It's been 13 years since Life On Mars, the time-travelling BBC detective series, was on our screens. Now the programme's co-creator Matthew Graham has revealed a third and final series is on the cards, and also hinted DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) would be back.
He announced the news during a Twitter webchat that accompanied an online screening of the show's first two seasons. The BBC are yet to confirm if the new series has been commissioned.
Speaking about the forthcoming series, he said it will be set in the '70s and '80s, as well as an 'alternate now'. This is very much in keeping with the show's initial plotline, which followed the adventures of DI Sam Tyler (John Simm), who after being involved in a road accident in the present day (which was then 2006) wakes up in Manchester in 1973.
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Graham said: "We would never make another Mars unless we really had something to say
and could push the envelope all over again. Finally, we have something."
Though he didn't give much away beyond when the new season will be set - and that it will be set in both Manchester and London - he did hint that viewers should expect a bumpy road for the characters involved.
"There are bad things and there are monsters," said Graham. "These things are real. But
to get to you they have to get through the Guv [Gene Hunt]. And the Guv
is putting his driving gloves on."
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He also said that he hopes a good number of the show's previous cast will return for the third season, namely Liz White, who played DC Annie Cartwright, and Lee Ross, who played DCI Derek Litton.
"When you wonder who will be coming back for The Final Chapter - think Avengers Assemble," he teased. He also said the third season will be comprised of four or five episodes, and even hinted there potentially might be a show-within-a-show format featuring a programme called Tyler: Murder Division.
If, of course, it actually happens. Because not only have the BBC not confirmed any of this, he also made the announcement on 1 April. Graham insisted, however, it wasn't a joke. It better not be...
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Featured Image Credit: BBC
Topics: TV and Film, UK Entertainment