Friday Night Dinner is back after two years away - and it sounds like it's sticking around.

The sitcom returns to Channel 4 this week for its fourth series - and star Simon Bird has told Digital Spy that he thinks the cast and writer Robert Popper could "do the same again".

"There's no reason why we couldn't," he said. "I could imagine there being series eight, or series nine, but we'll have to wait and see.

"It's totally up to Robert. It's a massive and stressful undertaking to write an entire series yourself. He's already done four series, so he might not have the energy to do many more!"

Big Talk Channel 4

First airing on Channel 4 in 2011, the award-winning series stars Bird and Tom Rosenthal as feuding brothers Adam and Jonny, with Tamsin Greig as their frustrated mother and Paul Ritter playing their oddball dad.

More episodes means a few new twists on the familiar format, with Rosenthal telling DS that - on top of the usual larks - this latest series gets a bit emotional.

"I think the last episode is very touching - I think it's one of the best episodes that Robert's done," he said. "It's obviously very difficult to do that sort of thing in a sitcom, without it feeling tacky and ham-fisted."

"And yet it's so important as well," chimed in Bird. "Because if it's just Adam and Jonny constantly hitting each other, it becomes a bit like a cartoon.

Big Talk Channel 4

"There's so much bile and violence - both physical and verbal - in the show. I think it's good to have those moments of warmth as well."

So it sounds like the future of Friday Night Dinner is sewn up - but what of the oft-discussed US remake?

NBC cast Allison Janney and Tony Shalhoub in a 2012 pilot - though it failed to secure a series - while CBS had another stab at adapting the show two years later.

"I went through a similar thing with The Inbetweeners," Bird said, referring to MTV's short-lived remake of his E4 hit.

Channel 4 / MTV

"We're very proud of the show that exists over here and nothing's gonna change the fact that we've done that. So it's no skin off our nose for somebody else to come in and reinterpret it."

If a US version ever does materialise though, don't expect either Bird or Rosenthal to star in it - their attempts at a Yank accent will go unheard.

"If I'm lying and secretly I do want it to fail, then I will do that," Bird grinned.

Friday Night Dinner returns to Channel 4 this Friday (July 22) at 10pm.

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