diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestKit.scala b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestKit.scala
index cbc4331834..350c3c3762 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestKit.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestKit.scala
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ class TestActor(queue: BlockingDeque[TestActor.Message]) extends Actor with FSM[
  * @author Roland Kuhn
  * @since 1.1
  */
-class TestKit(_app: AkkaApplication = AkkaApplication()) {
+class TestKit(_app: AkkaApplication) {
 
   import TestActor.{ Message, RealMessage, NullMessage }
 
@@ -101,14 +101,7 @@ class TestKit(_app: AkkaApplication = AkkaApplication()) {
    * ActorRef of the test actor. Access is provided to enable e.g.
    * registration as message target.
    */
-  val testActor = new LocalActorRef(application, Props(new TestActor(queue)).copy(dispatcher = CallingThreadDispatcher.global), "testActor" + TestKit.testActorId.incrementAndGet(), true)
-
-  /**
-   * Implicit sender reference so that replies are possible for messages sent
-   * from the test class.
-   */
-  @deprecated("will be removed after 1.2, replaced by implicit testActor", "1.2")
-  val senderOption = Some(testActor)
+  implicit val testActor: ActorRef = new LocalActorRef(application, Props(new TestActor(queue)).copy(dispatcher = CallingThreadDispatcher.global), "testActor" + TestKit.testActorId.incrementAndGet(), true)
 
   private var end: Duration = Duration.Inf
 
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..88a45d11b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+package akka.testkit
+
+import org.scalatest.WordSpec
+import org.scalatest.matchers.MustMatchers
+import akka.AkkaApplication
+
+abstract class AkkaSpec(_application: AkkaApplication = AkkaApplication())
+  extends TestKit(_application) with WordSpec with MustMatchers {
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRefSpec.scala b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRefSpec.scala
index 4ca291c50d..023b72425c 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRefSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRefSpec.scala
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ object TestActorRefSpec {
 
 }
 
-class TestActorRefSpec extends TestKit with WordSpec with MustMatchers with BeforeAndAfterEach {
+class TestActorRefSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterEach {
 
   import TestActorRefSpec._
 
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestFSMRefSpec.scala b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestFSMRefSpec.scala
index 997e5c25ba..0184dc42eb 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestFSMRefSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestFSMRefSpec.scala
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import org.scalatest.{ BeforeAndAfterEach, WordSpec }
 import akka.actor._
 import akka.util.duration._
 
-class TestFSMRefSpec extends TestKit with WordSpec with MustMatchers {
+class TestFSMRefSpec extends AkkaSpec {
 
   import FSM._
 
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestProbeSpec.scala b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestProbeSpec.scala
index 68ad448c4e..6da2bf6439 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestProbeSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestProbeSpec.scala
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import akka.event.EventHandler
 import akka.dispatch.Future
 import akka.util.duration._
 
-class TestProbeSpec extends TestKit with WordSpec with MustMatchers {
+class TestProbeSpec extends AkkaSpec {
 
   "A TestProbe" must {
 
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestTimeSpec.scala b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestTimeSpec.scala
index e61d4e7de1..daf89cac4b 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestTimeSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/TestTimeSpec.scala
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import org.scalatest.matchers.MustMatchers
 import org.scalatest.{ BeforeAndAfterEach, WordSpec }
 import akka.util.Duration
 
-class TestTimeSpec extends TestKit with WordSpec with MustMatchers with BeforeAndAfterEach {
+class TestTimeSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterEach {
 
   val tf = Duration.timeFactor