''Sugar Rush'' is a British television comedy drama series developed by

Shine TV Shine TV is a British media production company and part of Banijay with offices in London and Manchester. Shine was founded in March 2001 by Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch. The company was 80% owned by Elis ...

and broadcast by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, based on the

Julie Burchill Julie Burchill (born 3 July 1959) is an English writer. Beginning as a staff writer at the ''New Musical Express'' at the age of 17, she has since contributed to newspapers such as ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Guardia ...

novel of the same name. It is centred on the life of a 15-year-old lesbian Kim Daniels, who has moved from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

on the south coast of England, and copes with her infatuation with Sugar, a heterosexual girl.

Cast

Olivia Hallinan Olivia Hallinan (born 20 January 1985) is a British actress best known for her role as Laura Timmins in the BBC TV series ''Lark Rise to Candleford'' and also as Kim in the Channel 4 drama '' Sugar Rush.'' She also starred as Ellie in '' Girls ...

- Kimberly Daniels, fifteen-year-old protagonist and narrator of the series *

Lenora Crichlow Lenora Isabella Crichlow (born 4 January 1985) is a British actress. She became known for her starring roles as Maria "Sugar" Sweet in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series '' Sugar Rush'', Annie Sawyer in the BBC Three supernatural drama series ' ...

- Maria "Sugar" Sweet, a teenager who lives life without thinking of the consequences *

Sarah-Jane Potts Sarah-Jane Potts (born 30 August 1976) is an English actress, best known for her roles as Saint (Sarah) in '' Sugar Rush'', Ellie, Abs' on/off girlfriend in '' Casualty'' and Jo Lipsett in '' Waterloo Road''. Potts is the sister of actor Andre ...

- Saint (real name Sarah), Kimberly's girlfriend in Series 2 * Kurtis O'Brien - Matt Daniels, Kimberly's confused and alienated younger brother *

Sara Stewart Sara Scott Griffith (born 28 June 1966) is a Scottish actress. She played Stella in '' Sugar Rush''. Early life Stewart was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to American parents. After spending some time in the U.S., she trained at the Central Sch ...

- Stella Daniels, Kimberly and Matt's mother *

Richard Lumsden Richard James Lumsden (born 24 June 1965) is an English actor, writer, composer and musician. He has made regular appearances on TV and film throughout his career. Notable series include Channel 4's Emmy-award winning ''Sugar Rush'', '' Is it ...

- Nathan Daniels, Kimberly and Matt's father *

Andrew Garfield Andrew Russell Garfield (born 20 August 1983) is an English and American actor. He has received various accolades, including a Tony Award, a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. ''Time'' ...

- Tom, Kimberly's next-door neighbour *

Jalaal Hartley Jalaal Hartley is a British television actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, a ...

- Mark Evans, Saint's ex-boyfriend *

Laura Donnelly Laura Donnelly (born 24 June 1982) is a Northern Irish actress. She is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. On television, she is known for her roles in the Starz series '' Outlander'' (2014–201 ...

- Beth, Kim's friend and love interest *

Neil Jackson Neil Jackson (born 5 March 1976) is an English actor, singer, musician and writer who has appeared in several television series and films, but is probably best known for his role as Marcus on '' Blade: The Series'' and Sasha on ''Make It or Brea ...

- Dale, a handyman who has an affair with Stella *

Anna Wilson-Jones Anna Wilson-Jones (born 8 October 1970) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Juliet Miller in the television series '' Hotel Babylon'' and main character Tim Bisley's ex-girlfriend Sarah in the series ''Spaced''. Acting career ...

- Anna, a womaniser who seduces Kimberly

Plot

The first series of Sugar Rush opens with fifteen-year-old Kim (Hallinan) moving to Brighton with her family, and developing a crush on her best friend - heterosexual girl Sugar (Crichlow). Maria "Sugar" Sweet loves reckless drinking, copious sex with men, and doesn't care for school. The series follows Kim as she tries to gain Sugar's affections, leading to Sugar taking advantage of her kindness. Side plots of series one include Kim's mother Stella (Stewart) having an affair, Kim's brother Matt (O'Brien) thinking he's an alien, and Kim's neighbour Tom (Garfield) desperately trying to date her. In series two, eighteen months have passed and Kim learns to leave Sugar behind and go on dates with other women, particularly Saint (Potts), who becomes her serious girlfriend. However, Sugar remaining in Kim's life, albeit not romantically, causes friction in Kim's relationship with Saint. Side plots in series two include Stella and Nathan (Lumsden) attending sex therapy and becoming more adventurous in their sex life, Sugar's problematic relationships, and Matt exploring his feminine side. Andrew Garfield does not reprise his role as Tom.

