The BBC has announced plans for a new series of Life On Mars – but it’s a Chinese remake that’s is in the works, rather than a sequel. 

Thanks to a new partnership between the BBC and a Beijing-based production house, an eight-episode series is being made later this year.

The series will be set in the 1990s and a press release announcing the news points out that the “landmark decade” was “a time of economic growth and cultural prosperity [as] China became increasingly open to the rest of the world culturally”. 

BBC Studios executive David Weiland has hinted that there might be more Chinese adaptations of hit series to come too, stating: “We have a huge range of high quality scripted titles from Doctor Foster and Luther to Thirteen and In The Club, shows that would captivate Chinese audiences.”

He added that Life On Mars “ranks as one of the best dramas to come out of the UK and is a great example of the breadth and wealth of our scripted formats catalogue”. 

Life On Mars began airing in 2006 and has already been successfully adapted in a number of countries. 

An American edition aired just two years later and a Spanish version quickly followed, along with a Russian adaption (titled Dark Side Of The Moon) and a Czech one (World Under The Head). 

The UK version was followed by a spin-off, Ashes To Ashes, which saw Keeley Hawes take over as lead from John Simm, with Philip Glenister remaining as Gene Hunt.