Even though we share a common language and history with our British cousins across the pond, there are some things they do that are simply perplexing. Cricket instead of hockey. Tea instead of Tim Horton’s. Coldplay instead of, you know, a band with testicles and stuff.

Now comes Hex (tonight at 10 p.m on Space), an import from England’s Sky One satellite network that’s part Buffy The Vampire Slayer, part Mean Girls and undeniably British. It’s the teen dramedy as seen through a scary gypsy’s crystal ball, yet with more adult content than The O.C. could ever hope to get away with.

Carrie should probably be added to Hex’s list of inspirations, what with naive heroine Cassie (Christina Cole, Amanda Bynes’ wicked stepsister from What A Girl Wants) being an outsider who is suddenly bestowed with telekinetic powers. Just you guys wait until prom!

But this ain’t Sabrina The Teenage Witch. While Cassie can make things happen with the power of thought alone, the tradeoff is that she’s stalked by a fallen angel called Azazeal (Michael Fassbender), shunned by most of her cruel and catty classmates at the upper crust boarding school they attend, and must deal with her best friend Thelma (Jemima Rooper), who’s got a big ol’ lesbian crush on the blonde stunna.

Tonight’s second episode of Hex is actually the second half of the 90-minute series pilot, in which Cassie gets her witch on, the nature of the mysterious stranger shadowing her is revealed, and a main character — gulp — dies.

Wot’s this then? Killin’ off a bleedin’ principal in the second episode? Blimey! But fear not ... one of the great things about having supernatural powers is you can see dead people. And they can see you. Which is handy if they happen to have a big ol’ lesb — whoops, spoiler alert!

Despite the comparisons to Buffy, Hex is much more dark and dour than Joss Whedon’s saga of the wisecracking Scooby gang and their adventures in Sunnydale. Intense stares are plentiful, laughs are a little harder to come by.

But hip is in the eye of the beholder. While Hex doesn’t have Buffy’s sardonic wit, it does have a killer soundtrack (Blur, N.E.R.D. and PJ Harvey all show up in the pilot, and the theme song is Garbage’s suitably goth-y Crush), not to mention saucy language, girl-on-girl straddling and even the odd flash of buns and boobies. Sarah Michelle Gellar never let it all hang out, much to the dismay of her devoted legion of fans.

Hex is also nice antidote to The O.C. and Falcon Beach and their ilk, if you can swallow the whole magic powers and voodoo rituals and ghost pal thing. Some of the show’s best moments come from the student body at Medenham Hall, who are almost unfailingly caustic to each other and disrespectful of their teachers. Kind of like in the real world.

Whether Hex can find an audience on these shores remains to be seen, but it’s certainly worth a look. Just don’t get too attached to these characters ... despite a strong fan base in the U.K., the show was cancelled after two seasons. And when it comes to TV, there’s no such thing as life after death.