A Man. And His Blog.

C4's second series of the teen dramedy aired during the summer months of 2006

In the second and last series of Sugar Rush, Kim (Olivia Hallinan) is no longer a fifteen-year-old homophobic gay virgin. She is now a horny seventeen-year-old who is ready to unleash her libido on Brighton’s lesbian scene – that is, when she is not revising for her A Levels, saving Sugar (Lenora Crichlow) from her probation officer, persuading Matt (Kurtis O’Brien) that playing Marilyn Manson backwards won’t make him privy to satanic messages, or discovering the hideous truth behind her parents’ apparently saved marriage. The second series also sees the introduction of sex-shop manager Saint (Sarah-Jane Potts), who, along with Sugar, attracts the attention of Kim. In addition to the distractions provided by these two, Kim also has to deal with her dysfunctional family – an obsessive father (Richard Lumsden), an exceedingly unusual brother, and a ridiculously childish mother (Sara Stewart). With each new episode of the show, which is set in Brighton and based on the book by Julie Burchill, Kim’s wry observations and experiences of forbidden love take you on a completely different journey.

Episode 01
I had fun watching the episode. It was almost an excellent season premiere, new stories begin, new characters were introduced (okay, just Saint, so what the hell…), and Kim is not in her teen-life crisis, instead she has pretty much the best time of her life, and not just because Sugar herself is in detention. During the first series I always had the feeling that Sugar was a bad influence for Kim, and now since Sugar is on probation, Kim has the chance to have a life, without having to worry about Sugar or other stuff. She just has to worry about how to spend the nights without a girlfriend.
The story with Anna (Anna Wilson-Jones) was nice and the spanking was hilarious, especially when Nathan and Stella were popping into this “session”. I’m surprised that Stella is so easy with Kim being a lesbian (maybe because Stella needs sex too), while Nathan has the control over himself and worries about Kim (and maybe Stella). The beginning story line with Kim and Saint was sweet, too, and it was nice that the writers finished preparing the constellation at the end of the episode. 8.5/10

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The first series aired on Channel 4 between June and August 2005.

Channel 4 and the makers of As If bring Julie Burchill’s novel Sugar Rush to the screen as a late-night comedy drama series, starring Olivia Hallinan and Lenora Crichlow. Each episode is a different journey inside Kim’s world as her wry observations take us into the mind of a screwed up, loved up, lustful adolescent experiencing the bright lights of Brighton and the rush of forbidden love for the first time. Being a teenage girl is tough. Being an uncool, 15-year-old lesbian who’s completely infatuated with the most outrageous and popular girl in school is downright unfair… Sugar Rush explores the world of Kim and her earth-shattering lust for the gorgeous and sassy Maria Sweet, otherwise known as Sugar.

Episode 01
It was a good opener to the series, even though it didn’t really work as an episode of the series. The episode is really fast, scenes are changing every second, the camera is all over the place, the soundtrack is almost as present as in any teen drama on The CW. Sometimes I was thinking that was too much and the story would have been better told in an hour-long episode; everything felt compressed. But this is the only negative thing I have with this episode.
I totally like the characters, and the introduction into Kim’s world from her eyes was very interesting, especially together with her in a narrating role. Kim’s family is completely crazy and we see a bit of characteristics in everyone. And the writers even started to write in some family problems, when Kim saw her mother Stella (Sara Stewart) fucking the decorator Dale (Neil Jackson), which is a good series opening story.
Sometimes the episode was over the top, but I heart the characters, and the actors have a great chemistry together. 7,5/10

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