Heartbreak High

Is a popular Australian television programme that ran for six years, through seven seasons from 1994 to 1999 on both Network Ten and ABC. The programme dealt with the students of the fictional Hartley High (replaced by Hartley Heights from season 5 onwards), a tough high school in a multiracial area of Sydney, and proved to be a more gritty and fast-paced show than many of its contemporaries.

It was a spin-off of the 1993 Australian feature film The Heartbreak Kid which had featured Alex Dimitriades and Claudia Karvan. However, in later series the show shifted emphasis away from the school setting and the Poulos family to the students' homes and hangout - the Shark Pool.

The programme was transmitted by Network Ten between 1994 and 1996, and by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 1997 and 1999. It also was successful in sales internationally and was broadcast in over twenty countries in Asia, Europe, North and South America. After the sixth series the ABC axed the show as selling another series to foreign TV stations proved increasingly difficult. The BBC had no interest in buying an additional series; due to scheduling delays a backlog of episodes had built up, and the programme was forced to wrap up production.

Cast

Students

Nick Poulos says Nico Fourtout

Nick is the son of George and Irene Poulos. He also has a sister named Effie. He is also Costa's cousin. Back in school, he falls in love with Jodie, the new one, with whom he begins a love affair until she decides to go to Melbourne to sing in a band. He is part of the high school football team that coaches Christina Milano and Georges Poulos, his father and manager Irène Poulos, his mother. Shortly after the creation of the team, Irene dies in a car accident which plunges Nick into a state of anger pushing him outright to hit a policeman. Stella's arrival in their lives will help them regain some stability.

When Jodie returns from Melbourne, they resume their relationship. But some time later he feels attracted to Danielle with whom he is going to have a secret relationship of short duration which will put an end to his relationship with Jodie. However their relationship resumed until he decided to get into boxing with Southgate coaching. Jodie does not support being able to lose him during a match breaks with him. In a boxing match, Nick is knocked out and dies afterwards. But we learn that he suffered a ruptured aneurysm that could have hit him at any time.

Costa Bordino

Funny, resourceful, intelligent, endearing, full of ambition, Costa is Nick's cousin and best friend. He is a true comic who has more than one trick in his bag, he is always ready to serve his friends. Costa spends a lot of time on her laptop doing business. He is the son of the builder Roberto, and he and his brother Rocco create the Sharkpool, which is the meeting place of the group. He is also the manager of singer Jodie, but she lets go to take a new manager. He is comforting himself in Katarina's arms, but their relationship starts very slowly and will not really work. He decides to go to the USA to continue his studies. He makes an appearance in the episode 94, where he announces to his parents, that he married in the USA and that his job of producer works well.

Chaka Cardenes

Is of South American descent living with her mother, her brother Diego and her sister Juanita. His father, a teacher, was kidnapped in their country of origin because he was suspected of being part of the resistance. Chaka is full of resource, with an impressive strength of character, is able to see the true nature of people and is the best ideal friend. But is also very closed in on herself and does not like to talk about her personal problems.

We discover him when his mother left to find his father in El Salvador and that Chaka must assume the school, his brother and his sister and more work of his mother not to lose the apartment. Fortunately his father ends up being released and everything is back to normal. Costa and Rivers argue to conquer the heart of Chaka, who ends up choosing Rivers, much to everyone's astonishment. Her father gets a job in Darwin and she has the choice between staying to finish the school year in Hartley or go with them. After a long reflection, she chooses to follow her family.

Jodie Cooper

Is a new high school student arriving on the first day of school. It is directly sensation because it is spontaneous, joyous and detached. Jodie is a singer who hopes one day to become a star. Just arrived in high school, she catches the attention of Nick who is going to court her. They go out quickly together. If at first her boldness does not please other girls in the class, it changes quickly and she becomes a full member of the group.

Shortly after, she leaves for Melbourne to become a singer in a band. She later returns to high school because it did not work. Although she cheated on him in Melbourne, Nick does not break up with her and they continue their story. Thanks to Christina and Mack, Rivers Steve and she live in a loft which allows her to forget about her family problems.

Costa becomes his manager and thus deals with his promo. Nick, hurt by the lack of attention she gives him, cheats on Danielle, which hurts her deeply and they separate. As Nick embarks on boxing, she decides to follow Rocco to the US to join a band, but when she sees the boxing match on TV from the airport, she decides to go and cheer her on.

Nick's death affects her enormously and she starts a depression. Matt will support her as best as she can and their relationship will start slowly until they separate because Matt wants to go out with Allie. In order to get some money back, she will work at Ruby and Shark Pool. Finally, thanks to Costa she won a contract as a singer and left Hartley to begin his career as a singer.

Danielle Miller

Is a pretty, smart, kind and sporty girl who is sure of herself and always present for her friends (especially her two best friends Rose and Chaka). She is passionate about many things and in particular for football which she becomes goalkeeper in the high school team (which is not the taste of boys). Her dream, at the beginning of the series, is to be able to open a gym club and she gives herself to that. During the first season she saw a tender idyll, a little platonic, with Steve.

