Lewis star Laurence Fox has apologised after launching a foul-mouthed rant at a heckler during a theatre performance.

Mr Fox, 37, was playing Charles de Gaulle in The Patriotic Traitor at London's Park Theatre on Tuesday night.

The actor walked off stage and later said that the man had become "so loud and impossible to deal with."

It was also reported that he had used the "c-word" during his rant, and did not return for the final bow.

Yesterday he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I was very upset about it, then upset about how I'd behaved.

"It’s not an interactive stand-up comedy show.

"And therefore, if someone is hell-bent on heckling, they are ruining it for everybody and particularly the rest of the audience and the actors.

"So I think it becomes an un-performable play."