Amazon brings Ripper Street back from the dead

It may have seemed as doomed as the streets of Whitechapel when the BBC axed the show back in December due to poor ratings, but Amazon has commissioned Ripper Street a third season in a bid to bring it back from the dead.

The new season of the crime series starring Matthew Macfayden and Jerome Flynn will first premiere on Amazon’s Prime Instant Video – formerly LOVEFiLM – before screening on the BBC a few months later.

Amazon announced last week the re-branding of its LOVEFiLM service, which from this week will be incorporated into its UK website via Amazon Prime as it ups the ante with online video giant Netflix.

While no longer belonging exclusively to the BBC, the corporation will continue to contribute an unspecified amount to production costs of the new series.

The deal between Amazon and Ripper Street producer, Tiger Aspect, will also see Amazon have the UK streaming rights of the first two series of the show.

Commenting on the revival of the show, Ben Stephenson, the BBC’s controller of drama commissioning, said: “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.”

The BBC has said that similar deals of its kind are not expected to follow.