diff --git a/akka-docs/scala/code/docs/testkit/TestkitDocSpec.scala b/akka-docs/scala/code/docs/testkit/TestkitDocSpec.scala
index ddb3eeaf1d..96c7857990 100644
--- a/akka-docs/scala/code/docs/testkit/TestkitDocSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-docs/scala/code/docs/testkit/TestkitDocSpec.scala
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ import akka.dispatch.Futures
 import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec
 import akka.testkit.DefaultTimeout
 import akka.testkit.ImplicitSender
+import akka.util.NonFatal
+
 object TestkitDocSpec {
   case object Say42
   case object Unknown
@@ -251,5 +253,23 @@ class TestkitDocSpec extends AkkaSpec with DefaultTimeout with ImplicitSender {
     }
     //#event-filter
   }
+  
+  "demonstrate TestKitBase" in {
+    //#test-kit-base
+    import akka.testkit.TestKitBase
+    
+    class MyTest extends TestKitBase {
+      implicit lazy val system = ActorSystem()
+      
+      //#put-your-test-code-here
+      val probe = TestProbe()
+      probe.send(testActor, "hello")
+      try expectMsg("hello") catch { case NonFatal(e) => system.shutdown(); throw e }
+      //#put-your-test-code-here
+      
+      system.shutdown()
+    }
+    //#test-kit-base
+  }
 
 }
diff --git a/akka-docs/scala/testing.rst b/akka-docs/scala/testing.rst
index a98ee14917..d2875ed62a 100644
--- a/akka-docs/scala/testing.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/scala/testing.rst
@@ -671,6 +671,20 @@ This section contains a collection of known gotchas with some other frameworks,
 which is by no means exhaustive and does not imply endorsement or special
 support.
 
+When you need it to be a trait
+------------------------------
+
+If for some reason it is a problem to inherit from :class:`TestKit` due to it
+being a concrete class instead of a trait, there’s :class:`TestKitBase`:
+
+.. includecode:: code/docs/testkit/TestkitDocSpec.scala
+   :include: test-kit-base
+   :exclude: put-your-test-code-here
+
+The ``implicit lazy val system`` must be declared exactly like that (you can of
+course pass arguments to the actor system factory as needed) because trait
+:class:`TestKitBase` needs the system during its construction.
+
 Specs2
 ------
 
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestKit.scala b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestKit.scala
index 156a9d8612..6d8f73e7b8 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestKit.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestKit.scala
@@ -101,11 +101,11 @@ class TestActor(queue: BlockingDeque[TestActor.Message]) extends Actor {
  * @author Roland Kuhn
  * @since 1.1
  */
-class TestKit(_system: ActorSystem) {
+trait TestKitBase {
 
   import TestActor.{ Message, RealMessage, NullMessage }
 
-  implicit val system = _system
+  implicit val system: ActorSystem
   val testKitSettings = TestKitExtension(system)
 
   private val queue = new LinkedBlockingDeque[Message]()
@@ -579,6 +579,8 @@ class TestKit(_system: ActorSystem) {
   private def format(u: TimeUnit, d: Duration) = "%.3f %s".format(d.toUnit(u), u.toString.toLowerCase)
 }
 
+class TestKit(_system: ActorSystem) extends { implicit val system = _system } with TestKitBase
+
 object TestKit {
   private[testkit] val testActorId = new AtomicInteger(0)