Rumors have been floating around about it, but it’s finally been confirmed that the Apple’s current favorite show of all time has been renewed by the Beeb for a second series. Given that Our Man Adam is the show’s Designated American and has been prominently featured in promotions for the show, we assume he’ll be back in action as well, but we’re withholding a modicum of excitement in case Homer Jackson’s deep dark secrets make him a one-and-done character. Previous rumors had the show starting up production again in April and running through August, so we can presumably look forward to its return about the same time next year. Unless Adam’s not going to be back. In which case, this show will be dead to us.

According to the Guardian, Ripper Street “has averaged 7.1 million viewers (in the UK) and a 22.9% audience share so far, according to consolidated ratings including seven-day catchup viewing.”

Update (12:05 PM):

Creator and writer Richard Warlow said of the renewal: “I am enormously grateful to have been given the opportunity to return to ‘H’ Division once more and will be working tirelessly to ensure that those who have joined us each week will find ever more compelling crime-fighting thrills down on Ripper Street the second time around. The series will move forward into the 1890s: the death rattle of a century coming to a close, the labour pains of a modern world on the rise. It is this sense of climax and calamity that, week by week, our heroes will confront with conviction and heroism.” Still no unambiguous confirmation of Adam’s involvement in the Greatest Series on Television/the Biggest Missed Opportunity on Future Television. We remain on tenterhooks.

Update (2:49 PM):

No big surprise, but, according to Deadline, Ripper Street will continue to be a co-production with BBC America. Quoting executive producer Simon Vaughn: “Partnering with BBC America was always our ideal scenario and it has proven to be a wonderful decision. They have given the series an amazing launch in America and we are delighted to be moving into series two together.”

RIPPER STREET
Episode 01-02 (US Airdate: January 26, 2013): “In My Protection”

A beloved toy maker is beaten to death for a mysterious brass box and the coins in his pocket. The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee presents a 14 year-old culprit who refuses to deny the charge, leading Reid into the savage world of merciless child gangs.

Guest Cast: Lucy Cohu as Deborah Goren, Joseph Gilgun as Carmichael, Hugh O’Conor as Mr. Eagles, Michael Smiley as George Lusk, Giacomo Mancini as Thomas Gower, Beverley Klein as Mrs. Manby

Director: Tom Shankland
Creator and Writer: Richard Warlow

Series credits can be found in here.

Ripper Street airs for eight weeks on BBC America, starting on January 19, 2013 at 9/8 CT. The series is also available on iTunes.

In just a few hours, Ripper Street debuts on BBC America and we at the Apple are giddy with anticipation for the series that critics are calling “magnetic and intriguing”; “gripping, nicely styled, and smartly written”; “a jewel in the crown of New Year television programming”; and “definitely a ‘Street’ worth visiting.” The cast in particular is garnering kudos everywhere, with Hollywood Reporter‘s Tim Goodman contending that this is “likely to be (our Adam’s) breakout role.

You won’t want to miss it.

RIPPER STREET
Episode 01-01 (US Airdate: January 19, 2013): “I Need Light”

A young woman is found brutally murdered, the hallmark signs of the Ripper upon her. One-time H Division boss, Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline, believes it Jack’s return but Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) – the precinct’s new man in charge – suspects a different evil at work.

Guest Cast: Steven Robertson as Christian Thwaites, Mark Dexter as Sir Arthur Donaldson, Geoff Bell as Joseph Smeaton, Julian Bleach as Cecil Creighton, Sarah Gallagher as Maud Thwaites

Director: Tom Shankland
Creator and Writer: Richard Warlow

Series credits can be found in here.

Ripper Street airs for eight weeks on BBC America, starting on January 19, 2013 at 9/8 CT. The series is also available on iTunes.

Adam popped up on the local CBS affiliate here to discuss, of course, Ripper Street. Thanks to commenter Clare for the heads up.

Adam talks to Access Hollywood about his new role.

In anticipation of the BBC America debut of RIPPER STREET this coming Saturday weekend, we’re going to round up a couple Adam projects that fell through the cracks here at the Apple over the last few months. Clearly, our volunteer work at several local hospitals and orphanages has pulled us away from far more important matters. We offer you our sincerest apologies.

Now check out what Adam’s been up to, after the jump. (more…)

Today, we’re gonna run down Adam’s Ripper Street character, aka the primary reason we Applenauts are watching Ripper Street.

