Ripper Street Returns For Final Series

Ripper Street is to return to BBC Two for its fifth – and final – series, it has been announced.

The previous season introduced a new serial killer to the streets of Whitechapel. Convinced that the murderer's cannibalistic crimes were being covered up by another party, an investigation by Detective Inspector Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) and Detective Inspector Bennet Drake (Jerome Flynn) led to a trail of corruption at the heart of Scotland Yard; specifically, Assistant Commissioner Augustus Dove (Killian Scott) and his brother Nathaniel Dove (Jonas Armstrong). In an attempt to bring down the brothers, DI Drake lost his life to serial killer Nathaniel, forcing DI Reid, Captain Homer Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) and 'Long' Susan Hart (MyAnna Buring) to go on the run. As the trio find themselves on the other side of the law, they discover that revealing the truth about the Dove brothers is not an easy task.

This final series, which consists of six episodes, picks up just days after DI Drake's death as his friends work to try and bring his murderer to justice. However, with the killer on the loose and a corrupt lawman leading the police force, DI Reid faces his most dangerous challenge yet.

Also starring in season five of the drama are Matthew Lewis (Harry Potter), Joseph Mawle (Game Of Thrones), Benjamin O'Mahony (Kilo Two Bravo), Lydia Wilson (Star Trek Beyond), and Anna Burnett (The Falling).

Richard Warlow, Writer, Creator and Executive Producer, said: "Saying goodbye to this world of Ripper Street and its characters is going to be a very strange thing; it's been five years of my life. From the beginning when I began writing, I had in mind a five series arc, ending with us sending our characters off into the twentieth century. I'm immensely proud we have been able to tell the story as we hoped, and equally proud that such a huge number of the original cast and the creative team have been involved every step of the way."

The final season of Ripper Street is a Tiger Aspect and Lookout Point production in association with Brown Bear Films for Amazon and BBC Worldwide, co-produced with BBC America.

Ripper Street returns to BBC Two on 19 June, 9pm.

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre

(JP/MH)