Mathew Horne

April 2013

WHEN the lead actress pulled out with just four days to go until filming was due to start, Mathew Horne suggested the director should call an old friend of his.
But this wasn’t just anyone.
“I said to him ‘why don’t you ask Kylie?’ and he laughed and said ‘as if!” recalls Horne.
“So I just rang her up and said ‘look, I’m doing this film and there’s a part for you in it. I know you’re busy...’
“She’s often quite busy,” he adds with a laugh.
The international pop star, who Horne has worked with half-a-dozen times in the past, was in Berlin at the time and scheduled to fly home to perform at Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations.
“It was in the hands of fate really because she had just three days free and they happened to be when we were filming. It worked out perfectly. And I can’t imagine anyone else doing that part now.”
It was for Hey Diddly Dee, a one-hour drama for Sky Arts as part a new season of Playhouse Presents.
The likes of Anna Friel, Matt Smith, Idris Elba, Johnny Vegas, Kathy Burke, Suranne Jones, and Vanessa Redgrave are appearing throughout the ten-week run, which begins on Thursday with Hey Diddly Dee.
Joining Horne and Minogue are Peter Serafinowicz, David Harewood, Lee Boardman and Trent Poly alumni Paul Kaye.
“It’s about an amateur theatre group who are putting on a really bad show about Andy Warhol, played by Peter Serafinowicz,” says Horne.
“He’s like a grand dame who has fallen from grace so he’s quite bitter and aggressive. He’s having an on-off relationship with Kylie’s character. And I play his understudy who ends up usurping him, although Kylie’s character tries to scupper me.
“It’s a strange, irreverent, retro piece.”
Horne, who first got into acting while at the Minster School in Southwell, worked with the writer and director Marc Warren on the Boy George drama, Worried About The Boy, playing Culture Club drummer Jon Moss, so he knew a lot of the crew but it was his first meeting with Kaye and Serafinowicz.
Kylie he’s known for years, since he and Gavin & Stacey co-star James Corden presented the Brit Awards with her in 2009. The same year she appeared in their BBC3 sketch show Horne & Corden.
The boy from Burton Joyce now classes the pop icon as a friend.
“It’s kind of a strange old friendship that I don’t like to think about too much, because it’s too weird,” he laughs.
The pair do socialise when time allows it and he will go and see her in concert, even though he’s more a fan of indie guitar bands.
“She gets me over to Paris and places to see her shows.
“And because we’ve worked together quite a bit, she trusts my judgment. She listens to me, which is great,” he laughs. “I think something like this is good for her because she can spend a few days not being Kylie. She’s part of a team of people making something together, mucking in and getting on with it.
“I think she quite likes that. And it takes the pressure off for a few days. When I’m watching her on set, she’s very low key, she’s no bother, she’ll get involved, she’s mucking in... and I think she likes it not being all about Kylie Minogue.”
This week he’s been filming a second series of BBC3 comedy Bad Education, with star and co-writer Jack Whitehall.
“The kids are keeping the energy up but they do make me feel like an old man,” says Horne, who plays headmaster Fraser.
Filming is in a studio in Wimbledon, in contrast to the first series.
“We were under the Heathrow flightpath for that, which caused us a few problems. We had about 13 seconds of silence before another plane came over.”
Working with Whitehall, an arena status comedian, hasn’t re-ignited Horne’s passion for stand-up comedy, which he started doing after leaving Manchester University, from where he graduated with a drama degree.
“I don’t have any desire to be a stand-up any more,” he insists.
Horne and fellow graduate Bruce McKinnon toured as a double act for three years and played Nottingham’s Just The Tonic when it was based at the Old Vic in Fletcher Gate.
When Catherine Tate saw the act at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2001, it kickstarted Horne’s acting career.
He joined the cast of her sketch show as (“Am I bovvered?”) Lauren’s boyfriend and the grandson of Tate’s foul-mouthed pensioner. Fans of the show included Liam Gallagher, Richard E. Grant and Robbie Williams, who once shouted “Am I bovvered?” at him from his car in a London street.
After appearing in Teachers, Horne became a household name with the BAFTA-winning Gavin & Stacey.
“However ubiquitous Gavin & Stacey is, it’s been four years since we did it,” he says of his biggest role.
“I don’t think people will ever stop asking if we are going to do more until we do some more. Then they’ll go ‘oh I wish you hadn’t done that, you ruined it’,” he laughs.
But he then adds: “We may well do it and I’d love to but it’s got to be right.”
After the sketch show, Horne & Corden, and his and Corden’s film debut Lesbian Vampire Killers (he’s since returned to the big screen in Horrid Henry: The Movie), Horne has been working a lot in theatre, appearing in Entertaining Mr Sloane and Charley’s Aunt.
“I’m weighing up a few more options because I really want to get back into the theatre,” he says.
Horne still lives in London but there is no girlfriend. Not even a cat.
“I’m not allowed pets and I shouldn’t be allowed girlfriends,” he laughs.
He returns to Nottingham to see his parents, a retired lace factory boss and a nursery nurse, for family birthdays and for gigs at Rock City.
“I haven’t been back since Christmas,” he admits, although he plans to visit for the Dot to Dot festival in May.
Horne is a big music fan and runs a club night in Shoreditch.
“I packed in the DJing because I got fed up with the late nights. I am 34 now, Simon. But I still love music. I’m loving the new Suede album. I saw them at the Barfly recently and they were just brilliant. And the Foals album is great. There’s so much good stuff around at the moment.”
He meets up with fellow Nottingham actor Vicky McClure, currently appearing in ITV drama Broadchurch, when he’s home.
“Our paths do cross quite a bit in London but because Vicky’s moved back to Nottingham now, I tend to hook up with her for a drink when I go back. We go down the Social (now The Bodega) and have a drink. It’s quite funny because people say ‘what are you two doing hanging out together?’”
He adds: “I like catching up with her, she’s great.”
This year he’s appeared in Miss Marple and Death In Paradise, which was filmed on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe (“It was like one day on set and three days off, on the beach, for two weeks – I got a bit of stick for that”). Now he wants to concentrate on theatre and working with his own production company.
“I want to get into writing some stuff myself. And there are a few projects I’m developing as producer.”
He adds: “It’s all good. I’m getting older... and less wise.”
-
Playhouse Presents Hey Diddly Dee is on Sky Arts 1 on Thursday at 9pm.

