Simon Bird has revealed he still cringes when he watches his comedy The Inbetweeners.

The actor played Will McKenzie in the sexually charged coming of age show, which ran from 2008 to 2010 and sparked two spin-off films.

Asked if enough time had passed for him to watch and just enjoy it, he told the Press Association: “Absolutely not, no.

“You are always watching it slightly behind your hands.”

Bird and Tom Rosenthal are about to star in a fifth series of their sitcom Friday Night Dinner – and both said they try to only watch each episode once.

Rosenthal said: “I tend to watch every episode once just to watch myself and say, ‘Why did you do that? That’s terrible’.

“And then I watch it one more time as a whole where I generally enjoy it because I really like the show.”

Bird joked: “And I watch it once just to watch Tom and say, ‘Why did he do that?!’

“I probably watch myself once and so we usually do a screening that’s the first time we’ll see it and then I’ll watch the other ones at home.”

Rosenthal added: “Equally horrible the cast screening, because you get the whole room laughing or not laughing at what you’re doing, which can be humiliating.”

The new series of the show, which follows a British Jewish family, starts on Channel 4 in May.

The actors said there are plenty of funny moments during shooting.

“There’s definitely corpsing,” said Bird. “There’s a few moments where it all broke down.”

He went on: “There is a lot of laughing because it is funny and you’re in that house for seven weeks so you do get cabin fever.

“And you’re sort of tired and to counteract the tiredness people are force feeding you sweets and chocolate and so you’re giddy and tired.”

Friday Night Dinner returns on May 4.