Spooks (MI-5) actor Matthew Macfadyen is to star in Ripper Street, a new period crime drama being co-produced by BBC America, Tiger Aspect Productions and Lookout Point.
The eight part series is set in and around Whitechapel in London’s East End in 1889, during the aftermath of the Jack The Ripper murders and centers on the notorious H Division, which is charged with keeping order in the chaotic streets of East London.
Also starring are Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones), Adam Rothenberg (Alcatraz), Myanna Buring (The Twilight Saga, White Heat) and David Dawson (Luther, Secret Diary of a Call Girl).
The show has been created by Richard Warlow and is being filmed in Dublin in partnership with the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/Irish Film Board.
BBC AMERICA’s SVP of Programming, Richard De Croce said: “We’re thrilled that Ripper Street is coming to our channel as part of Dramaville, the home of outstanding British drama.
“To this day, audiences continue to be fascinated by Jack The Ripper and the events in Whitechapel in the late 19th Century. This script and cast are going to take us for a great ride. We’re excited to be involved in such an ambitious production with Tiger Aspect and Lookout Point.”
Tiger Aspect’s Head of Drama Greg Brenman added, “We are so excited to have started production and be seeing these glorious scripts by Richard Warlow come to life. There is so much zest and urgency in Ripper Street that I honestly believe we’re helping re-define the accepted notion of British period drama.”
Simon Vaughan, who came up with the concept for the show and who, with BBC Worldwide, has brokered the deal with BBC AMERICA said, “The hunt for Jack The Ripper was the first ever global media man hunt – and somehow still stirs a macabre fascination in the public more than 120 years later.
“This is an iconic subject and we are delighted to be producing this as a UK/US co-production allowing us to deliver major production values and make a very ambitious series.”