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ITV has confirmed that the third series of hit cop show Broadchurch will be aired in the new year - but it will be the final series.

With the BBC's hit whodunit The Missing having drawn to a conclusion last night (November 30) millions of viewers will be keen to learn where they can get their next drama fix.

What do we know about Broadchurch series 3?

David Tennant and Olivia Colman will reprise their roles as DI Alec Hardy and DS Ellie Miller, respectively.

They will be joined by Lenny Henry, Coronation Street's Julie Hesmondhalgh - who plays a character called Trish - Sarah Parish and Charlie Higson.

The third and final series of the show will air in early 2017 and will see Colman and Tennant's DS Miller and DI Hardy chase a new case - a serious sexual assault.

Also returning to the show are Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan as Beth and Mark Latimer, Arthur Darvill as local Vicar Paul Coates, Carolyn Pickles as newspaper editor Maggie Radcliffe, Charlotte Beaumont as Mark and Beth’s daughter Chloe, and Adam Wilson as Ellie’s son Tom.

The series has again been written by creator Chris Chibnall who will take over the reigns of Doctor Who after Steven Moffat leaves at the end of series 10.

What about the storyline?

The shadow of the horrific murder of school boy Danny Latimer still hangs over the small Dorset community, and now the residents come under the scrutiny of Hardy and Miller’s investigation.

Series two of the drama followed the trial of Joe Miller (Matthew Gravelle ) and the infamous Sandbrook case which haunted Hardy for years before he arrived in Broachchurch.