CHRISTCHURCH teenager Adam Jessop has landed a starring role in the forthcoming BBC children's television series Powers.

This major role comes just months after he appeared in two series of The Bill on ITV.

The Swish of the Curtain Drama School pupil, who is halfway through a two year Performing Arts course at Brockenhurst College is spending three months filming in London and the series will be broadcast shortly after Christmas.

Adam, 17, told the Echo: "Powers is about two kids who have telepathic or psychic powers. A professor of science has recruited them and they go on adventures catching ghosts and making psychic investigations - a bit like the X Files. It's aimed at eight to 14-year-olds and will be on BBC 1 in the New Year."

Adam plays one of the psychic children, 14-year-old Mark Roberts.

He said he had auditioned unsuccessfully for the hugely successful children's TV series 'My Parents Are Aliens' two years ago. But he had clearly made a lasting impression on the casting director at the time.

"The same casting director is involved in this and she remembered me and contacted me through my agent."

Like many pupils at Bournemouth's Swish of the Curtain Drama School Adam has been able to take advantage of the school's agent, Redroofs in Maidenhead.

He will finish filming at the end of September and then should be going back to complete his second year at Brockenhurst College.

But such is the excitement that has been created by this programme that there is already speculation about a second series.

Adam says he would take a year off from his college course and complete it later if he was offered a second series.

Having seen some rough-cuts of the show already he says, "It does look very, very good.

"This programme has been in development for six years. America's Disney were pushing for co-production of it but because it is so hot the BBC want to keep it for themselves."

Adam realises the programme is going to make him very well known. He is determined to become a professional actor and go to drama school but he is not sure about being famous.

"I want to be a successful actor but I don't want to be too big and be one of those people that get hounded constantly. I like my own silence and to be able to think. I don't like noise around me. But this will make me quite well known. It's not that much of a worry - it's a bit of a concern."

Still, the whole experience so far is proving great fun and Adam is already earning £500 a week.

"They've made my character someone everyone will want to be like, wearing all the trendy surf style clothes. And the first thing they did was take me shopping in London and spend about £800 on clothes for me. The costume designers would spend £40 or £50 on a T-shirt for me, which seemed such a waste when you can buy them for about £3. They even bought me a £90 Kahuna surfer's style watch which no one will see on TV."

Despite the perks the 13 weeks of filming is hard work. The hours are rather unsociable and erratic at times.

Adam's working day has involved working from 4pm through to 3am sometimes. A more civilised day is filming from noon to midnight- and then taking home more lines to learn over night.

"It's a very slow process as we re-film scenes many times. It's great fun but very tiring and very hard work. A lot of people have said they would have loved to have had this experience so early on in their career- I am very lucky."