James Corden in 2004, Corden played the role of Timms in the original London stage production of Alan Bennett's play "The History Boys", as well as in the Broadway, Sydney, Wellington and Hong Kong productions and radio and 2006 film adaptation versions of the play. Also in 2006, he appeared in the film "Starter for 10". From 2007 through early 2010, Corden co-starred in his own series, the BBC Three sitcom "Gavin & Stacey". He co-wrote the series with his "Fat Friends" co-star Ruth Jones; Corden and Jones played the friends of the title characters, with Corden starring as Smithy. The series
Gavin & Stacey American network NBC had bought the rights to produce an American remake from Baby Cow Productions. Initial ideas according to Corden were to have Gavin coming from New Jersey and Stacey from South Carolina, meeting up in New York City. In December 2008 however, Jones stated "There was a script written for NBC. They optioned it, but then that went away. I read the script and it wasn't great to be honest with you. But now ABC are looking into writing a pilot and hopefully that will work out". At the time, both Corden and Jones were reportedly acting as