Armie Hammer was banned from eating Scotch eggs by Guy Ritchie because he was putting on too much weight when they were making the 'Man From UNCLE'.

The 28-year-old actor was stunned when the director showed him how much weight he had gained while making the movie and blamed the extra pounds on his fondness for the savoury snacks.

He said: ''Because we shot in London, my biggest challenge was not drinking too many pints and not eating too many Scotch eggs. I was eating about four Scotch eggs a day.

''It finally got to the point where Guy said, 'Come here, love' and pulled me aside to the monitor and he goes. 'Do you see this? So this is a still of you earlier today.' He pushes a button and a different picture comes up. And I probably looked 15lb lighter in my face. He goes, 'This is the first day of shooting. Stop eating Scotch eggs!'

''And I was like, 'Alright fine! Only one a day...'''

And Armie's love of Scotch eggs - a boiled egg encased in meat with a breadcrumb shell - was so well known on set, his co-stars think of him whenever they see them.

Henry Cavill told SFX magazine: ''He eats so many Scotch eggs that every time I see a Scotch egg on a menu now I'm like, 'Armie! How's it going?' ''