Sugar Rush is a brilliant comedy drama who's strength lay in its ability to combine completely opposing views to dramatic affect. It keeps its moral tones (such as treat others as you'd like to be treated, the significance of parental responsibility and the importance of tolerance) pinned down under plenty of outrageously amoral antics to stop the show from ever becoming preachy, and places harsh reality beside blatantly idealistic situations to keep things ticking along in the lightest vein possible. The whole show is saturated with the bright colours, loud music and stop-start, jumpy energy that made Burchill's book so renowned, and, in my opinion, uses these elements to even greater effect. However I have to point out here that the 8 out of 10 stars is most definitely reserved for Series 1. The next (and, unfortunately now, final series of Sugar Rush) series that take place 18 months later has abandoned much of the drama and pathos that made its predecessor so compelling. Yes, Kim's 'Out and Proud' - as you'd expect - but a year and a half later she still seems to have an extremely limited circle of friends, a desperately dysfunctional couple of parents who now border caricature, a brother who has miraculously aged about 6 years and - here it comes - a love interest she conveniently meets a few weeks before Sugar's release from prison. In fact the only remote inkling we get of the supposed 18-month gap is the fact that Kim is now attending 'college' as opposed to rotting away in year 10 at slummy Ravendene Comp. In terms of character there is no real difference and the story carries straight on from the last episode, admittedly with a butt-load of cheap jokes at the lesbian community's expense and a couple of really, really daft episodes that left me scratching my head (episode 7, featuring a Russian gangster and an obvious tribute to BBC1's Hustle was a real mind-bender). Despite this fall in standards I am still gutted this programme was dropped, as I would've liked to have seen if it could've redeemed itself in the future.
Review of Sugar Rush
