Please tell me you guys have seen Summer Heights High? Chris Lilley‘s 2006 Australian comedy series is one of the best of all time. It’s set at an Australian high school, with Lilley playing the three main characters – troubled Tongan student Jonah Takalua, hilariously inept drama teacher Mr G and former private school girl Ja’mie King. Ja’mie is probably one of the best comedic characters of the past decade, mostly because Lilley plays her with such unabashed honesty and humour. Ja’mie is totally up herself and thinks she’s the shit. She says insensitive, politically incorrect things and backstabs her friends without a second thought. It’s a caricature of high school life that might seem outlandish, but the funniest bit of it is that it’s totally what it’s like.
Anyhow, Ja’mie became so beloved to the show’s cult following that she’s the subject of Lilley’s new show, Private School Girl, which follows Ja’mie’s last few months before graduation. The first trailer has been released, and it looks fucking hilarious:
Private School girl will be on in Australia later this month and BBC Three will show it later this year. HBO may pick it up for US distribution, as well, as it did with SHH. I sure hope so, but if not, there’s always the Internet.
Jonah is Tongan, not Aboriginal. Completely different nationalities. He even sings a song about being ‘Polynesian’.
That was my bad and a hasty mistake. Thanks for cluing me in – will fix now!