Nina Smith

August 2011

WHEN friends asked Nina Smith to break into song at school, she’d lock herself in a toilet cubicle and let them listen outside.

“It’s true,” laughs the 25-year-old from Bakersfield.

“I was too shy. I’d recorded music at home on my computer and put it on mini-discs but I didn’t have the confidence to actually stand in front of anyone and do it.”

Despite that she is now among the most talked about musicians on Nottingham’s music scene and expected to follow Liam Bailey, Dog Is Dead and Jake Bugg by signing a deal with a major record label.

She has supported everyone from Finley Quaye to Alicia Dixon and appeared on Radio 1. Strange then that Nina never harboured ambitions to be a singer as a child.

“No-one in my family is really musical at all,” she says.

“My dad was a lorry driver and he also worked on the canals. My mum worked in retail. But she did play a lot of music in the house, like Tina Turner, Simply Red and Robert Palmer and I used to mimic them. I’d try really hard to get it exactly the same.

“I didn’t think ‘I want to be a singer’ I just enjoyed it. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been good at.”

She wasn’t a particularly big fan of music either.

“The first song I ever bought was Mr Blobby on a cassette,” she laughs.

“I liked Destiny’s Child, Justin Timberlake and the Spice Girls but I didn’t really go to gigs. I was more into clubbing.”

Her first conscious move towards a singing career came at 17 when she dropped out of college to work on her music at CRS, the community recording studios in St Ann’s.

“They took me under their wing and developed me. It was where my confidence as a performer grew. I dropped out of college to concentrate on that.”

Her soulful pop style was in contrast to the studio’s largely hip-hop stable.

“There were people there who were getting played on Radio 1, like Scorzayzee, C-Mone and Shifty Spirit. They were mostly rappers. But I’d start to sing on their tracks, feature choruses.”

It was a session with Scorzayzee at Maida Vale that gave Nina her Radio 1 and 1Xtra debut 18 months ago.

Soon after she as supporting Finley Quaye in London.

“I walked in on him on the toilet,” she laughs.

“This was before I’d even met him. And foolishly when he came out I asked for a photo. It was all a bit uncomfortable to say the least.”

