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The BBC3 controller, Danny Cohen, has bought the antipodean mockumentary series Summer Heights High from the Australian broadcaster ABC.
The BBC digital channel will show the eight-part series, a darkly comic parody of Australian school life, shot in the style of a documentary and created by the comedian Chris Lilley, later this year.
In the series Lilley plays all three main characters, including a camp drama teacher called Mr G, who is known for writing musicals for his students including one called Tsunamarama, based on the events of the 2004 tsunami disaster, set to the music of Bananarama.
Lilley also plays Ja'mie King, a pampered and manipulative 16-year-old female student transferred from a private school.
He also plays the rebellious 13-year-old Pacific Islander student Jonah Takalua, who is known for scrawling his graffiti tag "dicktation" around Summer Heights High, and for phrases such as "I'm not dumb, I'm just choosing not to be smart at the moment".
The supporting cast includes David Lennie as the social officer Doug Peterson, and Kristy Barnes-Cullen as the English teacher Sarah Wheatley.
Summer Heights High has already been bought by the US cable network HBO and attracted the support of the influential showbiz blogger Perez Hilton, who recently called it one of his "favourite shows on the planet". The Australian show will be broadcast in the US later this year.
When it debuted on ABC in September last year, the series, which is shot in Melbourne, also performed well, peaking at 1.6 million viewers and averaging about 1.2 million, an overall share of around 20%.
Lucy Lumsden, the BBC's controller of comedy commissioning, said: "Summer Heights High is a fantastic addition to the BBC3 comedy lineup for 2008 - with a truly brilliant central performance from Chris Lilley."

THIS ARTICLE IS IMPORTANT AS IT LOOKS AT DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROGRAMMES IN AUSTRAILIA WHICH THE BBC IS AIMING TO INVEST IN. THIS ARTICLE ALSO INCLUDES INSTITUTIONS SUCH AS ABC AND HBO WHICH YOU CAN INCLUDE IN YOUR ISSUES AND DEBATES MODULE