Fox has been a judge on both series of the UK show

Fox told the Daily Mirror that the recently-ended second series should be the last if Cowell left to concentrate on the hit US version, American Idol.

"We can only really do it with the same team," he said. "Part of me thinks it would be great to end it on a high.

A spokesman for Fox, the former voice of commercial radio's chart countdown, was not available for comment.

Cowell (centre) has helped the US show achieve high ratings

Fox told the Mirror he wanted viewers to look back on Pop Idol as a golden TV moment.

"It would become this thing where people said, 'Do you remember Pop Idol? That show was unbelievable'," he said.

After its success in the UK, the Pop Idol franchise has been a success around the world - and a particular hit in the US.

The latest series of American Idol on the Fox network has been watched by audiences upwards of 28 million viewers.

Fox was speaking at the launch of a volunteer recruitment campaign for TimeBank, the national volunteering charity and Help the Hospices, the national charity for the hospice movement.

He is a supporter of the 13 Days campaign, which aims to recruit people to volunteer in hospices, as his father died in a hospice from prostate cancer two years ago.