Heartbreak High – The Inside Story book released today

“Heartbreak High – The Inside Story” – a new in-depth book celebrating the 1990s Australian drama series, is now available internationally on Amazon in both paperback and e-book format.

Written and published by two dedicated fans, Ian Golden from Caerphilly, Wales, and Helen Heath from Manchester, England, the book documents the complete history of the show, from its origins as a Sydney stage play in 1987 called “The Heartbreak Kid,” its remoulding into a big screen film of the same name in 1993, and throughout the seven series of the hugely successful spin-off TV show “Heartbreak High.”

The “Heartbreak High” TV series ran from 1994 – 1999 for 210 episodes, with the first four series having their first showing on Network Ten, before the government-funded ABC took over for the remaining three series from 1997.

“Heartbreak High” was then sold to over 70 countries around the world. In the UK, it was shown on BBC2 on Tuesday evenings throughout its lifespan and beyond.

For the book, Golden and Heath conducted original interviews with many people involved in the show, including co-creator of the film and TV show, Michael Jenkins, and over 30 other cast and crew members. These include Scott Major (Rivers), Abi Tucker (Jodie), Lara Cox (Anita), Rel Hunt (Ryan) and two of the five headteachers: Stephen O’Rourke (Deloraine) and Andrea Moor (Barnett).

The book has been released to coincide with the 22nd anniversary of the final broadcast of the original show in Australia (December 1, 1999), and celebrates “Heartbreak High” becoming available on Netflix in 2020. It comes just days after the cast was announced for the “Heartbreak High” revival, which is currently filming in Sydney for broadcast in 2022. This is documented in the final chapter “The Road to Netflix”.

“Heartbreak High – The Inside Story” is 255 pages long and is split into nine chapters, with one covering every year of the show. 
Original behind-the-scenes photographs have been provided by the cast and crew for this book and they can be seen in black and white in the printed version and in colour in the e-book. In addition, there are four pages of original artwork submitted by fans of the show from all around the world.

Ian Golden, who owns a sports data company “Sporting Records Online Ltd” and is head of media for Wales Rugby League, published his first book in 2009 entitled “A Welsh Crusade”. Following that, he wrote a monthly column in two rugby league magazines “Rugby League World” and “Forty20”, throughout the 2010s, and most of this work was reprinted in his 2019 charity publication “100 Months of Rugby League in Wales”.

He says: “During lockdown last year, I felt there was a gap in the market for a book on “Heartbreak High.” No-one had written a book on the whole history of the show and there had been no factual book about the show published since 1995. So I teamed up with Helen, who runs a social media page for fans of the show, and found out that she is more of a fan of the “ABC Years” era whilst I was more into the “Network Ten Years”. This made writing easier to divide up. It’s been an absolute pleasure to work on this book, along with Helen, over this last year and we’ve had some fantastic conversations with cast and crew alike.”

Helen Heath is the author of the biography of Abba member Agnetha Fältskog, also available on Amazon, titled “Agnetha Fältskog – Angeleyes.” She says: “It’s been the realisation of a childhood dream to publish this book, talking to original cast and crew members about their time on the show has been fascinating. It is the perfect nostalgia trip for those who remember the show from the ’90s.”

“Heartbreak High – The Inside Story” is available now on Amazon in all marketplaces, priced at £13.99 for black and white softcover or £8.99 for Kindle e-book.

For more information on “Heartbreak High,” including a complete episode guide (with the most accurate dating on the web), cast and soundtrack music lists, please go to www.heartbreakhigh.co.uk.