Heartbreak High is an Australian television programme created by Michael Jenkins and Ben Gannon that ran from 1994 to 1996 on Network Ten and 1997 to 1999 on the ABC, for seven series. It was also partially funded from 1996 by BBC2, with some episodes airing in the UK ahead of their Australian release. The drama has been described as more gritty and fast-paced than many of its contemporaries, and follows the lives of students and staff at a multicultural Sydney high school. The first five series were set at the fictional Hartley High and filmed in Maroubra Bay High School in Maroubra, New South Wales in the Eastern Suburbs. Series six and seven were set at the fictional Hartley Heights, and filmed in Warriewood in the Northern Beaches. The show is a spin-off of the 1993 Australian feature film The Heartbreak Kid, which also featured Alex Dimitriades, Nico Lathouris, Doris Younane, Scott Major and Katherine Halliday as early versions of their Heartbreak High characters. In 2020, Netflix produced a reboot, created by Hannah Carroll Chapman, which aired in September 2022.

Series synopsis

Heartbreak High had its origins in the 1987 stage play The Heartbreak Kid, written by Richard Barrett and starring Gia Carides and Arky Michael. The play centred on Papa, a 22-year-old Greek-Australian teacher at an inner city school, who has an affair with her student, Nicky, and explored the restrictiveness of Greek culture, as well as ethnic tensions within Australian society. The play was first performed by the Griffin Theatre Company at the Stables Theatre in Darlinghurst, New South Wales, and adapted into the 1993 film The Heartbreak Kid, directed by Michael Jenkins and filmed in the inner suburb of Prahran, Victoria. Jenkins and producer Ben Gannon developed Heartbreak High as a spin-off of the film, with several cast members reprising their roles, reimagined in a Sydney setting. The first series, which was initially centred on the Poulos family, consisted of 38 episodes and premiered on Network Ten on 27 February 1994. A second series of 14 episodes premiered on 21 May 1995, and began following a floating timeline, with the students established as being in their last school year and preparing for the HSC, but not sitting for their exams until the beginning of series five (after enduring several cast changes and with nearly two years passing in real time). A third series of 13 episodes premiered on 20 August 1995. The show was axed after two years on Network Ten, however 26 more episodes were subsequently produced with funding from BBC2. They aired the first thirteen episodes in the UK from 26 March 1996 to 16 June 1996, then thirteen more episodes from 3 September 1996 to 3 December 1996. Network Ten eventually aired these episodes to meet their local drama quota in a late night timeslot from 5 August 1996 to 11 November 1996, splitting the 45-minute episodes into 23-minute parts, allowing two episodes to be aired weekly across four nights (Mondays to Thursdays). Although later (and international) airings of the episodes were screened in full, the show would continue to follow this soap opera formula in Australia when it was subsequently bought and revived by the ABC. Series five first aired on BBC2 in the UK from 10 December 1996 to 14 October 1997, and in Australia on the ABC from 3 February 1997 to 19 June 1997, a total of 39 episodes. This series had the most significant cast change, with the majority of remaining cast members being phased out of the show within the first six episodes, and the show shifting focus from the Bordino family onto the Scheppers family. A new school year begins from the eighth episode onwards and continues in a floating timeline, with students in their last school year but not sitting for their HSC exams until midway through series seven (with over two years passing in real time). Series six marked the debut of Hartley Heights, the student's new school location. The first 20 episodes of series six aired on the ABC from 23 June to 28 August 1997. After nearly a year of repeats, 20 more episodes aired from 1 July to 8 September 1998. The seventh and final series first aired on BBC2 in the UK from 8 December 1998 to 9 November 1999, and in Australia on the ABC from 15 July to 1 December 1999, for a total of 40 episodes. The show was eventually cancelled as selling another series to foreign TV stations proved increasingly difficult. BBC2 had no interest in buying an additional series, due to scheduling delays a backlog of episodes had built up, and the program was forced to wrap up production.

Cast and characters

Cast timeline

Lighter colours denote recurring guest stars versus series regulars.

Network Ten years (1994–96)

Original cast members

Series 1 additions

Series 2 additions

Series 3 additions

Series 4 additions

ABC years (1997–99)

Series 5 additions

Series 6 additions

Series 7 additions

Episodes

Reception

Mike Boone, in an article from Calgary Herald, compared the series to Beverly Hills, 90210, stating "its characters could pass for Californians in their appearance and demeanor". Debi Enker from The Age praised the show, writing "perhaps the most notable divergence from the bulk of local drama is the series' multi-cultural core", along with saying that the series has a "clear choice of grit over glamour ... The glossy vacuity and cosmetic hip of 'Beverly Hills 90210' ... have been firmly rejected."

Distribution

International versions

Heartbreak High was broadcast in over 70 countries and dubbed into a number of different languages, most of which gave it a new name. The show aired in its original form in Canada on Showcase, in Ireland on RTÉ2, in the United Kingdom on BBC2, Children's BBC, Trouble and TCC, and in the United States on Encore WAM. Broadcast on children's channels in the UK were heavily edited for content. From 2009 to 2010, ABC3 repeated the series in Australia. On 27 November 2020, all seven seasons of the show were released worldwide on streaming platform Netflix, with the exception of France, Belgium and French speaking territories, where it is available on myTF1.

Home releases

The first 26 episodes of the first season were released in Australia as a DVD box set by Umbrella Entertainment on 5 October 2011. This DVD set is region free, featuring original 4:3 Full Frame and 2.0 English Dolby Digital Sound. The last 13 episodes of the first season, along with every episode of the second season were released as a second DVD box set on 7 March 2012. The season three DVD box set was released by Umbrella Entertainment on 6 June 2012. According to Umbrella Entertainment's Facebook page, subsequent seasons of the show were never released due to music licensing issues. The dubbed German version of the show's first season was also released in two DVD sets in Germany, with no English audio track.

Novelisations

The original stage play has been published and reprinted in conjunction with the show, along with a number of show guides and tie-in novelisations.

Soundtracks

Heartbreak High: The Album was released in 1994, featuring music from Kulcha, Motiv8, Culture Shock, Chocolate Starfish, The Sharp, Electric Hippies, Renegade Funktrain, Hunters & Collectors, Abi Tucker, The Poor, The Screaming Jets, Baby Animals, Connie Mitchell, Sisters Underground, 3 the Hard Way, Frente! and Hoodoo Gurus. Heartbreak High: Music from the ABC TV Series was released in 1997, featuring Human Nature, My Friend the Chocolate Cake, Christine Anu, Swoop, Custard, Def FX, Past to Present, Frente!, The Badloves, The Paradise Motel and Wicked Beat Sound System.