Background/production

There were 2 series of the programme, the first airing in 2005 and the second in 2006. Each series consists of ten episodes, each 30 minutes long, including adverts. Episodes do not have individual titles. Channel 4 stated that Sugar Rush will not be returning for a third series, despite its popularity with viewers and critics alike. Some rumours were that there was not a scheduling spot for it, that it was being removed because of the requirements for Big Brother 8, and because a third series was never originally planned. A decision had been made to allow new dramas to be made for each month in 2008. However, a spokeswoman confirmed that third and fourth series were never planned, and that the story of the girls had run its course. Hallinan and Crichlow subsequently spoke out about the cancellation, saying, "the show was an asset to Channel 4. I don't think Channel 4 recognises ''Sugar Rush'' was a brave move and did really well for the channel," and adding that the cancellation, "was a last minute thing, especially the way we leave series two .e. with Sugar moving in with Kim and Saint and Stella's pregnancy it sets things up for series three."

Broadcast

The first series was broadcast in 2005 on Channel 4, at 10:50 p.m, but would sometimes air later due to '' Big Brother 6 UK'' over-running, with the next episode on E4 afterwards, sometimes overlapping the Channel 4 broadcast. The programme was shown significantly after the watershed. The first episode of the second series was broadcast on Channel 4 on 15 June 2006, and the last episode was aired on 17 August 2006 on Channel 4, and on 10 August 2006 on digital channel E4. Series one currently airs on

OUTtv OutTV (stylized OUTtv) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language specialty channel that was launched in September 2001. It broadcasts general entertainment and lifestyle programming aimed at the LGBT community. The network is owned b ...

in Canada. Re-runs are currently available in the UK, on the Channel 4 streaming service 4OD.

Reception

On 20 November 2006 Sugar Rush (A Shine Production for Channel 4, United Kingdom) was awarded the 34th International

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

classified under "Children & Young People". It ran against "Boys Will Be Boys" (Monster Film for NRK, Norway), "Elias - The Little Rescue Boat" (Filmkameratene AS, Norway) and "Johnny and the Bomb" (Childsplay Television, United Kingdom). It was nominated for the Best Drama Series BAFTA Television Award in April 2007 - along with ''

Life on Mars The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...

'' and '' Shameless'' - but lost to ''

The Street The Street may refer to: Geographical *Wall Street in New York City's Financial District * The Street, Lawshall, Suffolk, England * The Street (Heath Charnock), a building and bridleway in Rivington, Lancashire, England Film and television * ''The ...

''.

's portrayal of the central character Maria ''Sugar'' Sweet inspired Burchill to write the 2007 sequel novel ''Sweet''.''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 5 October 2007
Julie Burchill: Where a wild thing went
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Media information

Both series one and two of Sugar Rush have been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

box-sets. The first series' box-set was released on 15 August 2005. The second series box-set, and a separate series one and two box-set were released on 21 August 2006. An audio CD compilation of the first series' music has also been compiled, but as of September 2006 a similar audio CD to complement series two has yet to materialise. Some of the commercial music used in the TV series has been changed to stock background music for the DVD release.

References

External links

*
The Sugar Rush Site

* {{InternationalEmmyAward Children and Young People 2005 British television series debuts 2006 British television series endings 2000s British LGBT-related drama television series 2000s British teen television series 2000s teen drama television series Adultery in television British teen drama television series Casual sex in television Channel 4 television dramas English-language television shows Lesbian-related television shows Television series about dysfunctional families Television series about teenagers Television series by Endemol Television shows based on British novels Television shows set in Brighton Virginity in television