Impossible dream

"Truth is, there is no single answer," admits JJ Abrams, about the mystery at the centre of his creation Lost.

"It's kind of like a ouija board. You have to listen to it as much as know where you want it to go."

There you have it: inconclusive teasing is as integral to TV's phenomenally successful plane crash drama as sea, sand and invisible stylists.

But, unlike the estimated 6million British fans who'll be tuning in for the start of series two tonight, its creator has had larger concerns on his mind; namely a little project called Mission: Impossible III - a film rumoured to be the most expensive directorial debut in movie history.

"There were moments when I could just see the headline: 'First Time Director Kills Cruise'," he admits, clearly relieved to have kept alive the world's most famous movie star, who insists on doing his own stunts.

"You can see it's him - you know it's him - and it makes you invest more emotionally in the movie.

"It's hugely better because he does his own stunts.

"Mind you, I did scream 'F**k!' when Tom hit the ground once. Luckily there was a bit of padding under the gravel - but an inch or two more and he'd have definitely broken a rib.

"It was hideous. And the time the truck ran over him? I hated that."

The stress of nearly killing Cruise, billion-dollar box-office pressure...

What on earth made Jeffrey Jacob Abrams accept what is, basically, his own mission impossible?

"Well, Tom Cruise offered it to me," says the energetic, bespectacled, 44-year-old New Yorker, who has previously been involved in bigscreen projects as the scriptwriter of Armageddon, Forever Young and Regarding Henry.

"he first time I met him was with Steven Spielberg about writing War Of The Worlds, which I couldn't do because I was doing the Lost pilot.

"Tom rang randomly a couple of months later saying he loved Alias [Abrams's other TV creation] and did I want to hang out? I thought: 'That's weird.'

"Then my agent got the call about directing the next Mission: Impossible. It was insane. And I immediately wanted to do it.