The Boy From Before is a four-part series featuring secondary school pupils from Oak Lodge School in Balham, who collaborated with filmmakers to devise and write the script, acting alongside professional deaf actors. The drama was filmed at the school, and on location at Clapham Common.

It tells the story of a boy who is killed by a Second World War bomb then arrives at a present-day school in Clapham as a ghost. The plot covers themes such as bullying and friendship and is designed to appeal to deaf and hearing viewers by being as visual as possible.

It was financed by the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust which was set up after Ofcom ruled that channels either had to make more signed programmes or pay the trust to commission them.

Oak Lodge pupil Karolis Jaskus, 14, plays Sam, a boy who can see ghosts. He said filming the programme inspired him to become an actor.

"I'm really excited about the screening," he said. "I really feel like it's my film. My mum's going to see me in it. I feel like I'm a bit famous. I want to be the first deaf man to win an Oscar. Acting makes me feel more confident."

Fellow pupil Simon Eyres, 14, who played a ghost called Jack, said: "I think the deaf and hearing worlds should be more mixed. Most hearing people think deaf people are stupid, but we just can't hear."

Terry Riley, chief executive of the British Sign Language Trust, said: "For many years the BBC and Channel 4 have shown deaf adult drama, but very rarely have we seen deaf children's drama. I see this as being the start of a new era." Ofcom said: "Sign language users wanted to see more programmes in sign language in place of programmes with a signer superimposed."