Russell Brand Russell Brand has expressed his regret over not doing more to help friend Amy Winehouse (Picture: Xposure)

Back to Black singer Winehouse fought a very public battle with drink and drugs from 2005, similar to Brand before he finally managed to kick his habit ten years ago after going into rehab.

Amy Winehouse Tragic: Amy Winehouse died in July last year (Picture: Splash)

Brand admitted he had tried to help the London-born singer in the weeks leading up to her death, but wishes he had tried to do more.

'I knew Amy well, I loved her, but I knew this was a person that was going to die.

'I knew that she was going to die from drugs and alcohol, like we all did.' he told Metro.

'Then I thought "I can do something about this". I tried a couple of times but if I’d have known, I would have done more.'

Speaking to the singer's father Mitch Winehouse in a new hard-hitting documentary about how our society deals with addiction, he admitted: 'I feel guilty because I am the alcoholic junkie who got clean and I wasn't able to do anything.'

The TV star hopes something positive can come from the death of his close friend through the new BBC3 film, titled From Addiction to Recovery, which airs this week.

Brand hopes it will show drug addicts there is a solution to the problem through abstinence-based recovery, a method which worked for him .

'All I want is for people to be directed toward abstinence based recovery and for people who know someone that’s got a drug or alcohol problem or, indeed, has it themselves know that there is a solution,' he added. 'It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done; but easier than taking drugs.'

Russell Brand: From Addiction to Recovery, airs Thursday at 9pm on BBC3