The BBC has announced that the critically-acclaimed spy thriller "Killing Eve" will return to the corporation for a new series.

After it's debut on BBC1, the first series became a massive hit, and there have, so far, been over 26 million requests for the boxset on BBC iPlayer since it was put there in September.

Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three, raved about the show, saying younger audiences had binged on the series.

Under-35-year-old viewers have shown they appreciate the genre-busting, female-led series, with more than a third of the recorded viewers in that age range.

The series stars Sandra Oh as low-grade spy Eve Polastri, unexpectedly thrust into a major investigative role when her boss finds out that the frumpy secret agent is obsessed with killers.

Oh, was the subject of speculation about the possibility of her returning to her role as Dr Cristina Yang in the fifteenth series of the hit US medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," after more than ten years in the role.

Eve hunts a stylish, cold-blooded female international assassin - played by Jodie Comer, best known for her role in the BBC hit drama "Doctor Foster." The pair will resume their trans-continental chase in the second series.

Fiona Shaw - who starred as Harry Potter's strict Aunt Petunia in the successful series of children's movies - will also return, as the cold, sexually complex MI6 boss Carolyn Martens.

Joining them will be Nina Sosanya (Best known to UK viewers as Kate in "Last Tango in Halifax"), Edward Bluemel (from Sky production "A Discovery Of Witches") and guest star Julian Barrett - aka Howard Moon (from surreal comedy series "The Mighty Boosh" and Channel 4's "Flowers)."

The first series of "Killing Eve" was adapted by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the writer and actress who has previously been nominated for an Emmy and won a Bafta for off-beat UK comedy series "Fleabag." She will return for the new series of "Killing Eve" as an executive producer.

Emerald Fennell ("Monsters," "The Drifters") will take over as lead writer.

Based on the Codename Villanelle novellas by Luke Jennings, the first series of "Killing Eve" was shot at locations across Europe including Berlin and Italy. The second series is currently shooting in even more European hotspots including Amsterdam, London and Paris. Future series could further far-flung destinations for the cast, as later novellas included visits to Shanghai, Odessa and Ukraine.
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