Mathew Frazer Horne (born 6 September 1978) is an English actor, comedian, television presenter and narrator. He is best known for appearing on several BBC sketch shows and sitcoms, most notably ''

Gavin & Stacey ''Gavin & Stacey'' is a British sitcom written by James Corden and Ruth Jones about two families: one in Billericay, Essex; one in Barry, South Wales. Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the titular characters Gavin and Stacey and the writers ...

'' (as Gavin Shipman), ''

The Catherine Tate Show ''The Catherine Tate Show'' is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Derren Litten. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. ''The Catherine Tate Show'' airs on ...

'', '' Horne & Corden'', and '' Bad Education''.

Early life

Horne was born on 6 September 1978 in

Burton Joyce Burton Joyce is a large village and civil parish in the Gedling district of Nottinghamshire, England, 7 miles (11 km) east of Nottingham, between Stoke Bardolph to the south and Bulcote to the north-east. The A612 links it to Carlton an ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

. He attended Burton Joyce Primary School. While at school he played in goal for Notts County juniors. He studied A level performing arts at Southwell Minster School in Nottinghamshire, and gained a degree in drama from the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

. He met Bruce Mackinnon there in the first few weeks of term; they realised they shared a similar sense of humour, but did not write material together until the third year of their studies.

Career

Horne began his career as a comedian and became half of comedy duo Mat and MacKinnon, first performing at the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in 2000. He was spotted at the festival by

Catherine Tate Catherine Jane Ford (born 5 December 1969), known professionally as Catherine Tate, is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series '' The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–2007) ...

, who invited him to perform in BBC TV programme ''

''. Since then Horne has continued to appear in several Catherine Tate's Nan specials. He reprised his role as Jamie in two festive episodes of Catherine Tate's Nan in 2015. In 2003, he starred in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's ''20 Things to do Before You're 30'' and in the following year he earned the role of Ben, an atheist RE teacher, in Channel 4 series '' Teachers''. He also appeared in the first series of ITV production '' Doc Martin''. In 2005, Horne appeared in an episode of ''

The Smoking Room ''The Smoking Room'' is a British television sitcom written by Brian Dooley, who won a BAFTA for the series in 2005. The first series, consisting of eight episodes, was originally transmitted on BBC Three between 29 June and 17 August 2004. Th ...

'', playing Dominic, nephew of Janet. The latter was conducting a psychological study of the employees. In 2007 he starred in BBC sitcom '' Roman's Empire'' and in November appeared in comedy sketches in '' The Kylie Show'' on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

alongside Kylie Minogue, playing her assistant. Horne was also a guest star in the second series of ''

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

''. From 2007 to 2010 he starred in double-BAFTA-winning series ''

'' as main character Gavin Shipman, a kind-hearted young man who gets together with a girl he has met through their work phone calls and falls in love with her. The programme ran for three series with a Christmas special and received widespread critical acclaim. He returned to this role for the Christmas special of 2019. In 2008, Horne appeared in a modern adaptation of the ''

Three Billy Goats Gruff "Three Billy Goats Gruff" ( no, De tre bukkene Bruse) is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their '' Norske Folkeeventyr'', first published between 1841 and 1844. It has an Aarne-Thompson type of 1 ...

'' as part of the BBC's ''Fairy Tales'' season. He also narrated the ITV2 series '' The Passions of Girls Aloud''. Horne starred in the film ''

Lesbian Vampire Killers ''Lesbian Vampire Killers'' is a 2009 British comedy horror film directed by Phil Claydon and written by Stewart Williams and Paul Hupfield. The film stars James Corden and Mathew Horne, with MyAnna Buring, Vera Filatova, Silvia Colloca and ...

'' alongside James Corden and made his stage debut in a 2009 revival of ''

Entertaining Mr Sloane ''Entertaining Mr Sloane'' is a three-act play written in 1963 by the English playwright Joe Orton. It was first produced in London at the New Arts Theatre on 6 May 1964 and transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre on 29 June 1964. Plo ...

'' at the

Trafalgar Studios Trafalgar Theatre is a new West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It is set to open in spring 2021 following a major multi-million pound restoration project aiming to reinstate it back to its ...

. On 3 April 2009, it was reported that Horne had collapsed on-stage during a West End performance of the play. He remained on stage until medical assistance arrived, at which point he was taken to hospital. A statement released soon after said he was exhausted after working "flat out" for three months. It was later revealed he was suffering from a virus. On 18 February 2009, he presented the

2009 BRIT Awards Brit Awards 2009 was the 29th edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual Brit Awards. The awards ceremony was held at Earls Court in London, and was broadcast live on ITV on 18 February at 8pm (GMT). Duffy became the first female ar ...

alongside James Corden and Kylie Minogue. In 2010, Horne appeared in an episode of ''

Miss Marple Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Jane Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Ch ...

'', named "

The Secret of Chimneys ''The Secret of Chimneys'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in June 1925 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. It introduces the character ...

