The Wrong Mans

The Wrong Mans leaves me gasping with exhilaration

The Wrong Mans has turned out to be one of the most inspired and reliably enjoyable things on TV this year.

Today's fan poll: if you had to choose between James Corden and Mathew Baynton being mistaken for a rent boy and forced to perform a boy dance for the pleasure of drunken Russian gangsters, who would you plump for?

Right answer. It was Baynton's Sam, the little of this little and large combo, who lost a last remaining shred of dignity as The Wrong Mans (BBC Two) cranked up the thrilling element of its comedy-thriller plot.

It was just one memorable moment in an episode that also involved Corden getting mugged by an airbag. Visual comedy doesn't often do it for me but The Wrong Mans gets it spot on.

Described memorably as 'a scrawny hobbit and a male Clare Balding' - now you come to mention it - Baynton and Corden have fast developed into a winning double act, the latter resisting the temptation and letting Baynton's befuddled straight man set the tone. Thus far, The Wrong Mans is getting it totally right.

Sam and Phil, now murder suspects holed up in a hotel, soon find themselves involved in another plot twist: Scarlett demands that they find and return the music box that is now owned by Marat Milankovic. Consequently, they end up at a debauched party while an assassination attempt is under way. As a comedy thriller the series misses the mark on both counts: the humour (Sam as a male stripper) lacks timing and panache, while the story, too reliant on spoofs, doesn't have any real urgency.

Sitcoms usually reset to zero at the end of every episode, but this is not a sitcom. Every episode of The Wrong Mans sends our antsy heroes Sam and Phil several miles further away from normality. The danger is that the twisting storyline will strangle the comedy - and if this episode had an inch more plot, it'd have too much plot and not enough jokes. But it works because we're never too far from a big, silly visual gag or just a nice bit of interplay between creators Mat Baynton (Sam) and James Corden (the bolder but stupider Phil) - and beneath the pratfalling, the story has been carefully constructed.

Most of this episode takes place at an eastern European gangster's party, where Sam must dance for his life.

The Wrong Mans episode 4 review

The Wrong Mans continues to pack its thirty minutes with action and laughs.

Can The Wrong Mans help Berkshire improve its image?

BBC Two comedy series The Wrong Mans features a character tasked with regenerating the often unloved town of Bracknell. But could the show actually help the Berkshire town overcome its image problem?

Mid-year review: The Wrong Mans

I didn't expect to be enjoying The Wrong Mans as much as I am, but it's doing something incredibly well: the thriller aspect is effective, while the humour is present without overshadowing the drama. It's a very difficult balance to get right, but writers James Corden and Mathew Baynton have managed it.

The accidental crime-fighters negotiate an end to the bungled hostage situation they are caught up in, but instead of returning home the pair are drawn deeper into a strange criminal underworld. James Corden and Mat Baynton's comedy is reminiscent of the high-concept farce of The Comic Strip Presents, with its inept baddies and hopeless protagonists. (Comic Strip alumna Dawn French cameos as Corden's overbearing mum.) Far slicker than its 1980s counterpart, it's just as charmingly silly.

The Wrong Mans episode 3 review

The thing I'm really enjoying about The Wrong Mans is that it doesn't waste time.