Cult spy series Alias to finish

Jennifer Garner and husband Ben Affleck's baby is due in December

US TV spy series is to end for good next year after five seasons, broadcaster ABC has announced.

The series, in which Jennifer Garner plays an undercover CIA agent, will finish in May after being beaten in the ratings by its timeslot competition.

Last week the series got seven million viewers, compared with 19m for reality hit Survivor: Guatemala on rival CBS.

ABC president Stephen McPherson said the finale would be "the event it deserves to be".

"Alias is not going to wind down as it comes to an end, it's going to rev up," he said.

The series was created by executive producer JJ Abrams, one of the creators of survivor drama Lost.

Pregnancy incorporated

Abrams has also written the forthcoming Tom Cruise action movie Mission: Impossible III.

Garner's pregnancy has been written into Alias' fifth series for her character, agent Sydney Bristow.

The actress and her husband Ben Affleck appeared together in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor and co-starred in Daredevil two years later.

The show's guest stars have included The Office creator Ricky Gervais, who played a bomb expert in an episode last year, director Quentin Tarantino and Blue Velvet star Isabella Rossellini.