Captain Homer Jackson

An American, a one-time Pinkerton detective, and a U.S. army surgeon, Captain Homer Jackson is an expert in the world of early forensics. Enlisted by Reid for his unique skills on the autopsy slab, he is a free spirit, both untrustworthy and brilliant by equal measure. But his thirst for vice — including women, booze and gambling — leaves him hated by Drake and distrusted by the rest of the police fraternity.

Jackson has his secrets, too. On the run from an ‘incident’ in America, he and brothel-keeper, Long Susan, have sought out the East End precisely for its chaos and lawlessness. Reid’s attachment to Jackson — and the friendship the two like-minded men inevitably foster -– will eventually compromise this need for secrecy. — from BBC America

In a very thorough interview over at CultBox, Adam describes Jackson as “a bit of a cowboy; he’s bit of a rogue but he’s also a little bit of Albert Schweitzer, you know what I mean. He’s a healer. He’s a fighter. It sounds absurd, the treatment of the character, with the writing and wardrobe and everything that happens makes him an actor’s dream to play.

“Who wouldn’t be drawn to playing Jackson? If you were to have male actors of a certain age write down their dream role they’d like to play, it would probably be Homer Jackson.”

Adam makes his triumphant return to the cathode ray tube (I know, just play along); this time arriving straight… From Hell.

His latest project, Ripper Street, popped up on BBC One a couple weeks ago. But the rest of us can start catching up when it debuts on BBC America this Saturday.

While some have lobbied over the years for saucy Adam‘s inclusion in the list of reasonable Ripper suspects, careful research appears to prove conclusively that “Baby Rothenberg” was born at least 85 years after Jack’s last murder — making it nearly impossible that our multimedia heartthrob could be the actual killer.

An exonerated Adam recently waxed explanatory on the Ripper Street project, saying it’s “about Whitechapel during the tail end of the reign of Jack the Ripper. But that is very much just the beginning and the introduction to everything that follows. It’s a drama about the lives of the people that are trying to install some sort of order in a world which is on the verge of exploding.”

It sounds like an exceptionally good fit, as Adam has kept his fans on the verge of exploding for years. Tune in or drop out, Apple Nation!

RIPPER STREET

History’s most notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper, tore through London. Now, the detectives who were on the case have to pick up the pieces. In the aftermath of the murders, can anyone keep order in the blood-stained London Streets?

Haunted by the failure to catch London’s most evil killer, Inspector Edmund Reid (Macfadyen) now heads up the notorious H Division, the toughest district in London’s East End. Charged with keeping order in the chaotic streets of Whitechapel, Inspector Reid is soon drawn deep into the seedy criminal underworld of Victorian London — where fear always lurks that each new murder could mark the return of The Ripper.

Ripper Street is a riveting new eight-part crime series set to premiere on BBC America on January 19, 2013 at 9/8 CT. The series is also available on iTunes.

CAST:
Matthew Macfadyen as Detective Inspector Edmund Reid
Jerome Flynn as Detective Sergeant Bennet Drake
Adam Rothenberg as Captain Homer Jackson
MyAnna Buring as Long Susan
Charlene McKenna as Rose Erskine
Amanda Hale as Emily Reid
Jonathan Barnwell as Police Constable Dick Hobbs
David Wilmot as Sergeant Donald Artherton
David Dawson as Fred Best
Clive Russell as Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline

Created and written by Richard Warlow
Concept: Simon Vaughan

Executive Producer(s): Greg Brenman and Will Gould (Tiger Aspect); Simon Vaughan (Lookout Point); Andrew Lowe; Ed Guiney
Producer: Stephen Smallwood
Produced for the BBC by Tiger Aspect Productions, Lookout Point and BBC AMERICA
Made with the participation of Bord Scannén na hÉireann (Irish Film Board)
Commissioned by BBC Head of Drama, Ben Stephenson and Danny Cohen
Executive Producer for BBC1: Polly Hill

Location: Dublin, Ireland
Directors: Andy Wilson, Tom Shankland, Colm McCarthy
Writers: Richard Warlow (6 episodes), Toby Finlay (2 episodes)
Cinematography: Julian Court, PJ Dillon, Peter Robertson
Production Design: Mark Geraghty
Composer: Dominik Scherrer