Classroom CROOKS

Young criminals use their shady skills for the greater good in a family adventure

- ELAINE PENN, STEVEN PERKINS

NEW DRAMA Crookhaven Sunday, 3.05pm & 3.50pm, BBC1 (box set, BBC iPlayer)

When TV & Satellite Week is invited on the Northern Ireland set of BBC1's new Sunday-afternoon adventure drama, it soon becomes clear that Crookhaven school is no ordinary academy - from its high-tech computer-hacking classroom to a dormitory with a two-way mirror...

Based on the novels by JJ Arcanjo, the eight-part series follows Gabriel Avery (Lucas Leach), a teenage pickpocket who steals to help his grandmother Sue (Julie Hesmondhalgh) fund their hand-to-mouth existence. His skills haven't gone unnoticed in the wider world, and one day he receives a cryptic message that draws him to Crookhaven, where young 'Crooklings' are steered away from criminal endeavours and taught to use their skills for the greater good instead.

'Gabriel has had these talents his whole life, but he's only been able to use them in ways that are morally ambiguous,' Leach tells us during a break in filming. 'Now he's presented with a chance to change his life, and make a future for him and his grandmother, who is the core reason for everything he does.'