UKTV Inks Deal for Future Seasons of 'Rizzoli & Isles'

LONDON -- UKTV, the multi-channel network operator owned by BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, has inked a deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution to secure future seasons of Boston cop drama series Rizzoli & Isles for U.K. audiences.

our editor recommends

TNT Renews 'Rizzoli & Isles' for Fourth Season

UKTV Brings 'Perception' to British Screens

Alibi, UKTV's channel set up to carry British and American crime drama as part of UKTV’s network, has currently scheduled the third season of the drama for January 2013.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Based on Tess Gerritsen's crime novels and developed for television by Janet Tamaro (Bones, Lost), Rizzoli & Isles stars Angie Harmon (Law & Order) as police detective Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander (NCIS) as medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles. Despite being opposites, the two women make a formidable team and put some of Boston’s most notorious criminals behind bars.

UKTV said that since the first season launched on the channel last year both popularity and ratings for the show "has gone from strength-to-strength."

The second season averaged 495,000 individuals, up a whopping 482 percent on the slot average and up 26 percent on the first season's average.

UKTV head of acquisitions and co-productions Alexandra Finlay, who brokered the deal, said: "Rizzoli and Isles has been a big success both Stateside and in the U.K., so this strategic deal with Warner Bros further strengthens Alibi, helping to ensure it remains a must-have channel for all fans of crime drama."

Warner Bros. International Television president Jeffrey R. Schlesinger added: "We are pleased that Rizzoli and Isles will continue to have a home in the UK on Alibi, where it has consistently been a strong performer."

Alibi is the U.K.'s eighth biggest pay only entertainment channel reaching 4.8 million individuals every month.