The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Fast-paced series spin-off of the hit feature film. Filmed at an abandoned school in Sydney's Maroubra, this program was about an ethnically diverse group of students attending Hartley High School.'

Source: National Film and Sound Archive record.

Works about this Work

Netflix Reboots Heartbreak High, the Australian 90s High School Drama, to Air 2022 Paul Donoughue , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , December 2020;
Netflix Announces Heartbreak High Reboot for 2022 : 'We Haven’t Had a Teen Show Like It Since' Stephanie Honor Convery , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 7 December 2020;

'The wildly popular 90s teen series was known for its grittiness and honesty, tackling storylines involving sex, drugs, domestic violence and racism.' 

From The Getting of Wisdom to Heartbreak High : Australian School Stories on Screen Michelle Smith , 2019 single work
— Appears in: The Conversation , 29 January 2019;

Going to school is one of the few life experiences almost everyone shares. From the time children began to be educated in small groups in Britain, there were school stories in popular culture, beginning with what many consider the first novel for children, Sarah Fielding’s The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy (1749).  (Introduction)

'We Don't Need No Education' : Adolescents and the School in Contemporary Australian Teen TV Kate Douglas , Kelly McWilliam , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: Teen TV : Genre, Consumption, Identity 2004; (p. 151-165)
'In this chapter we focus on Heartbreak High, arguably the most significant Australian 'quality teen television drama' of the 1990s. We explore how the programme’s diegesis negotiates and maps identities for contemporary Australian teenagers. More specifically, we examine constructions of teenage identities in contemporary Australian ‘quality teen television drama’ (hereafter referred to as ‘teen TV’) via representations of ‘the school’ and ‘post-school’ options within the programme. We investigate how Heartbreak High has responded to (whether by conforming to, or exceeding) the available cultural spaces for narrating adolescent experiences, but also to the broader social relationship between adolescents and schools. How does this programme represent the accord and tension between teens and schools? Do these representations offer diverse or uniform outcomes for their teen characters in relation to educational and post-school options, and what are the implications for Australian teen identities more broadly? We overview Heartbreak High and its reception, but also make comparative references to other Australian programmes that feature teens prominently.' (p.152)
'We Don't Need No Education' : Adolescents and the School in Contemporary Australian Teen TV Kate Douglas , Kelly McWilliam , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: Teen TV : Genre, Consumption, Identity 2004; (p. 151-165)
'In this chapter we focus on Heartbreak High, arguably the most significant Australian 'quality teen television drama' of the 1990s. We explore how the programme’s diegesis negotiates and maps identities for contemporary Australian teenagers. More specifically, we examine constructions of teenage identities in contemporary Australian ‘quality teen television drama’ (hereafter referred to as ‘teen TV’) via representations of ‘the school’ and ‘post-school’ options within the programme. We investigate how Heartbreak High has responded to (whether by conforming to, or exceeding) the available cultural spaces for narrating adolescent experiences, but also to the broader social relationship between adolescents and schools. How does this programme represent the accord and tension between teens and schools? Do these representations offer diverse or uniform outcomes for their teen characters in relation to educational and post-school options, and what are the implications for Australian teen identities more broadly? We overview Heartbreak High and its reception, but also make comparative references to other Australian programmes that feature teens prominently.' (p.152)
From The Getting of Wisdom to Heartbreak High : Australian School Stories on Screen Michelle Smith , 2019 single work
— Appears in: The Conversation , 29 January 2019;

Going to school is one of the few life experiences almost everyone shares. From the time children began to be educated in small groups in Britain, there were school stories in popular culture, beginning with what many consider the first novel for children, Sarah Fielding’s The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy (1749).  (Introduction)

Netflix Announces Heartbreak High Reboot for 2022 : 'We Haven’t Had a Teen Show Like It Since' Stephanie Honor Convery , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 7 December 2020;

'The wildly popular 90s teen series was known for its grittiness and honesty, tackling storylines involving sex, drugs, domestic violence and racism.' 

Netflix Reboots Heartbreak High, the Australian 90s High School Drama, to Air 2022 Paul Donoughue , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , December 2020;
X