Earlier this year she opened for Alicia Dixon at the opening of Best Buy at Castle Retail Park.

“It was the strangest gig I’ve ever done. The first day I was performing on the Best Buy bus in Birmingham. Then the second day was outside the shop in Nottingham with Alicia Dixon and there were hundreds of people there. I gained some mega fans from that gig but it was strange.”

There have been offers from record labels but not the right ones as yet.

“I think one label wanted to shove me out on stage in a short outfit with a dance act and I wasn’t ready for that.

I wanted to see what I could do first.”

Which is why she will be releasing her debut EP, Lonely Heart Club, later this month.

“It’s very exciting in Nottingham at the moment. There are a lot of artists getting recognition like Liam Bailey, Ronika, Dog Is Dead and Jake Bugg. And there are others on the way like Royal Gala, Natalie Duncan, Cecile Grey and Harleighblu.

“And everyone is supporting each other.”

Liam Bailey, who is signed to Polydor and hit the Top 5 with the Chase & Status single Blind Faith, is a friend.

“Liam has the potential to go all the way,” says Nina. “Although he can be embarrassing sometimes.

“When we were at the Bodega once we met Mat Horne from Gavin And Stacey. I introduced myself properly but Liam grabbed him in a headlock and started messing his hair up. He just doesn’t care.”

Nina Smith plays The Waterfront Festival tomorrow.

Lonely Heart Club EP is released on CD and through iTunes on Monday August 29.

Mathew Horne: Worried About The Boy

May 2010

GAVIN and Stacey star Mathew Horne will be seen kissing a 17-year-old man on BBC this weekend.

But he’s not worried what his mum, back in Burton Joyce, will think.

“I’ve done it before so I don’t think she’ll mind too much,” said the 31-year-old, who appears in the Boy George drama Worried About The Boy.

“It was with James (Corden, his Gavin and Stacey co-star) and in the very early days that I did on-screen boy-on-boy action.”

Mathew plays Culture Club drummer Jon Moss, who had a tempestuous relationship with the androgynous singer, played by newcomer Douglas Booth.

The 90-minute drama charts the beginnings of the band on London’s New Romantic scene up to their first hit in 1982, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? The song was written by George about Moss.

“When we recreated the Top Of The Pops performance of that song Jon was on set, which was very strange. Especially as I’m wearing the same shirt he wore.

“I asked him for any clothes he had and he happened to come up with the shirt. So there I am as him, in his clothes, 28 years on.”

Moss was concerned about how he would be portrayed in the drama, which also stars The League Of Gentlemen’s Mark Gatiss as Malcolm McLaren.

“I think he was happy that I was playing him but he wanted to know about the script and how he was going to be portrayed. I told him he was being portrayed in a really nice way.”

The Moss/George relationship remained secret outside the band until the singer published his tell-all autobiography, Take It Like A Man, in 1995. By this time Moss was married with three children.

Moss was the driving force in the band but there was little actual footage of him for Matthew to capture his personality.

“I can play the drums a bit and that was enough to get by. But on the internet there’s an interview with him and a press conference but little else. It became clear that I need to look like Jon, which I think I do, but to make it a 100 per cent accurate impersonation would be a mistake.

“We all had to find the right balance between making it faithful but also dramatic.

“It’s got to work as a film for somebody who doesn’t know Jon Moss or Culture Club and who wasn’t around in the eighties.”

He was too young to draw on any personal memories.

“I don’t remember anything of them. But I really wanted to do it because the script was so good and to do with music which I’m very interested in.”

Though he never wanted to be a musician himself.

“It would take away my love of music,” said the regular gig-goer.

The drama was filmed in Manchester earlier this year. He currently has a number of projects on the go.

“I’ll be doing something on the radio, I might be writing something in book form, I’m writing a couple of comedy shows, I’m attached to some films and there’s a play I want to do. I like to do one-off unique projects.”

He then admitted: “I’ve been taking it a bit easy. You’ve got to look after yourself.”

Last year he collapsed on stage due to exhaustion during a performance of Entertaining Mr Sloane at London’s Trafalgar Studios theatre.

At the time he was also promoting his BBC3 series with James Corden, Horne & Corden, their big screen debut Lesbian Vampire Killers and travelling around the country DJ-ing.

“I enjoy the DJ-ing but it’s such late nights and I was doing it four nights a week. I went through a period of really disliking it. But I’ve just started enjoying it again.”

