Studio 100 format House of Anubis was a big hit in Belgium and the Netherlands, where it is known as Het Huis Anubis, prompting kids network Nickelodeon to prepare an English-language version of the live-action series.

A supernatural action-thriller, the show ran between 2006 and 2009 on Nick in the Benelux. The English-language version is currently in production and will debut on Nick's English-language networks later this year.

It is being filmed in the UK and produced by All3Media-owned Lime Pictures, the indie producer that makes teen-skewed soap Hollyoaks and previously made long-running BBC school drama Grange Hill.

It is the first time Nick has developed a scripted format in this way, in Europe.

The story follows a group of eight teens as they unravel a mystery set in an English boarding school while dealing with the regular trials and tribulations of being a teenager.

"This is an original Nick production and is being filmed at the moment in Liverpool," said new Nick UK boss Tina McCann said: "It's a live-action telenovela, it's Harry Potter-meets- Gossip Girl."

A German version of the series has already been made and went out on Nickelodeon in the country, starting last September. The original has been sold internationally, including by its Latin distributor Comarex, to Channel 11 in Mexico.