Clunes accuses the National Theatre of behaving badly

The actor Martin Clunes, best known as the beer-swilling slob Gary in Men Behaving Badly, has taken a lunge at his latest employer – the Royal National Theatre.

Acclaimed for his starring role in Molière'sTartuffe, he told The Independent on Sunday: "I didn't really enjoy working at the National. I liked the people I worked with on the show, and I thought the production itself was great, but there's a sort of meanness of spirit in that building that I didn't like.

"On our last night, not a handshake, a glass of wine, a sausage roll, nothing. Then they charged me £11 a week just to park my car – and they own their own car park."

The actor also criticised the snootiness of the National's audience. "I didn't know what they were on about half the time," he said. "They came up to me and said things like, 'It's good to see you are doing something worthwhile now.' What does that mean? As if performing at the National is the only worthwhile thing you can do as an actor."

Clunes plays the classics master Charles Chipping in ITV1's new version of James Hilton's Goodbye Mr Chips to be screened on Boxing Day.

He is not the first star to criticise facilities at the National. While appearing in last year's production of Charlotte Jones's Humble Boy, Diana Rigg condemned the cramped backstage conditions, dismissing the dressing rooms as "battery-hen hatches".

Clunes's comments will prove embarrassing for the National, whose outgoing artistic director, Trevor Nunn, has been trying to shake off its image as the preserve of the mannered and moneyed classes.

A spokeswoman for the National Theatre said yesterday: "I'm sorry that there were aspects of Martin's time at the National that he didn't enjoy. We enjoyed having him here, and the audience very much enjoyed seeing him as Tartuffe."