He runs a monthly club night in Shoreditch, near to his home.

“I’ve never had one big ambition,” he said.

“I’m fortunate to have been given some amazing opportunities and at the moment that is still the case, so I’m really happy.”

Worried About the Boy is on BBC2 on Sunday at 9pm

Lesbian Vampire Killers

March 2009


PRESS CONFERENCE
IT has lesbians and vampires and killers. It has Mathew Horne and James Corden. It has that one off Footballers' Wives and Withnail & I's Paul McGann... plenty to go at when the duo turn out for a post-screening Q&A in the basement of London's Soho Hotel.
So, a slap of the legs for the journalist who must have been from Stupid Weekly who wasted a minute of our lives by asking: "So who would you rather have bite you – a lesbian, a vampire or a killer?"
Fair play to James Corden for rescuing her from an attack of the tumbleweeds and venturing some kind of response.
"Well I guess out of the three you've got to go lesbian haven't you? Because they won't kill you,'" says the 28-year-old.
"Lesbian," says director Phil Claydon, matter-of-factly.
"Lesbian," adds a visibly despondent Mathew Horne. 30. You can tell he is just short of rolling his eyes.
Our Mat – that's what we call him as he's from Burton Joyce – doesn't look like he's enjoying the experience. It probably doesn't help that most national newspapers gave their stint hosting the Brit Awards a hiding.
"It all went to plan," he told me ahead of the press conference.
"But it's an impossible gig to do because you're playing to 9,000 people in Earls Court who just want to drink and eat. And the people at home don't have that wall of noise going on."
Critics also, in the main, turned their noses up at the Horne & Corden sketch show which started on BBC3 last week. Rather unfairly, I might add. As Jonathan Ross said, it's better than expected. And how many "got" The Fast Show straight away?
This week they've been similarly dismissive of Lesbian Vampire Killers, the duo's big-screen debut which opened in cinemas today.
It's a comedy about two mates who go on a walking holiday and end up killing a group of Swedish lovelies after they all turn into lesbian vampires. It was never going to be Annie Hall, was it?
One senses that they're in danger of irritating us by being too visible too often.
"We're very mindful of it," says Mat.
"But you have to understand, a lot of that is not to do with us. The sketch show coming out and the film ten days later, it's very much out of our hands."
James Corden, as ever the class clown, makes light: "We promise when this film's out the way we'll just go away."
He adds: "Let's hope we're not getting on anyone's nerves. It's the last thing we want to do."
While Lesbian Vampire Killers is an obvious vehicle for the duo, who first met on the set of Gavin And Stacey two and a half years ago, both auditioned for it before the comedy series was even broadcast.
"We auditioned for this film independently," says James.
"Mat was the very first person who came in for the casting process and read for Fletch," says the film's director Phil Claydon, referring to the role that would eventually go to James Corden.
"I was quite confused when I read the script," admits Mat, "because I thought Jimmy was the part I should go up for."
It does see the pair pretty much playing the characters we re are used to from Gavin And Stacey: Jimmy is the sensitive and nerdy Gavin; Fletch is an uncouth, sex-obsessed Smithy.
In one scene, Fletch gets to grapple with one of the lesbians in a shower and has his sweaty hands on her lady lumps.
"It was actually one of the worst days – genuinely," when someone suggests he must have enjoyed that.
"It was a really long day. You're really wet and covered in goo.
"The girl was wearing a body suit, her face had decayed and there was gunge coming out of her face.
"There was nothing really erotic in it in any way," he laughs.
"And you've got Paul McGann shouting the Lord's Prayer..."
Mat and James say they were "in awe" of McGann, who plays the priest who is determined to banish the evil Carmilla before she detroys mankind (not Annie Hall, remember?).
"The best thing about his performance is how he played it dead straight, with such conviction," says Mat.
James adds: "I had a lot of my scenes with Paul and in a lot of those scenes I'm wearing a long coat. In my head I would imagine I'm in Withnail. I'd try and slip lines in but he wouldn't ever bite.
"And that really ***sed me off at one point. Then I realised he was just one of those guys who never corpses. He is a very serious man.
"It's the only way I can describe him."
McGann was more interested in the set, he says.
"The forest we shot it in, they were real trees. For Paul this was the most amazing thing in the world. All he would talk about was 'this is amazing, this is real earth, these are real trees'".
