Ash have contributed to the Star Wars computer game

The County Down musician - who has spent thousands on Star Wars memorabilia over the years - said there had been some gloom after the film series ended with Revenge of the Sith.

But fans across the world have been celebrating the announcement that more than 100 hours of new TV episodes are planned.

Mark, who is currently in the United States, said many fans feared with the final film that the Star Wars tale was at an end.

"With Rick McCallum saying they are going to be making over 100 hours of a new Star Wars TV show, that's good," he told BBC News.

"I hope it will work - who knows, they could mess it up, but we have our fingers crossed that it is going to be good.

"I went to a big Star Wars convention last year in Indianapolis, where there was probably between 40-50,000 people, and there was a question and answer session with George Lucas and they announced the TV show."

Director George Lucas announced a Star Wars TV series

The TV series would capitalise on the special effects already created for the previous movies, said Mark.

"They are going to have to come up with good stories and good characters to make it work."

The rock musician said he got hooked on Star Wars when he was very young and the band were delighted to have been asked to work on the spin-off computer game.

"We did some work for the Star Wars computer game last year and I got to know friends who are working on the new TV show already.