The co-writer and co-creator of hit show Life on Mars confirmed yesterday that the second series, to be broadcast in the new year, will be the show's last.

Matthew Graham said: "We decided Sam's journey should have a finite life span and a clear-cut ending and we feel we have now reached that point after two series."

The show, which follows the adventures of cop DI Sam Tyler who after a car accident in 2006 wakes up in 1973, pulled in an average of seven million viewers for the BBC.

Bravo has acquired the rights to show the first series on the channel, with BBC America showing it in the the States, and US network ABC announcing it will make its own version of the alternative cop drama.

BBC and programme makers Kudos are trying to keep the ending a secret by filming two versions of the final episode.

The new series will reunite writing team Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan, Ashley Pharoah and Chris Chibnall, who worked on series one, alongside two new writers to the series - Hustle writer Julie Rutterford and Guy Jenkin, who worked on The Private Life of Samuel Pepys.