James Corden

James Corden

James Corden's new show 'The Wrong Mans' is like '24' with comedy.

The comedian-and-writer is set to star in the new BBC Two show with 'Gavin and Stacey' co-star Mat Baynton and has revealed he took inspiration from the hit crime thriller starring Kiefer Sutherland as world-saving federal agent Jack Bauer.

Quizzed about when he came up with the idea for the show, he explained: "It was that time that everyone started watching those TV box sets like '24' with high production values. We thought, 'I wonder why no one's tried to do that in a half-hour BBC comedy?' We wanted to write a sitcom that still had those cliffhangers you get at the end of 'Breaking Bad' and '24' which make you go, 'I have to watch the next one right now!' "

Although the show will share some DNA with '24', ultimately, it is a comedy - something James was keen to reflect in the title.

He added to Nuts magazine: "Our reason for calling it 'The Wrong Mans' is to let you know it's a comedy show. If it was a drama, it'd be called 'The Wrong Man'.

"Mat Baynton's character witnesses a car crash, finds a phone ringing at the side of the road, answers it and someone says, 'If you're not here by five o'clock, we'll kill her.' We thought, 'What if something that massive happened, but to two ordinary guys?' It would be funny because they'd be going, 'What are we going to do?', 'I don't know!' "