Friends star Matthew Perry will not be attending a much-hyped reunion of the show’s cast next month due to rehearsal commitments, his spokeswoman says.

Perry, 46, was scheduled to take part in a two-hour TV special about comedy director James Burrows alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.

• Watch Netflix stuff not available here? Bad news…
• Shows to binge-watch on Netflix, Stan and Presto

It would have been the first time the star-studded cast had come together on television since the show ended in 2004.

“Regarding Matthew Perry and the James Burrows tribute, Matthew will not be attending, as he is in London in rehearsals for his play, The End of Longing,” Perry’s publicist Lisa Kasteler told Us Weekly.

“NBC executives were aware of this prior to their TCA announcement yesterday.

“In other words, this is not the reunion people have been hoping for.”

Ms Kasteler said Perry may record something for the tribute.

Friends, which premiered in 1994 and followed six adults in their mid-20s trying to navigate work, life and love in Manhattan, became one of NBC’s most-watched shows and has appeared on lists of the greatest TV shows in history.

The six performers, whose careers were launched by the show, have rarely come together as a group since the show went off the air.

Aniston, Cox and Kudrow last appeared together in 2014 to spoof their Friends characters in a sketch on late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live.