", as Bill Eversleigh. He appeared alongside fellow ''Gavin & Stacey'' star

Ruth Jones Ruth Alexandra Elisabeth Jones (born 22 September 1966) is a Welsh actress, comedian, writer and producer. She co-wrote and co-starred in the award-winning BBC sitcom ''Gavin & Stacey'' (2007–2010, 2019). Jones has also appeared in various ...

. He played Culture Club drummer Jon Moss in the 2010 BBC TV docudrama '' Worried About the Boy'', about the teenage years of Boy George. In 2016, Horne toured British theatres with Catherine Tate in ''The Catherine Tate Show Live''. He also appeared as a young Mr. Grace in ''Are You Being Served?''. He played

Private Walker Private Joe Walker is a fictional black market spiv (or Wholesales Supplier, as he politely puts it) and Home Guard platoon member, first portrayed by actor James Beck in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. In real life, Beck died suddenly ...

in '' Dad's Army: The Missing Episodes'', in the 2019 UKTV Original produced series. He starred in all three episodes aired on the TV channel

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

. In early 2019, an announcement was made that ''Catherine Tate's Nan'' would be developed into a feature film adaptation. The film was scheduled to be released on 19 June 2020 but was indefinitely postponed due to cinemas being closed because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The trailer and poster for the film were released on 18 February 2022 with Josie Rourke receiving an executive producer credit and no director credited. The film was released on 18 March 2022.

Work with James Corden

Since working on the BBC sitcom ''Gavin & Stacey'', Horne has collaborated a number of times with its co-creator James Corden. Horne and Corden presented the ''Big Brother'' spin-off show '' Big Brother's Big Mouth'' as guests in 2007 and were then regulars for the run covering E4's '' Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack''. They presented the

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

Shockwaves Awards together in 2008 and a section of

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

in March 2009. In 2008, the pair toured the UK with a stand-up show in preparation for their BBC sketch show '' Horne & Corden''. The first episode was broadcast on 10 March 2009 on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

. It was presented in front of a live audience, in a style reminiscent of ''

Morecambe and Wise Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew, 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman, 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working ...

'' or '' The Two Ronnies''. A variety of pre-filmed sketches and live performances were included. 2009 also saw the release of ''Lesbian Vampire Killers'', a comedy horror film. Reviews of the film were largely negative. It holds a 29% approval rating on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

with an average score of 4/10. James Christopher of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' described it as "profoundly awful", stating that it is an "instantly forgettable lads' mag farce" and an "appalling waste of a perfectly decent title". Allan Hunter of the '' Daily Express'' called it "badly written and hastily executed" and "takes all the easy options of bad taste, bosoms and body fluids". Anthony Quinn, writing in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', gave the film 1 star out of 5, describing it as woeful and stating Horne and Corden had "overstretched their appeal" and looked in danger of becoming today's

Hale and Pace Hale and Pace were an English comedy double-act that performed in clubs and on radio and television in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. The duo was made up of Gareth Hale and Norman Pace, with the ''Hale and Pace'' television sho ...

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described the film as "mostly pretty awful, but there are one or two crass laughs". Nicholas Yanes of Scifipulse.net found it to be "a great

B film A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

" worth becoming a cult classic. In September 2010, whilst on the comedy panel show, ''The King is Dead'', Corden commented that watching the film would be too harsh a punishment for prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay and that it was "a pile of shit". Horne appeared alongside Corden in the CGI film ''

Planet 51 ''Planet 51'' is a 2009 computer-animated science fiction comedy film directed by Jorge Blanco and co-directed by Javier Abad and Marcos Martínez, from a script by Joe Stillman, based on an original idea by Javier Abad, Jorge Blanco, Marcos ...

'', with a minor part voicing a soldier, Vesklin.

Personal life

Horne splits his time between East London and

Helmsdale Helmsdale ( sco, Helmsdal, gd, Bun Ilidh) is a village on the east coast of Sutherland, in the Highland council area of Scotland. The modern village was planned in 1814 to resettle communities that had been removed from the surrounding straths ...

in the Scottish Highlands. He is a fan of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and has often been seen at

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the home of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in north London, replacing the club's previous ground, White Hart Lane. With a seating capacity of 62,850, it is the third-largest football stadium in England and the ...

. Horne is also the narrator of the stadium's multi media tour device. On 20 December 2018, Horne was struck by a train as he was crossing the railway line near to his parents' home in Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire. Horne was said not to have been injured and had been near a dedicated pedestrian crossing across the Nottingham to Newark railway line. Horne was engaged to actress Evelyn Hoskins until 2018. Horne married set-designer Celina Bassili in September 2021, in Norway. They had been romantically linked since July 2019.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Radio

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Voice-over artist

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horne, Mathew 1978 births Living people Alumni of the University of Manchester English comedy writers English male comedians English male film actors English male television actors English stand-up comedians English television presenters People from Nottingham People from Burton Joyce 21st-century English male actors People from Helmsdale