How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor has raised eyebrows after appearing to criticise the show for its nine-year run.

The hit US sitcom, in which Radnor plays lead character Ted, ran from 2005 to 2014 and told the story of how he met his children’s mother.

It is not until the ninth and final season that the audience finally meets ‘the mother’ in question.

A total of 208 episodes were made as the show almost reached a decade keeping viewers gripped as to how it would end.

And Radnor took to Instagram to recognise the pain many fans felt at the mother’s identity being drawn out with a frank and candid photo.

The 45-year-old posted an image of a How I Met Your Mother DVD but with the show’s title changed to ‘How I Stretched A 15 minute Story Into Nine F*****g Years’.

He then added the caption: "Well…yeah."

Radnor quickly deleted the post but Metro managed to capture a screenshot of the comical image in time.

One social media user responded to Radnor’s post by saying: "Hahahaha that’s true."

But others supported the show’s nine-year run, with one adding: "The best nine years ever!! I love How I met your mother and I miss it so much!!"