LONDON •Their clue was that he looked like Ross from the sitcom Friends. A month after starting their search for a man accused of stealing a case of beer, British police said on Tuesday that they had arrested in London a man on suspicion of theft.

It was a routine case save for one detail: The suspect bore an uncanny resemblance to actor David Schwimmer, known for playing the socially awkward scientist Ross Geller in the hit TV series.

That was enough to make a police appeal to the public to help find the suspect go viral.

Authorities in the seaside town of Blackpool, England, posted an image on Facebook of a man clutching the beers and staring into a security camera.

Fans of the series, which ran for 10 years, were quick to point out that the blurry image of a man with black hair, strong jawline and wearing black could easily be mistaken for one of Schwimmer.

The similarity inspired a number of Friends-related jokes in the comments, where people used well-known lines from the show to comment on the image.

"It's not been his day, his month or even his year," wrote one person on Facebook, appropriating lyrics from the show's theme song.

Even Schwimmer got in on the act.

"Officers, I swear it wasn't me," the actor said on social media. He posted a video, which looked like security footage, of him making off with a case of beer, but in New York.

"As you can see, I was in New York," wrote Schwimmer, who has lived in London. "To the hardworking Blackpool Police, good luck with the investigation."

When NBC aired the series finale in 2004, it had the fourth-biggest audience ever and it remains popular all over the world.

The entire series was released on the streaming site Netflix in 2014, in the United States and later elsewhere, though it has prompted questions about how well the show has aged.

On Tuesday, the Blackpool police thanked their colleagues in London, who made the arrest, and Schwimmer for his help. The Metropolitan Police also continued the TV-inspired jokes.

"Happy to help @LancsPolice #IllBeThereForYou," they tweeted.

NYTIMES