Announcing the third and final series of Life on Mars sequel Ashes to Ashes for transmission next autumn, executive producer Simon Crawford Collins promised explanations which will finally reveal all the franchise's secrets.

The eight episode series will pick up from series two's cliffhanger, with Collins asking whether Alex Drake will "make it back home, why is she living in this parallel 1980s world, what will become of bullish Gene Hunt and will we ever discover what actually happened to Sam Tyler?"

A BBC spokesperson noted that the finale would explain "who Gene Hunt actually is and what his alternative world really means." The show's creators, Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharaoh, have already stated that they will not be emulating the explanations given in the US version of Life on Mars.