By Sophie Hart
“Teen shows” is an ever-trending search term on Netflix, with shows such as Riverdale and Outer Banks sitting with unwavering certainty on the top ten trending list. However, it is rare that an Australian series takes the top spot. On 14 September, Netflix released its new teen series Heartbreak High – a reboot of the 1994 Australian comedy-drama with the same title.
The series follows a group of grade eleven students, and as most teen shows do, follows their personal peaks and valleys of school, friendships, family, and romance. What sets Heartbreak High apart from other shows in the genre is the inclusivity of a diverse group of people written in a way that normalizes and accepts different races, gender identities, neurodivergence, and sexual orientations. Much like the wildly successful Sex Education, Heartbreak High effectively portrays diversity without it being the entire focal point of the show, allowing viewers to be drawn in by captivating plot lines and situations instead of focusing solely on fragments of the characters’ identities. The characters have been so well fleshed out that these aspects are the least interesting parts about themselves.
What makes Heartbreak High the biggest Australian teen show since Puberty Blues is the hilariously accurate dialogue. Peppered with such gems as the c-bomb, “eshays” and good old TikTok humour, it is one of a kind in its accuracy to Aussie high school slang. As another reviewer notes “it is the first show written about teenagers that sounds as though it was written by Gen Z, resulting in easy watching and many laughs”.
