Summer Heights High: An Australian Success

Australian media has taken a hilarious and satirical parody of high school life. Summer Heights High is an Australian television mockumentary series that lampoons Australian high school life and many aspects of the human condition and is filmed in a documentary style, with non-actors playing supporting actors. A mockumentary is presented as a documentary recording real life, but its actually fictional and is commonly used for parody and satire, both executed profoundly in Summer Heights High. The series premiered on September 5, 2007 at 9:30 pm on ABC TV and continued for eight weekly episodes. The program was a massive ratings success for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. To research this hysterical mock of high school life production and filming team traveled to a typical Australian public high school and followed the events and daily lives surrounding the students and staff for a single term. The team would then film a documentary from the opinions of the students and staff, especially the three main characters: Ja'mie King, a mean girl-type prefect exchanged from a private school; Mr. G, a charismatic drama teacher; and Jonah Takalua, a stereotypical Pacific Islander delinquent, all played by the series writer, Chris Lilley. Here is a short trailer of the hit Australian series, Summer Heights High: