'I know one day I won’t be in demand': Fear driving workaholic James Corden to give his son the best start

'I know one day I won’t be in demand': Fear driving workaholic James Corden to give his son the best start

HE’S the first to admit being something of a workaholic, but even when James Corden is filling his diary and giving up time with his family he insists he’s doing it all for his young son Max.

The 34-year-old has already felt the pain of a fall from grace and, despite rebuilding his career to national treasure proportions, knows it could one day happen again.

“When we had our son it put everything in perspective, and I felt I wanted to work as hard as I can because I want to give him the best start possible in life,” he says.

The doting dad, who enjoys strolling across London’s Primrose Hill with blond Max, who turns two in March, adds: “Having a son has given me a great sense of clarity.

“You get into your house and shut the door and it’s lovely to be greeted by this person who’s become the most important thing. It’s amazing.”

That’s why James has kept his foot firmly on the gas â€" last year playing the lead in stage h it One Man, Two Guv’nors in London’s West End and on Broadway, becoming the toast of the theatre world on both sides of the Atlantic.

He then capped it off by winning a highly coveted Tony Award.

Panel show: James on A League Of Their Own

At the same time he hosted Sky 1 comedy panel show A League Of Their Own.

Now he’s filming his own sitcom plus hosting his fourth Brit awards next week.

“I’m well aware that those opportunities won’t be around all the time,” he admits.

“There will be a time when I know I won’t be wanted to host the Brits, and a time when it’ll be ­significantly harder to get a show picked up by the BBC.

“To be honest I don’t even really worry about missing out on too much time at home, because I don’t think I’ll always be working this hard.”

For the time being James is riding the crest of a wave â€" with a ­mantelpiece full of awards testament to the fact he’s Britain’s most successful young star.

Comedy: In Gavin Stacey

Chatting in his trailer in between filming The Wrong Mans â€" his new BBC sitcom starring Dawn French â€" the London-born actor is still clearly surprised by his success.

He says: “Mostly it’s just a feeling of being very, very lucky, that I’m able to do so many great things for a living. It’s certainly more than I ever dreamed of.

“I do intend to have a bit of a break.

"After we’ve shot the next series of A League Of Their Own I probably won’t do anything for a couple of months other than a bit of writing, but it’s a strange decision to make.

“On the one hand you think, maybe I’ll have a break, but on the other hand you think, it’s the Brits, or it’s your own series or the lead in a play or a film, and who am I to not take those opportunities when they come up?

"You’d be incredibly arrogant to think ‘this is my life and I deserve these things’.

“And also I really enjoy working hard, I love it, and in my experience the harder I work the luckier I’ve become.

Stage: James in One Man, Two Guvnors

“I feel at my most creative when I’m in a creative environment, around creative people, so if anything I feel more energised having a lot on â€" however tired I might be after!”

There’s contentment on James’ face as he talks about his family too, grinning as he explains that married life is “lovely”, but “not much different to the way it was before”.

One of the best-connected men in showbiz, his star power was illustrated by the A-list congregation at his £250,000 wedding last September.

Guests included comedians Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr and David Walliams with his model missus Lara Stone.

James’s wife, charity worker Julia, was introduced to him by his former housemate, actor Dominic Cooper.

The couple got engaged on Christmas Day 2010 and welcomed their son Max in 2011.

But his return to public favour is a dramatic turnaround for the actor, whose early success with Gavin And Stacey, The History Boys and Fat F riends was curtailed when his ego began to spiral out of control.

Day out: With Julia and baby Max

Routinely pictured out on the town, upon winning two Baftas in 2008, he complained from the stage about not being nominated for a third.

He and co-star Mat Horne’s comedy TV show was slammed by critics and their movie Lesbian Vampire Killers bombed.

“The biggest thing was I really felt like I was just being a d***­­­,” he later admitted.

“And I couldn’t quite work out why. I remember thinking, if me two years ago met me now, I’d think I was a bit of a k***.”

The transformation has also been a physical one as he shed a reported five stone before heading off to New York, and today looks svelte in a fitted black jumper as we chat.

Now a far more humble star he beams as he talks about his upcoming sitcom, co-written with pal and Horrible Histories actor Matthew Baynton.

However, he’s slightly less self-assured when talking about the upcoming Brits.

Last year he was furious when show bosses forced him to interrupt do uble-winner Adele’s emotional acceptance speech to introduce Blur.

The singer flipped her middle finger to show her annoyance.

He later explained he was put in a “horrible position”, and raced to the star’s dressing room to apologise.

Presenter: James with a Brit Award

This year ITV bosses have vowed to be more flexible, with the news programme that follows running late if necessary.

That at least should help him keep the peace at the booze-soaked and notoriously rowdy gig he admits is “a nightmare”.

“I’ve done the Brits three times before and I’m looking forward to it,” he insists, “but I’m going to try and do it the same as I always have done â€" just try and stay out of it as much as you can.

“From what I can work out that genuinely is the only way to host the Brits.

"You can’t make a big impression in that room, because nobody is listening, no one is paying attention, it’s a nightmare of a room to play and I ignore the arena as much as I can and just do it to camera.

“I’m only really there for the people at home, and to fill time when they have to change the stage around â€" there are all these big sets coming in and out.

“The best music show o n TV is Jools Holland’s, I don’t think anyone would disagree with that, but the reason for that is that he just goes ‘this is this, and that was that’, and I think that’s the best way to showcase music.

“It’s not actually a hosting gig. In fact my whole part of the show is only about nine minutes in total, so the trick is just to run it as smoothly as possible.”

A-list pal: James and David Beckham in sketch

James is being modest about his input as in three years he’s helped tame the awards show from a drunken bunfight into an influential industry event.

“I’m incredibly proud of the changes that we’ve made to it because it got to a point where the Brits had stopped selling music,” he says.

“You couldn’t get big international acts to come and do it because they’d say, ‘Well it’s in a barn, nobody is listening, and it doesn’t affect my sales the next week’.

“It’s a much slicker show now. There’s no heckling or people drunk on stage, chucking awards into the audience.

“Now we’re at the point where Adele performs Someone Like You when it wasn’t even released.

"It shot straight to number one on downloads alone after probably one of the greatest performances in the history of the show.

“Chris Martin last year was wonderful. When Coldplay picked up their award he said, ‘We’re so proud to be here, the Brits used to be rubbish, now they’re great.’

“When you’ve got the frontman of one of the biggest bands in the world saying that it’s great. That’s why it’s such an honour to be involved.”