He adds: "There were times in the past two years when this film was dead in the water. But Phil just never gave up."
"It just reminded me of every great movie I grew up with," says the director of the script.
"I'm a fan of horror movies," adds Mat.
"When I was 11 I watched The Omen 2 and it had such a huge effect on me. And I suppose that idea of watching a film you weren't allowed to watch because you weren't old enough was really attractive."
It wasn't the same for his co-star.
"I don't really like horror films," admits James.
"I don't really enjoy being scared. I like romantic comedies.
"I didn't even watch Doctor Who. I was scared by it."
"You were too busy learning Take That routines," jibes Mat.
"I was. I used to know the opening 35 minutes of Take That: Live In Berlin. The whole routine. And I'd either be Howard or Robbie. I absolutely love them. It was the greatest moment of my life at the Brits meeting Howard and Jason and them saying how much they love Gavin And Stacey.
"I honestly felt like I couldn't breathe. Still to this day in the back of my head I think they're going to need me at some point. And I'm coiled and ready."
Mat doesn't share his passion for boy bands.
"Mat likes bands who strap their guitars up there," says James (miming a chest strum) "in a dirty sweaty pub."
"You should review for the NME," retorts Mat, who is so into his music that he runs a club night in Shoreditch every Thursday.
"I pop down there, when and if I fancy. It's really fun. It's like an hour out of my life just to play some records that I like to people."
When we met last year, Mat had tipped – and become mates with – White Lies. Since then they've headlined the sell-out NME Tour, including a date at Rock City last month.
"I saw Harry (McVeigh, singer) the other night at the NME Awards and we hung out a bit.
"Yes, I was right about them," he laughs.
His next top tip are a Leicester guitar band called Minnaars.
"They're a bit like Foals."
Has he ever been in bands?
"I sang in a band at school but I never really wanted to do it properly. I never learnt an instrument. I knew it wasn't for me."
That said, when he was growing up in Nottingham he was a regular at Rock City and remembers seeing Oasis, David Bowie, Blur, Radiohead and Pulp.
He left the city to study drama at univerity in Manchester then made the move to London.
After appearing in Catherine Tate's TV show and Teachers, he was cast in Gavin And Stacey, where he met Corden.
"There's no jealousy, only support," says Mat, when asked about the pair's projects apart from each other. "It's good karma. We don't need to compete. We're doing all right together. We're doing all right apart."
While James pursues more movie projects – appearing in the big-budget Hollywood remake of Gulliver's Travels alongside Jack Black – Mat is tied up on the London stage until next month, playing opposite Imelda Staunton in Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane.
"The reviews have been great and I'm really enjoying it."
Not that he plans to do more theatre.
"The benchmark has been set quite high. And it's the part I always wanted to play. So it's going to be difficult to top that."
It wasn't until he went to Manchester University that he'd even read any Orton.
"I quickly became a huge fan. And I think Entertaining Mr Sloane is his best play."
But it was back in Nottingham that he first caught the bug to be a stage actor.
"I remember going to see Popcorn at the Playhouse. I think it was a world premiere. Whenever I go and see a play I always want to be up there. Which I suppose is why I'm an actor. I remember thinking that back then."
After his current play – and a holiday – Mat will be back with James to record a third series of Gavin And Stacey.
And that's not all. A second Horne & Corden series has been mooted along with a live tour.
There's every chance Lesbian Vampire Killers will also be screened in the US, with Hollywood looking for the next Shaun Of The Dead.
"The American studios all love it," says director Phil Claydon.
"They're waiting to see how well it does over here."
He admits there is a problem with having "lesbian" in the title.
"It is a straight comedy, it's not a sleazy sexploitation movie – it's very different to what the title suggests. We get it over here because it's got James and Mat in it. But they do love it. They're just working out 'how do we get people in through the doors?'"
Whatever the success of the movie, we'll be seeing more of the duo.
"We would love to keep working together and working independently," says Mat.
"We've got no aspirations to be Cannon & Ball," adds James.
Mat chips in: "Though it might end up like that."

