In pre-MIPCOM deal-making, Canada’s Space specialty channel has acquired the BBC crime drama Ripper Street from BBC Worldwide.

The Ripper Street drama, from scribe Richard Warlow and indie producer Tiger Aspect Productions and Lookout Point, is a co-production with BBC America.

The eight-part drama is set in and around the chaotic streets of London’s East End in 1889, after the Jack the Ripper murders.

Ripper Street stars Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn and Adam Rothenberg.

BBC America is to air the British drama in Fall 2012.