, each episode ends with a massive cliff-hanger moment, guaranteeing you'll be back for more.

James Corden on new action comedy 'The Wrong Mans'

Espionage, kidnap, mistaken identity, car crashes - James Corden's new BBC comedy The Wrong Mans is certainly ambitious, reports Catherine Gee.