Then during an internship, she cheats on the latter with Nick. Their relationship holds a moment but they separate. Danielle still has a thing for Steve but they will not get back together until Lucie leaves. Steve's death is an ordeal she has struggled to overcome, and to forget she goes into drugs and is often absent from high school. Thanks to the help of Ronnie but especially Mr. Deloraine she is not expelled from high school, and gets a second chance. She will be able to regain a taste for life and will gradually fall in love with Declan, a new student and then decide to live in the loft with his friends Allie and Bolton. Danielle now plans to become a journalist and does everything to make it happen. A few weeks before the baccalaureate exams, she is offered a journalism internship in Wollongong. She leaves high school and her friends.

Steve Wiley

Is the Hartley sportsman. Danielle is madly in love with. He goes out with her at the beginning of the first season before Danielle cheats on Nick. At the end of the season, he meets Lucy, a girl who is not from Hartley, and goes out with her. At the end of the second season, Lucy goes to Japan to study what ends their relationship. He realizes that he still loves Danielle and decides to return with her in season 3. In season 1, he learns that he is adopted and, after thinking well, he decides to find his real mother.

At first he is not very well accepted by his biological mother and with time they leave a chance to get to know each other. Being confused, he decides to live in a loft with Jodie and Rivers. His biological mother having not told him everything, he discovers, in season 3, that he has a half-sister Allie with whom he becomes a very good friend. We learn in the first episode of season 4 that he killed himself by falling off a cliff during shooting. Photographer in the soul Steve will never go to the end of his dream ...

Rose Malouf

Is a serious student and Danielle's best friend. She is of Lebanese origin and lives with her father Frank. Rose is an impulsive girl and if she wants something, she gives herself the means. So at the beginning of the series, she falls in love with a teacher, Mr. North, but that will end when he leaves school.

She has a story with Jack but this one is accepted into a better school and leaves. Their relationships are more distant yet soon after she announces that she is expecting a child from Jack. She gives birth to her baby, named Tess, while she is in restraint in high school. She gives birth thanks to Mr. Deloraine and Rivers to whom she asks to be the godfathers. She and Jack want to take care of the child, and decide to get married. After the wedding, Rose decides to follow Jack to his school and leaves Hartley.

Peter Rivers

Is the bad boy Of high school. He hates Nick and all his gang and is at the head of a rival gang. He does not like school and often disturbs the class. He loves to wreak havoc, play the macho in front of the girls and train in rugby or play basketball with his best friend Bolton.

Over the episodes, Rivers gets closer to others realizing that he is not the only one whose life is not rosy every day. His mother is an alcoholic and his father and brother are in prison. Unable to support his mother's reactions, he decides to move to the loft with Jodie and Steve. Shortly after school starts, he has an affair with Chaka and then with Katerina before they leave high school. Subsequently, he will fall in love with the replacement of Christina, Samantha with whom he shares the passion of motorcycles. But a teacher-student relationship can not exist within a school Sam must leave Hartley and leave Rivers.

He did not forget it and when she returns to teach, he is determined to regain her despite Kat's return at the same time. Sam can no longer hide his feelings decides to leave. Rivers stops studying and the two lovers decide to leave and start a new life in Queensland.

Professors

Christina Milano

Is a teacher of English and History. Upon arrival she is difficult to integrate and struggling to be respected for her lack of experience. During a fight in the school race, she gets punched in the face but does not denounce anyone to the management. This is where students understand that she is there for them and not against them and that they develop respect for her. She quickly develops friendships with her colleagues Yola and Graham. Christina gets a football team to be created in the high school, proposing to become a coach. She can not stand what we decide for her, she comes to settle at Yola to have independence.

She is the first to defend students' rights and is always supported by Yola. As for the heart, she was betrothed to Marco but she leaves him because it becomes too oppressive to decide everything for her. She then has a little adventure with Phil North. Finally, she meets Mack Winson and decides, after giving a home to students with family difficulties, to follow him to India to look after and educate children. Her departure is celebrated in song and the students show her that they really care about her.

Graham Brown

Is a math and music teacher. He is always in a good mood and has a sense of humor all his own. As an advocate for the arts, he does not hesitate to encourage students to rebel when the music option threatens to disappear from the school program. By rescuing a student who is being beaten one day, he is wrongly accused, because of his homosexuality, of having abused him while he was treating him. Fortunately for him all ends well. He has a neutral temper and always tries to fix things. Appearing very regularly at the beginning of the series, it is assumed that he continued to teach in Hartley until the closing of high school.

Samantha Robinson

Arrives in Hartley to replace Christina. She is directly invited to live under the same roof as Yola, with whom she gets along very well. She is an independent woman, a little rebellious and who is passionate about motorcycles. She is quickly appreciated by students and achieves good results thanks to her methods.

As soon as he arrives, Peter is attracted to her and will do anything for her to notice. At first Sam is reluctant and makes him understand that any relationship is impossible. However after insistence she cracks she has an affair with him. At first discreet, they get noticed by Yola and when Mr. Deloraine notices it, he is then obliged to ask him to resign. Subsequently, Sam returns to Hartley as a replacement after Yola and Bill leave high school.

Mr. Deloraine has no choice but to hire him because he needs teachers. Peter is very happy because he has not managed to forget it, but it makes him understand that everything is over between them. She starts a relationship with Andrew with whom she lives in Yola's old apartment. But when he asks for her, she gets scared and leaves him. Sam leaves Hartley and Peter follows her to live in Queensland.

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