Uncle's Nick Helm on the cult of the manchild

The stand-up turned star of BBC Three's new sitcom on Men Behaving Badly, Simon Pegg and the evolution of boys who won't grow up.

Simon Pegg joins Monty Python's Absolutely Anything

Simon Pegg has joined the cast of Absolutely Anything, the film in which Monty Python's Terry Jones, John Cleese, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam provide the voices of alien creatures.

There is nothing like a Dame. The last time Edna Everage was on Ross's show she berated him for his bad language and "homophobic" band name. As she breezed through various routines, the host barely got a word in edgeways. With her retirement approaching we can only hope she's even more scurrilous now. Also in the Green Room are Gary Barlow, Simon Pegg and FHM favourite Michelle "Tina from Corrie" Keegan.

Simon Pegg returning for 'Mission: Impossible 5'

Simon Pegg will return for Mission: Impossible 5. The actor has confirmed that he will reprise his role of tech specialist Benji Dunn alongside Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt.

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.

Love him or hate him, James Corden undeniably does have a range of talents - actor, writer and co-creator of some very funny comedy (we'll politely forget the car crash of his misguided BBC sketch show with Mathew Horne). And now, dontchaknow, he's come up with another comedy vehicle, The Wrong Mans (****), which had a very accomplished debut last night.

Corden, late of the National Theatre and Broadway, has co-written, with fellow Gavin & Stacey alumnus Mathew Baynton, a comedy thriller in the style of Simon Pegg and Joe Wright's Cornetto trilogy, with appreciative nods (in the title) to Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 thriller and, in camerawork and misfit leads, to Peep Show.

Baynton is nice but weedy Sam, who wakes up one wintry morning with the mother of a hangover, only to find his pushbike has been stolen so he has to walk to work, as a town planning and noise guidance adviser for Berkshire County Council. On his way, he's the only witness to a car crash and he picks up a ringing phone; a man issues threats and in later calls it's clear a woman has been kidnapped.

At work Sam takes postboy Phil (Corden) into his confidence. Phil is beside himself; he's a 31-year-old living at home with his mum and he keeps trying to organise fun days paint-balling or bowling with his colleagues (oblivious to the fact they all think he's a boring knob); for him, this mystery is his very own live-action Grand Theft Auto, and he convinces Sam not to call the police but to try to rescue the woman and become heroes.

The opening episode efficiently essayed the set-up, and there are some promising relationships to be explored in the following five weeks. Sarah Solemani (who was so brilliant in Him & Her) is Sam's boss, but also the girlfriend who recently dumped him because he was too needy, while Tom Basden is the horrible colleague we'd love to be taken down a peg or two.

Corden clearly has pulling power, as those names above suggest, and Dawn French, Nick Moran, Rebecca Front and Dougray Scott will appear in future episodes - although David Harewood, who appeared briefly last night, shot his scenes before his Homeland stardom. The opener had some neat twists and turns and ended on a great cliffhanger. Definitely one to stay with.

Simon Pegg interview

The comic actor, who played Scotty in the director's Star Trek franchise, is making a return to television claiming the genre is luring the biggest names away from Hollywood.

Q & A with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost

The World's End, the third and final film in the aptly named Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy or the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy, crashes U.S. theaters on Friday.

Edinburgh Fringe interview: Jacob Edwards

Jacob Edwards is a talented man, appearing Burke & Hare alongside Simon Pegg, as well as The IT Crowd and 10 O'Clock Live. He's also a great character comedian, and is appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year at the Assembly Hall in Faux Latino Show Pony.

'Spaced': The beginning of 'The World's End'?

Having been one of the 'chosen ones' to have been able to see a pre-screening of the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg film, The World's End, my mind immediately began to wander (no comments, please) as I left the cinema to just how much I love the earlier Channel 4 comedy series, Spaced.