A raw TV drama about the lives of students in a Russian high school has sparked condemnation from teachers and politicians.

School, which premiered this week on Russia's Channel One, has painted a rough, violent picture of what students endure in school.

The series has depicted fights in school halls, classmates sharing beer and one teen boasting about making a girl pregnant, as well as references to internet porn.

Communist Party deputy Vladislav Yurchik declared the show was "planned sabotage" against Russian young people and called for its cancellation.

Olga Larionova, head of the Moscow education department, agrees with Yurchik, urging the channel to yank the series.

Series depicts reality: director

Valeria Gai Germanika, the young director of the show, says she's just showing reality.

"School was really like that," the 25-year-old auteur told Agence France-Press.

Gai Germanika is a fast-rising filmmaker whose edgy film Everyone Dies But Me, about three troubled teenage girls and their struggles against abuse and humiliation, captured a special mention at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2008.

The TV show, with an order of 60 episodes and shot in a real Moscow high school, is scripted by some of Russian's best-known contemporary writers, including Yury Klavdiyev and Vyacheslav Durnenkov.

Channel One says it stands behind the series, releasing a statement that the show aims to "understand the problems of schools, not to hide them."