Mathew Baynton

It's only fair to admit that I was quite biased against The Wrong Mans when it began last year. Not only did it have a stupid title (still not explained) but it starred and was co-written by James Corden. Once the well-liked breakout star/co-creator of Gavin and Stacey, his ego and ubiquity led to a backlash that saw him branded one of the most annoying men in Britain. But, much like this series' heroes, he made a miraculous escape, bouncing back with a highly entertaining, carefully thought-out comedy thriller.

As he's about to become the new host of a late-night American chat show, this two-part return of The Wrong Mans may be its last hurrah. It sees Corden's Phil living it up in the US, while pal Sam (co-writer Mathew Baynton) is less happy about what has followed their last accidental escapades with gangsters and spies.

The plot moves speedily, with the hapless pair quickly in yet more dangerous situations which they're completely unable to cope with. Realism goes out the window, but there's charming banter between the duo, who are given to reminiscing about their town's Christmas lights even when banged up in a high-security Texan jail.

Without spoiling the opening to this new two-parter, our antiheroes Sam (Mathew Baynton) and Phil (James Corden) have relocated to warmer climes, and one of them is settling in better than the other. Whoever tried to kill them at the end of the last series is yet to be found but they need to get back to the UK. This is their thrilling, gorgeously shot, exceptionally funny journey home. A great Top Gear gag, Bertie Carvel's chameleon act ... there's so much to recommend it. Concludes tomorrow.

Sky's high-concept comedy, in which therapist Rebecca Front combs over the psyches of her famous patients, concludes its second series tonight with Gracie Fields (Frances Barber) and Daphne du Maurier (Morgana Robinson) among those exposing their neuroses. One of the less amusing, and less admirable, aspects of the show is the male comedians' pantomime dame-style grotesque parodies of women, a gag taken to extremes here as Mathew Baynton, Kevin Eldon and Dustin Demri-Burns play a trio of hideous witches.

Radio Times review

Jonathan Ross is your host as the nation's comics get together and royally rip the mickey. No tears. No compliments. It's their way of saying they love each other.

The nominations list shows 2014 has been an exceptional year - albeit primarily for white men, who are so glaringly dominant, it's a wonder there aren't any blokes up for best comedy actress.

The evening should belong to Matt Berry, whose riotous Toast of London is in line for six awards, the most nods since Gavin & Stacey seven years back. His fellow best actor nominee Mathew Baynton might have a better chance in the restored comedy drama category - if The Wrong Mans can edge out Rev. and the dazzling Inside No 9.

Or will it be a night for codgers? Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's labour of love Story of the Twos is justly recognised, and there are two noms for a gang of plucky UKTV debutants called Monty Python...

The Wrong Mans series 2 in the works, confirms Baynton

BBC Two's The Wrong Mans is gearing up for a second series. Co-creator and star Mathew Baynton confirmed to Digital Spy that he and James Corden have started work on new episodes.

With Blandings principally consisting of posh people strolling about being aristocratically bonkers, these adaptations of PG Wodehouse are like watching an episode of Downton where everyone has been on the gin all night. Which actually makes it rather more entertaining.

Helped no end by guest casting that included Mathew Baynton (The Wrong Mans) and Geoffrey McGivern (This Is Jinsy), the story of Throwing Eggs pretty much began and ended with the title. But it worked a treat.

Radio Times review

Gavin & Stacey co-creator James Corden returned to narrative comedy, flanked by one of the breakout stars of the year, Mathew Baynton. The Wrong Mans wasn't a sitcom but a full-on comedy thriller, in which Corden and Baynton played humble losers wrapped up in a criminal/espionage conspiracy. Breathless plotting and Hollywood-standard direction played off against the classic British scenario of bumblers struggling in extreme circumstances. It would have been easy for the comedy to make the action look silly, but The Wrong Mans was too smartly made for that.

Yonderland: We wanted to raid the dressing up box

We were hardly going to go from Horrible Histories to an office sitcom, says star and writer of Sky1's new comedy Mathew Baynton

Our accidental all-action spy heroes Sam and Phil leap into some high-octane Bond-age scrapes tonight as, all too soon, we reach the end of the road for this excellent dramatic comedy.

It's been a deft mesh of the familiar concerns of everyday life with the preposterously epic, played with utter conviction by James Corden and Mathew Baynton.

But before the punchy final showdown, the pair have to get themselves out of their tricky Thelma & Louise-style cliffhanger...