“Our sketch show was not a mistake”

For a while it seemed that Mat Horne could do no wrong. Then came his self-titled sketch show with James Corden, comedy-horror film Lesbian Vampire Killers and the backlash began. With Gavin & Stacey finishing last year, he’s kept a low profile in 2010. ShortList set out to discover whether his time out of the limelight had given him a fresh perspective. But first, there was one question we just had to ask…

Let’s get it out of the way early — will there ever be another series of Gavin & Stacey?

It’s finished. There’s no script and I don’t see what else could be done with it. Anyway, it’s not up to me. I was just in it.

It was the start of your double- act with James Corden — how did you deal with the criticism you got for your sketch show?

Well, it was pretty extreme. But it was totally obvious what was going on. It wasn’t to do with the show, it was to do with us being over-exposed at the time. It’s happened before to people and it will happen again. That’s just the way the press works, so you get on with it.

Corden admitted to us earlier in the year that he thought the show was a mistake, and that not enough time was taken on the writing. Do you agree?

He’s just being modest. He’s an incredibly talented writer. I’m very proud of what we did. I don’t think it was a mistake. And anyway, what really matters is people coming up to you and saying how much they like your work and voting in polls online.

Speaking of which, you and James were recently named Britain’s favourite double act. Do you feel vindicated?

Not really. I’ve seen it, but these polls are strange things. They’re more influenced by recent years than what’s been going on in the past 100 or so. You have to take it with a pinch of salt.

You were higher than Morecambe & Wise…

It’s very nice. But it’s not true.

So, obviously you’ve had some bad press — has there ever been anything that’s been completely made up?

That I was dating girls I’ve never heard of mostly. And that I’d been bitten by a snake. That was weird. I have no idea how it came about.

So the snake’s not the reason why you collapsed on stage last year? There were a lot of rumours flying around about what caused it…

It was just a bad virus. But it was really, really frightening. I just blacked out.

And did one of your co-stars get to shout, “Is there a doctor in the house?”

Yeah, and amazingly there was one. It was all a little dramatic. I like to keep a low profile.

Are you able to play the “Do you know who I am?” card?

No. I was accused of it once, but I never actually said that. I did try to get in somewhere, but I never used that phrase. However, I was accused of it, which is quite galling. I would never say that. I was trying to get in to see a gig that was way over capacity. It didn’t work, so I wouldn’t try to do it again. And I never actually said it.

Mat Horne stars in Chekhov: Comedy Shorts on SkyArts 2 HD on 28 November at 9pm

Main image: Getty