Doctor Foster fans, we have good news and bad news.

The good news is we finally have an update on when you can expect to see the show return to screens for the highly-anticipated third season – the bad news is you might be waiting a while.

With the second season winding up more than two years ago, fans have been left wondering when they can expect more carefully-veiled (but still earth-shattering) plot twists. 

Ever since the first episode aired, the gritty drama, which stars Suranne Jones, has certainly made its mark on TV, with fans bandying about complex theories, sharing commentary on the original (it’s based on a play) and praising the show’s approach to sexual assault and consent.

Now, the programme’s writer Mike Bartlett has weighed in, confirming it will return “at the right time”. “It all depends on the story,” Bartlett told Digital Spy. “Only when I have the right idea and story for it. The reason we could do two quite quickly – although it was still two years later – is I knew what it was”.

He added: “At the end of two, I’m really proud of where I left it. I think that’s right, the right ending. And I like that it’s got a sort of what might happen. But I don’t yet know exactly… what I wonder is whether it needs a bit of time right now. I just think I’ll know the right story at the right time. It could not come back. But we might come back in 60 years.”

The first season of the addictive BBC drama chronicled the gradual erosion of the marriage between Gemma Foster (played by Jones) and her husband Tom, who she finds out is cheating on her, in toe-curling – and irresistible – detail. The second season ended with the couple’s son running away from home.

Bartlett has previously hinted that there is room for more chapters to the modern tragedy. He told the Radio Times: “Clearly there’s potential there. But obviously there would have to be lots of conversations. We need to talk – Suranne and I and lots of other people need to have lots of conversations.”

Fingers crossed those conversations take place sooner rather than later. Even if it takes 60 years, you know what they say about good things and time.

Image: BBC One