TV review: Heartbreak High is a bit knowing and performative — it doesn’t feel real

Heartbreak High is not perfect, but if you’re finding it tricky to talk to your teenager, watching this show might just help

The wise-ass dialogue feels like it was written by someone in their 30s, which it probably was.

I didn’t watch the original series of Heartbreak High in the 1990s, but fans of the Australian series will tell you that the gritty, grey mood was a world away from the sweetish tones in Home and Away.

This reboot feels a bit closer to Home and Away. Set in Hartley High, it’s jaunty and brightly lit and nobody is ordinary. The plot is ignited by a sex-map, drawn by friends Amerie and Harper, showing who hooked up with whom in their high-school, and what they got up to. For some reason, this is called an incest-map, and there is war when it’s discovered in a stairwell.