Its been a bad few weeks for comedy duo Horne and Corden. Their newest sketch show has received bad reviews and suffered from falling ratings and the stress allegedly led to Matthew Horne’s collapse on stage last week.

However rumour has it that things are looking up for the boys, as their show picked up 150,000 viewers on BBC Three last week and they are apparently being wooed by ITV.

A source told The Mirror: “Mat and James have been completely slated of late, and it’s totally undeserved.

“The way they see it, the people having a go at them are middle-aged men with a wife and two kids. This simply isn’t their market.

“From the start, they said they were targeting the 15 to 25- year-old age group, and admitted the series would be a grower – even Little Britain wasn’t an instant hit. But it is gaining cult status among uni students.

“The BBC has offered them an improved deal but they are reluctant to commit until this series ends.”

The insider added: “Word has got out they’re still in negotiations. ITV execs want to get Mat and James on a pay-as-you-go contract.

“It wouldn’t be an Ant and Dec-style golden handcuffs deal – they’ll be able to pick and choose their projects and still maintain links with the BBC.

“Mat and James are seen as the future of youth TV.”

In my view these boys are majorly over exposed and I wish they’d take a break for a while and stop popping up in every magazine, newspaper and TV show going. I really hope they don’t sign a deal with ITV, I can just imagine them presenting X Factor and guest starring in Corrie next!