Ripper Street brought back to life by Amazon

Ripper Street is coming back from the dead after the period drama, which was filmed on location in Ireland, won an unlikely reprieve.

A third series of the show is to be filmed here after online retailer Amazon announced it would be made exclusive to subscribers of its on-demand service, Prime Instant Video service.

Ripper Street, which starred Matthew MacFadyen, Jerome Flynn and Charlene McKenna, was axed by the BBC last year.

The decision to bring the series back the series will likely provide a major boost to the Irish film and television industry as the total value of the first and second series has been about €20 million, in terms of spend on local goods and services.

Ripper Street follows the notorious H Division, the police precinct charged with keeping order in late Victorian Whitechapel.

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. As part of the arrangement the first and second series of Ripper Street will be available to Prime Instant Video subscribers.

Filming of the third series is to begin in May with production to be based in Clancy Barracks in Dublin for several months. The first and second series of Ripper Street employed 5,000 Irish cast, extras and crew, providing approximately 170,000 Irish work hours per series.

"Ripper Street is a perfect example of a series which has showcased Irish actors, the excellent work of Irish crew and Ireland as a film location to audiences all over the world," said James Hickey, chief executive of the Irish Film Board.