# Summer Heights High (2007)

> A mockumentary satire following a self-deluded drama teacher, a Tongan student and a snobbish private school exchange girl through one term at an ordinary Australian high school.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/14062

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 28 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Chris Lilley
- Network: ABC TV
- Cast: David Lennie, Asolima Tauati, Iro Utaifeau, Zach Fa'atoe, Chris Lilley, Ofa Palu, Kristy Barnes Cullen, Stan Roach
- TMDB rating: 8.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0934320/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: cringe-inducing, irreverent, deadpan, breezy, uncomfortable

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaimed the mockumentary for its sharp, uncomfortable satire of Australian school life and its memorable character performances.

## Synopsis

Summer Heights High (2007) is an Australian mockumentary comedy miniseries created by Chris Lilley for ABC TV. Filmed as a documentary crew following one school term at an average public high school in western Sydney, the eight-episode series centers on ego-driven drama teacher Mr G, played by Chris Lilley, whose showbiz dreams collide with a drama program that barely functions. Around him move Jonah Takalua, a mischievous thirteen-year-old from Tonga with the odds stacked against him, also played by Lilley, and Ja'mie, a snobbish private schoolgirl on a student exchange. The engine of the show is comic escalation: a stage production that keeps falling apart, a teacher who cannot see his own failures, and students who navigate bullying, status games and ambition with straight-faced documentary intimacy. Fans of The Office, Parks and Recreation and Mean Girls will find resonance in its cringe comedy, its awkward confessionals and its sharp satire of vanity. The tone is breezy, irreverent and deliberately uncomfortable, and the show rewards viewers who enjoy characters who never notice they are the joke.

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