REVIEW
WITHIN the first minute it's made clear which audience Mathew Horne and James Corden, in their first big screen adventure, are targeting.
If the title isn't enough, the shot of a pair of bare boobies will ram home the point – it's for teenage boys.
And the puerile of mind.
Me among them.
Jimmy (Horne) has been dumped by his vampish missus (Lucy Gaskell). Turning to buddy Fletch (Corden), who hasn't the most sympathetic ear, he is encouraged to go on holiday to find a woman to help ease the pain of rejection.
But, being skint, the pair have to stay in Blighty. Sticking a pin in a map they head for a remote village in East Anglia (not Wales as many reviews are saying).
Bonus – a camper van full of hot foreign female tourists have just booked into the local hostelry.
"What are the chances!?" quips Fletch, whose sole motivation is sex.
The ladies are students of English folklore, attracted to the village for its legend of Carmilla, the Lesbian Vampire Queen, who was executed in the 17th Century by vampire hunter Baron Wolfgang Maclaren.
Should she rise again, then mankind is under threat.
Just the blokes mind. All women will become vampires... and lesbians.
As all the village womenfolk are.
And the men know it, sending visitors their way as sacrifices in order that their own necks remain puncture free.
Only the vicar (Paul McGann), whose daughter is approaching her 18th birthday – the age at which the women become lesbian vampires – wars against them.
There's more to it. A love story unfolds between Jimmy and Lotte (MyAnna Buring).
And Jimmy, it seems, isn't just a dweeb from the city but the very man who can put an end to Carmilla as a direct ancestor of the Baron.
That said, it's his blood when mixed with that of a virgin that can release the spirit of Carmilla.
Yes, of course, she rises again and it's left to Jimmy, with the help of Fletch and the intense vicar, to slay her.
It isn't based on a true story, before you ask.
Influences of classic British horrors are clear: the chases through the forest (Carry On Screaming); the eerie pub full of suspicious locals (An American Werewolf In London) and the possessed holy man (The Exorcist).
That it stars two British comedy actors slaying the undead makes Shaun Of The Dead an obvious reference point.
Just add a few topless lesbians.
But it's silly, not salacious.
And could quite easily be a Gavin And Stacey spin-off. A kind of Gavin and Smithy's Summer Holiday.
Corden nabs all the best lines as the yobbish and sweary Fletch.
"Best remember her the way she was," he tells Jimmy as his ex, who'd followed them in the forest to kiss and make up, goes from vampish to vampire.
And then there's his frustrations at his lack of luck with an army of beauties, whining: "Dead women will get with each other but they won't sleep with me."
The B-movie stylings favoured by Quentin Tarantino are a nice touch and early on director Phil Claydon adopts Guy Ritchie's rapid-motion techniques. Shame they don't continue.
Don't expect too much and you'll be laughing loudly – mostly at Fletch's asides.
And you have been warned – the conclusion suggests a sequel is in the offing.
Rating: 3.5

