Good news for fans of the hit TV series 24, actor Keiffer Sutherland has said that work on a movie version of the programme has already begun.

Speaking at a fan event in Tokyo Sutherland, who plays lead character special agent Jack Bauer, said: "It's a little early for me to say, but some amazing film makers have made themselves available to make the film and so we're very excited.

"It's going to look, I think, very different than the show but some circumstances are going to be very similar. It's gonna be a bad day, and Jack Bauer will somehow find himself in the middle of it."

Sutherland went on to explain that some elements will have to change for the movie though: "The main difference of the film will be that it will be a two-hour-presentation of a 24-hour-day. It will not be in real time, which will free the writers up greatly.

"It is very feasible to fly from the United States to Japan, and still have a lot of stuff to do. We can never do that in real time because the flight is 14 hours, that would just not be very good watching."

The cliffhanger ending to the television series left loyal fans guessing about which direction the planned movie will go in, and fans will have to keep guessing as Sutherland gave nothing else away.