Amazon has today announced further investment into exclusive and original content in a landmark deal that sees the company acquire UK subscription streaming rights to critically acclaimed BBC period crime drama Ripper Street – voted the best show of 2013 by Radio Times readers.
Amazon will commission from the producers, Tiger Aspect Productions and Lookout Point, a third series of Ripper Street, with brand new episodes made available exclusively to Amazon Prime Instant Video members. The series will continue to be co-produced in the US by BBC America and will screen on BBC1 a few months after it is available on Amazon in the UK. It will be distributed globally by BBC Worldwide. Filming will begin in May 2014, signaling Amazon’s commitment to the production of one of last year’s most highly regarded series, in a move that is sure to delight Ripper Street’s huge global fan base.
Prime Instant Video will also be the only subscription service in the UK where TV fans can watch the first two series of the critically acclaimed drama, viewed by millions on BBC1. From today, followers of the award-winning and BAFTA nominated show will be able to stream all eight episodes of series one in full high definition, with the entirety of the second series to follow soon after – giving viewers the chance to fully immerse themselves in this captivating crime drama inspired by life in London’s Whitechapel in the late 19th century.
Jason Ropell, Head of Amazon Instant Video International Content Acquisition says
“We’re delighted to have secured not only the highly popular first two seasons of Ripper Street for our Prime Instant Video customers, but we can also confirm today that we will making season three, news that we know will delight the millions of fans of this brilliant British drama. Prime Instant Video offers our customers the largest subscription streaming service in the UK with over 15,000 popular movies and TV episodes, many of which are exclusive to the service, and we’re just getting started.”
Ben Stephenson, the BBC’s Controller of Drama Commissioning, says
“This is an exceptional opportunity to bring back Ripper Street for a third series by working with the right partners. This deal gives fans another series of the show they love at excellent value to the licence fee payer, ensuring that the BBC can also commission an entirely new, yet to be announced drama series.”
Ripper Street follows the notorious H Division, the Police Precinct charged with keeping order on the meanest streets imaginable: late Victorian Whitechapel. It is a series of one-hour thrillers that transport audiences into the dark heart of London as it stumbles toward the Twentieth Century.
Starring Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks, Robin Hood), Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones), Adam Rothenberg (Alcatraz), MyAnna Buring (The Descent, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II) and created by BAFTA nominated Richard Warlow, (Waking the Dead, Mistresses), it is a vivid, sensual and violent drama that explores the lives of those who have seen the worst of humankind, but who nonetheless struggle each day to bring law to the lawless.
Another generation of viewers will now be introduced to life on Ripper Street, and both new and existing fans can enjoy series one and two on Amazon Prime Instant Video from the beginning.
The Guardian
BBC’s Ripper Street saved by Amazon