[2] Although the first episode of the show attracted 817,000 viewers, making it most-watched debut for a comedy series on BBC Three,[9] the reviews for Horne & Corden were critical.
[11] Sam Wollaston from The Guardian wrote: "There's a sketch about a gay war reporter, a cock-drawing class in a boys' school, Spiderman and Superman meet in the changing rooms, a bloke takes forever to reach orgasm.
Never has a three-minute sketch felt so long, and the joke inevitably comes down to the fact that James Corden is fat and is happy to show us his wobbly bits.
"[12]Harry Venning, writer of radio sitcom Clare in the Community and head television critic for The Stage, speculated that over-exposure and hubris had led Horne and Corden to think they could just turn up and make people laugh.
Keith Watson from Metro said that: "When it calmed down, it hit the spot: Corden does a very sharp Ricky Gervais and the pair of them combining as dancing magic act Jonny Lee Miller stretched things into the surreal.
"[14] Tom Sutcliffe from The Independent was also more positive saying: "They're both talented comic actors (Corden, in particular, did a note-perfect piss-take of Ricky Gervais, scene-stealing shamelessly as he performed in a remake of The Karate Kid), so where there were dips, it was usually the result of material rather than delivery.
And, though it would be ridiculously early to write it off, it was worrying that their opener should have been so reliant on material that struck you as a bit end-of-term-revue in character.
Corden's naked body was treated as a kind of get-out-jail-free card, with no less than three sketches in which he got his kit off and at least one more in which the only gag derived from his obesity.
The BBC said in a statement: "Following the tragic events in Winnenden on Wednesday, a decision was taken to remove the final scene of episode one of Horne & Corden for all repeats, including iPlayer.