Netflix, the TV show and movie streaming service that has been taking on regular broadcasters in originating and showing new content, has announced that it will be the exclusive home for the second half of the fifth season of Breaking Bad.

The conclusion to one of the most talked about TV shows in the last decade is in the can and soon to be broadcast in the States. The final eight episodes will start on 11 August on AMC in a traditional broadcast slot, but the UK and Ireland rights have been snapped up by Netflix, so it will be available on demand in the two countries from 12 August.

Unlike many of Netflix's shows, each episode will be added to the service every Monday on a weekly basis, in order to avoid spoiling the plot lines and ending for viewers worldwide.

"Netflix has been instrumental in making Breaking Bad the success that it is - particularly in the UK and Ireland, where it has built an audience and become a huge phenomenon," said the show's creator Vince Gilligan.

"I am delighted that fans there will be able to enjoy the end of Breaking Bad on Netflix so soon after it airs in the US."

All series of Breaking Bad - up to the end of the first half of season five - are available on Netflix. You could just about cram them all in by 12 August if you go some. Alternatively, AMC put together a trailer for the recent Comic-Con in San Diego that blitzed through all the previous series in just over two-and-a-half minutes. Warning though, it is full of spoilers if you haven't seen the show before.

Star Bryan Cranston recently said of the finale: "There's no apologies."