Horne & Corden

March 2009

THE BBC hit comedy series Gavin and Stacey may have made a star of Mathew Horne but he said he was more excited about his new sketch show.
The Burton Joyce comedy actor will next be seen on our TV screens in Horne & Corden.
Written with his Gavin and Stacey co-star James Corden, the 30-year-old said it was a career high.
"It was a dream for me. My own show with my name in the title. I'm doing stuff that I've written. It's what I always wanted to do. It was a real thrill."
And if it's a success there could well be a UK tour for the pair.
"We're currently in talks to do a tour some time in the next two years. It's something we'll have to get down to writing in the next six to eight months. Nothing is confirmed as yet but it's definitely on the cards -- subject to the success of the sketch show."
Horne & Corden, which kicks off on BBC Three on Tuesday (MARCH9), will feature a cameo appearance by Kylie Minogue but he remained secretive about exactly what the pop princess does.
"She appears in episode five or six," he said.
"It's a culmination of a series of sketches and we don't want to give it away."
When pushed to give a clue he said: "God, no."
The Fast Show star Paul Whitehouse also appears.
"The Fast Show was one of the major influences that James and I had when we were embarking on writing the show. The Fast Show, The Mary Whitehouse Experience and Smith & Jones were our three major reference points."
He added: "Paul has become a friend of mine through Tottenham Hotspur."
Spurs are Mat's team. Even though he played in goal for Notts County juniors as a lad.
"I liked the kit at the time," he admitted.
"My dad offered to buy me a football kit and that's the one I chose. That's a shoddy reason to support a football team but that has stuck with me for 23 years."
Horne & Corden is directed by British comedy favourite Kathy Burke, star of Gimme Gimme Gimme and a number of Harry Enfield shows.
Said Mat: "Kathy and I have been friends for a couple of years and it was amazing that she agreed to direct the series for us. Obviously she has a huge amount of experience in character comedy so she was a really important presence."
Trailers for the series show Mat and his co-star in their underpants and at one point recreating the pottery wheel scene from the movie Ghost.
"In the early episodes there is a lot of exposed flesh. We do get more clothed as the series goes on."
He insisted that none of it will shock his mum as she watches back in Burton Joyce.
"Not really. It's a bit edgier than Gavin and Stacey but there's nothing that I wouldn't want my mum to see. I wouldn't want to write anything that would upset anybody. I hope none of it does."
He added: "There were two Nottingham characters in the show but they've been cut because they didn't really work. Which is a real shame because James' Nottingham accent is really good."
Better than his, he admitted.
"It's very neutral really. I do say 'pass' and 'grass' and 'bath'. I get to do a Leicester accent in my play, so I am getting to exorcise some of my roots."
The play is Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane at London's Trafalgar Studios in which he appears opposite Harry Potter actress Imelda Staunton.
"The reviews have been great and I'm really enjoying it," said Mat, who also DJs at London clubs.
After the theatre run finishes in April he plans a holiday. Then filming for the third series of Gavin and Stacey will begin.
Later this month Mat will also be seen in Lesbian Vampire Killers, his movie debut alongside James Corden.
He said he wasn't worried about Horne & Corden not going out on one of the major channels.
"It would be very foolish of us to want to go out on BBC1. We were offered BBC2 but we felt that BBC3 was a good place to start things, because of the experiences we've had."
He is referring to Gavin and Stacey which also started on the BBC Three before graduating as its popularity grew to a prime slot on BBC1.
"It's directly after the highest rated show on BBC3 which is the Eastenders repeat. Then we've also got a Sunday night 9.30pm slot as well."
He added: "We're very hopeful we will get a second series."

Horne & Corden, BBC Three, Tuesday March 10, 10.30pm

2009 preview

January 2009

By all accounts we're doomed. The economy is in a mess and it's only going to get worse. Yeah, and a happy new year to you too. While the signs all point to a miserable 12 months ahead, that's not the case for the world of entertainment in Nottingham.


1. The year of the Horne It is going to be Mathew Horne's year. The 30-year-old from Burton Joyce, fresh from the success of the brilliant Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special, will first be seen presenting the BRIT Awards with co-star James Corden next month. The pair will be joined by Kylie Minogue, who also appears in the duo's brand new sketch show Horne & Corden which will air on BBC Three in February. A month later they'll be making their big screen debut in the comedy movie Lesbian Vampire Killers. And as revealed over Christmas, a third series of Gavin & Stacey will be made, hopefully by the end of 2009.

2. Bronson The big screen biopic of Britain's most notorious prisoner Charles Bronson a.k.a. Michael Peterson will be released in cinemas on March 13. Starring Tom Hardy (Black Hawk Down, RockNRolla) it was filmed entirely in Nottinghamshire and tells the story of the 55-year-old who has spent 34 years inside for repeat violence against fellow inmates and prison officers. It will also feature Amanda Burton (Silent Witness), Matt King (Doctor Who, Peep Show, Inkheart, RockNRolla) and James Lance (Spaced, Smack The Pony, I'm Alan Partridge).

3. Chart idols Some of the biggest chart names are heading for the Arena in 2009, among them The Killers, The Pussycat Dolls, Pink, Kaiser Chiefs, Metallica, Girls Aloud, Keane and Snow Patrol.

4. TV on tour Three of the biggest TV shows of 2008 go out on the road this year and each will stop off at the Arena in Nottingham, starting with Strictly Come Dancing on January 27, returning for three more shows. Alexandra leads the stars of The X Factor -- including the loonies -- on a tour that comes to the Arena in March, then Torvill & Dean mark the 25th anniversary of their world famous Bolero routine by bringing the stars of the forthcoming Dancing On Ice ITV series to the Arena for two shows in April.

