The new television series Outland, set to air on Australia’s ABC1 in February, has been described by some as a gay answer to The Big Bang Theory. Says the show’s producer: “[C]loseted science fiction fans will finally have a voice… a full family of gay Australian characters can go where they never ventured before – prime-time television.”

The ensemble cast is a group of five queer characters, four men and one woman – Toby (Ben Gerrard), Andy (Paul Ireland), Fab (Adam Richard), Max (Toby Truslove), and Rae (Christine Anu). They’re all geeks in a big way – science fiction fans with at least one giant Dalek suit among them.

As one of the characters notes in the trailer, “I’m gay, and I like science fiction. Wow, I feel like I just came out of two closets.” Outland is coming out in 2012, with episodes expected to air in the UK as well later in the year.