Acorn TV has handed its most-watched new series premiere ever a second season and a two-part special, betting that audiences still want their crime drama served with a side of art history.

'Art Detectives' will return in December with a two-part special, followed by a six-episode second season the following year, according to Deadline. Production on the new episodes begins in Belfast and across Northern Ireland.

Stephen Moyer leads the cast as DI Mick Palmer, a detective in the Heritage Crime Unit — the team that investigates murders connected to the world of art and antiques. Nina Singh co-stars as DC Shazia Malik. Larry Lamb returns as Ron Palmer, Mick's art-forging father, who is now serving time in an open prison for handling a stolen Sickert painting. That painting was recovered at the end of season one.

The series was created and written by Dan Gaster, Will Ing and Paul Powell, and directed by Jennie Paddon, Declan Recks and Sam O'Mahony. It is produced by Black Dog Television, Dynamic Television and Acorn Media Enterprises, with funding from Northern Ireland Screen. Moyer also serves as an executive producer, alongside Gaster, Ing and Powell for Black Dog Television; Daniel March and Klaus Zimmermann for Dynamic Television; and Bea Tammer and Catherine Mackin for Acorn TV/Acorn Media Enterprises. Candida Julian-Jones is the series producer and Martin Mahon produces. Don Klees is SVP of Programming at Acorn TV, which is an AMC Global Media streamer.

For a platform the size of Acorn TV, calling a show the most-watched new series premiere in its history carries weight — it is the kind of number that decides whether a writers' room gets another season or a crew of two hundred packs up. The renewal means the Heritage Crime Unit lives on, and the production base in Northern Ireland stays busy for another stretch.

The December special lands first, giving existing viewers a mid-winter return and new viewers an easy on-ramp before the full six-episode run in the new year.