Ryan Dunn

I'm your biggest fan! Gerard Butler gets approached by a mystery lady as he and two female friends visit Bar Pitti in New York yesterday

He's one of Hollywood's most notorious playboys, known for his roving eye and hunky looks.

And it looks like Gerard Butler doesn't have to make any effort at all to attract the attention of pretty girls.

The actor, who has been linked with Jennifer Aniston amongst others, went to lunch at Bar Pitti in New York yesterday with two female friends.

And even in a very low key outfit with a baseball cap pulled low over his face, the Scottish charmer still attracted plenty of attention.

The 40-year-old was clearly loving it when passing girls would stop and chat with him.

Butler has good reason to be in an upbeat mood: he is teaming up with television mogul Bob Cochran to produce a new TV show called Pinkerton.

Don't be shy! Gerard can't stop smiling as he is approached by a pretty brunette

Allan Pinkerton was a Scottish-born officer responsible for founding the first detective agency in the United States.

And the Starz TV network has already drafted a pilot script for the show, which will have an 8-10 hour show run.

Butler will serve as executive producer alongside Cochran, who is best known for co-creating hit TV show 24, featuring Kiefer Sutherland as federal agent Jack Bauer.

Distracted: Did another pretty New York girl catch Butler's eye?

Pinkerton was known as 'the spy master of the North', and emigrated to America in his early 20s, during the Civil War.

He served as the head of the Union Intelligence Service, which later became the U.S. Secret Service.

Cochran and Butler are very excited about the project, and deeply in admiration of the way Pinkerton guarded Abraham Lincoln during his 1861 inauguration and prevented an assassination attempt on the President in Baltimore.

Cochran says: 'He was an amazing guy - he took part in all the great sweeping events of the 19th century.'