‘Downton Abbey’ Threatened By Grisly Crime Series ‘Ripper Street’, Rumor

Downton Abbeythreatened as the No. 1 period drama when Ripper Street comes to town? Could BBC executives actually be thinking of possibly putting the bloody drama against the most popular period piece of our time?

Well, it’s just a rumor, but it could happen.

Ripper Street is getting ready to open its second season after receiving rave reviews for the first one, which showed last year on BBC America in the US.

Starring another fan favorite, Matthew Macfadyen (Pride And Prejudice, The Three Musketeers) joined by Game Of Thrones’ Jerome Flynn and American Adam Rothenberg, Ripper Street took British and American TV by storm with its crude portrayal of a unit in charge of solving grisly crimes in the streets of London in the wake of the Jack the Ripper murders.

The new series is set to start at the end of the month which could potentially mean Downton Abbey is threatened despite its incredible ratings of over 10 million viewers for the first two episodes of the new season.

A top ITV source says it won’t happen, “What are they going to call it, Downton Stabby? If they do put it up against Downton, it would be suicide.”

At the same time a BBC spokesperson refused to reveal the exact date of Ripper Street’s premiere, but said there are no plans of putting it head to head against the posh drama.

Last season, the crime series was aired on Saturday nights in the US and that could potentially be the case if it’s planning to open on the weekend when Downton is still airing.

But recently Ripper Street topped DowntonAbbey in a different department. It has become the most expensive TV period series in the UK at £1.5million an episode.

We really don’t think Downton Abbey will be threatened by the new season of Ripper Street, but we will have to wait and see. Both dramas return to American television on PBS and BBC America respectively, in 2014.