Taylor Lautner was attracted to new TV show because of nudity

London - Taylor Lautner was "attracted" to Cuckoo because of its nudity and swearing.

The 22-year-old hunk - who plays Dale Cuckoo Ashbrick, Jr in the BBC Three show - was drawn to the crude sitcom when he heard foul language, vomit and pooping in a bathtub would be involved.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, he said: "I knew you guys in the UK could get away with much more than we can in the US but even so, I was shocked!

"That's one of the things that attracted me - there are so many less restrictions than we deal with in America.

"The writers were getting away with lots. I was very surprised but it is one of the things that I enjoyed most."

Taylor's alter-ego turns out to be the son of Cuckoo (Andy Samberg), but after he is tragically killed in the Himalayas while taking part in a mountain trek, Dale is forced to move in with Cuckoo's reluctant in-laws Ken and Lorna (Greg Davis and Helen Baxendale).

Dale is the Twilight actor's first comedy role and he admits he was initially worried about taking on such a humorous part, but settled in quite quickly.

He explained: "I wouldn't say I was confident about comedy at first but I wanted to give it a shot. I knew I would be surrounded by people who knew what they were doing so that would be a huge help - and that's exactly how it turned out. I couldn't have been luckier."

Watch a trailer for the show here: