Mark Strong has admitted he was reluctant to sign up for his new US TV series Low Winter Sun.

The actor starred in the original Channel 4 mini-series in the UK, but confessed that although he was interested all along he had doubts about taking a role in the American remake because he didn't want to leave his wife and two young sons at home in London for four months.

He said: "Over the years, I've been approached to do US television but I didn't want to leave home, frankly, and always said no. But Liza, my wife, said, 'You don't get opportunities like this very often'."

Mark played tormented police officer Frank in the original series and will portray the character again in the reboot, but this time, the series will be set in Detroit.

He said: "Certainly, I've never had an offer like that. When you play a character it's a finite thing - you do a couple of episodes, it's put to bed. Then seven or eight years later someone turns around and says, 'Do you know what? We're going to take him and put him in Detroit'. It was too fascinating a thing to let go by."

The actor revealed that he asked fellow Brit actors Damian Lewis and Andrew Lincoln, who are making waves in the US for their respective roles in Homeland and The Walking Dead, how they found being away before signing up.

He also revealed he has bonded with fellow ex-pats over a good old kick around during his time across the pond, including his Low Winter Sun co-star and fellow Brit Lennie James.

"We're called the Friday Rovers, just because we play football wherever we can on a Friday," he said.

"It's a loose conglomerate of Arsenal supporters mainly, although there's a friend of Lennie's who is a Spurs fan, like him. We play on a Monday too, because we don't have proper jobs. We're the only people who can get together on a Friday or Monday and have a game of football, while normal people go to work."

:: Low Winter Sun starts on Fox on Friday, August 16.