5. Nottingham pops Castle Donington may have given birth to this electro-rock quartet but they consider Nottingham their home city. Probably as they live in Radcliffe-on-Trent these days. Their debut album Fantasy Black Channel was a critical success, landing in the Top 20 of the HMV Poll Of Polls 2008 -- collated from end of year polls by 35 key publications and websites. All they need to do now is translate that in to chart success and we'll be on the music map of Britain (finally). Or that may happen with Sam Beeton. After a shaky start, Carlton's 20-year-old singer-songwriter will finally see the release of his debut album on the Sony BMG label in March.

6. . High School Musical Disney's teen movie phenomenon -- think Fame without the legwarmers -- makes two appearances in the city this year, the first of which is an ice show at the Arena next month. Troy, super popular captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella, super smart transfer student and a genius in science class , then returns in May for the stage version at the Royal Concert Hall.

7. Old school musical Pop nostalgia is still going strong it seems with the astonishing popularity of Take That in 2008. On the back of that the West End musical Never Forget, featuring the songs of Take That, will tour the provinces including a four day run at the Theatre Royal in October. Boyzone, seeing the demand for their forefathers, returned to the pop game last year and sold out the Arena in the process. They'll be back If they're just too modern, there are a host of eighties pop idols coming to the Arena on the Here & Now Tour in May. Kim Wilde, Pete Burns, Altered Images, Brother Beyond and Hazel O'Connor were to be joined by Boy George but he may be otherwise occupied. The former Culture Club leader will be sentenced for falsely imprisoning a male escort on January 16.

8. Belly busters Ahead of his latest tour that will be dropping in to the Royal Concert Hall in April, Ross Noble will be warming up at Just The Tonic at The Approach on February 22, a rare opportunity to see the Geordie wit in a club setting. Manuel-bothering lothario Russell Brand will be making his Arena debut on February 20.

9. Summer fun DOWNLOAD will be back at Donington in June, McFly have been confirmed for one of the outdoor shows at Sherwood Pines Forest Park the same month and though the date has yet to be set, Splendour will return to Wollaton Park this summer. Nottingham's brand new music festival last year featured Kate Nash, Rufus Wainwright, The Lemonheads, Paolo Nutini and dozens of local bands.

10. Naked ladies The West End production of Calendar Girls is one of the big shows heading for the Theatre Royal. The true story of the Yorkshire WI members who hit the headlines after stripping for a fundraising calendar, stars Lynda Bellingham, Patricia Hodge, Sian Phillips and Gaynor Faye. It has been adapted by Tim Firth, who co-wrote the screenplay for the hit movie starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters. Other big hitters at the Theatre Royal in 2009 include The Graduate, West Side Story, Evita and The Witches of Eastwick.

Diary

Mathew Horne at Castle Wharf


MONDAY Tony Hadley talks about a gig he's putting on at Rock City for one of his roadies who had a brain tumour diagnosed last November. The gig, which he promises will be " a party that'll include all the songs everyone knows", is on May 12.

TUESDAY Gavin And Stacey's Mathew Horne drops in to the office and is surrounded by the Admag girls. He's a charmer with the ladies. Even if some of them are closer to the "Am I bovvered?" Lauren character he played opposite in the Catherine Tate Show.

WEDNESDAY BBC news struggling for summat to talk about leading on a survey that indicates women who eat cereal at the time of conception will likely have boys.
GMTV don't fare much better as the remarkably inept Fiona Philips spews forth with this nugget: "What do they say about not throwing stones at glass houses?"

THURSDAY Meet Alvin Stardustand his child's guitar that his mum bought for a quid when he was 12 and is now worth £1M - that's how much a Yank casino billionaire has offered him anyway - because it's signed by Buddy Holly, The Beatles, The Stones, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and others... And he's carrying out around like it's a plank of wood. No air-conditioned case or armed security in sight. He must be out of his tiny mind...
Phoner with The Wedding Present's David Gedge a.k.a Uncle Dave. Not literally of course but at college he and Morrissey were indie Gods.

FRIDAY Medium Tony Stockwell has been studying a photograph of someone in my family who has "passed over to the other side" because he reckons he can "read" it and reveal details of his life and personality. He can't. Embarrassingly so.


Listening to: James - Hey Ma; The Smiths - Meat Is Murder: Madonna - Hard Candy; The Wedding Present - El Ray

Walking: A swan in the Grantham canal picks at the floating corpse of a pigeon.