Ripper makes killing in Australia

MIPTV: BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) Australia has notched up its first presale for new crime drama Ripper Street, with Network Ten.

Launching later this year, the eight-part series is set in and around Whitechapel in London’s East End in 1889, in the aftermath of the Jack The Ripper murders.

Beverley McGarvey Network Ten’s head of programming said the channel was “instantly intrigued” by Ripper Street, and called it one of the most compelling crime stories of all time. The drama has been earmarked as a high-profile feature of Ten’s upcoming programming slate.

Ripper Street is a Tiger Aspect Productions, Lookout Point and BBC America production for the BBC. BBCWW holds global distribution rights.

The drama was created by Richard Warlow and the exec producers are Greg Brenman and Will Gould of Tiger Aspect, Simon Vaughan for Lookout Point and Polly Hill for BBC1. It was commissioned by Ben Stephenson, BBC’s head of drama, and BBC1 controller Danny Cohen.

The series stars Matthew Macfadyen (MI-5, Pride and Prejudice), 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).

Ripper Street, currently in production in Dublin, is partly supported by the Irish Film Board (Bord Scannán na hÉireann).