Channel Ten have completed a deal with the BBC to buy their new Australian-set drama series Out of the Blue.

The BBC commissioned the 130 episode series from Australia's Southern Star Entertainment after they lost the broadcast rights to Neighbours in the UK.

Out of the Blue centres around a group of thirty-something friends who return to their home town for a high school reunion only for the celebrations to be curtailed when one of the group is murdered.

The show will be produced by John Edwards, whose credits include The Secret Life of Us, and Julie McGauran, and will star Home and Away's Charlotte Gregg and Heartbreak High's Katherine Hicks.

Production is due to begin on Sydney's northern beaches in February and will be on our screens later in the year.