If You Like ‘Sex Education,’ Watch Netflix’s ‘Heartbreak High’

The Big Picture

• Sex Education
  was a ground-breaking series, exemplifying the pinnacle of teenage dramas, but the show ended, leaving the audience wanting more.
• Heartbreak High
  shares many of the same themes as
  Sex Education
  with different characters to love.
• Sex Education
  and
  Heartbreak High
  both show the struggles of an interesting group of students, providing exactly what you want in a teen drama series.

Sex Education just completed its final season last year, and it left a bit of a hole in the way of an excellent teenage drama series to get sucked into. But there is a solution. If you like the groundbreaking series Sex Educationyou need, need, need to check out Heartbreak High immediately. It’s got great, fully-rounded teenagers who navigate the teenage experience at high school through love, sex, and heartbreak. It has many of the same themes as Sex Educationlike the high school drama, relationships, and the social hierarchy of high school. The characters, however, are completely different and face different conundrums of high school.

Sex Education is one of the most innovative shows depicting the teenage experience in such detail that it’s hard to see it go. But the kids of Mooredale High had to graduate sometime. It gave us storylines that feel real and could have happened to regular people. The quirky characters go through all kinds of trials centered around being teenagers, but in the end, they figure out that no matter how bad it may be, there is a way to survive and live to explore the possibility of the next day. It delves into discovering what you like and don’t like, how you might have to grow up faster than you should, or the awful realities of life.

‘Sex Education’ Brings The Feels

Sex Education centers around Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield), who navigates high school, and the kids of Mooredale High. He lives with his mother, Dr. Jean Milburn (Gillian Anderson), a sex therapist. And so, Otis, following in his mom’s footsteps and needing to make some extra cash, starts a sex therapy clinic at school. It also follows Otis’s best friend, Eric Effiong (Dear friend), who goes through a self-discovery of being comfortable in who he is, wherever he is, and who he wants to spend his time with.

Meave Wiley (Emma Mackey) is another core character who goes through so much. She is a talented student and gifted writer, but her circumstances have made her grow up much earlier than she should. Adam Groff (Connor Swindells) was a bully and an all-around troubled kid. He didn’t have the best influence in the way of a father, but as the series progressed, he came into his own and grew into the man he wanted to become. He figured out what he wanted in a partner and what he wanted to do with his life and went for it. Amiee Gibbs (Amiee Lou Wood) is such an iconic character and accepting of everyone. She had a tough go after being sexually assaulted, but after seeking help, she was able to heal, figure out what that looked like for her, and find new hobbies.

There are so many other influential characters like Jackson Marchetti (Kedar Williams-Stirling), a swimmer who self-sabotaged and had to figure out what he wanted; Viv Odusanya (God bless you), a workaholic; Lily Iglehart (Tanya Reynolds), who enjoys writing erotica, and Ruby Matthews (Mimi Keene) who shows not to judge a book by its cover. This series is so interesting because it shows how everyone is going through their trauma or dilemmas. It also demonstrates how no one is focused on you in the way you’re focused on yourself. It also illustrates how important it is to have a support system around you and the necessity of finding your people, the people who get you and encourage you to be yourself.

‘Heartbreak High’ Is Full Of Teenage Drama

Heartbreak High is similar to Sex Education in that way, and except for the show being shot in Australia instead of the UK, it has many similarities. The characters are so rich and realistic that audiences are entranced and can’t stop watching the series. We can see ourselves in the complex characters. In some ways, it’s like a car crash that you can’t look away from because you’re just glad it’s not happening to you, but that’s the magic of television. Like so many teenagers, these characters are just trying to figure out where they fit in and are engrossed in how to make that happen. Being so focused on themselves makes it hard to see what’s happening with other people, which is one of the main focuses of the first season.

The series pilot starts with these two best friends, Amerie Wadia (Ayesha Madon) and Harper McLean (Asher Yasbincek), drawing on a map they’ve created of the school’s sexcapades called the Incest Map. It labels stuff like who has a crush on who, who’s had sex with who, or who’s cheated on who. But one day, the map is exposed, and Amerie is labeled as the culprit and a social pariah. The friendship between Amerie and Harper also breaks up, but we don’t know why, and neither does Amerie. Everyone on the map has to attend the Sexual Literacy Tutorial Class, AKA SLTs, pronounced “sluts.” Throughout the season, things are revealed about the characters perfectly. Friendships end, new ones are forged, and actions have consequences.

The second season reveals even more about these complex and real characters. It delves more into the neurodivergent side of Quinni (Chloé Hayden) and shows us how she thinks. She drops her mask, which makes people uncomfortable but allows her to tell her genuine opinions and gives audiences a deeper understanding of her character. Characters like Malakai (Thomas Weatherall) go through self-discovery as he has a new love interest for the season, and Darren (James Majoos) has to figure out his feelings for Ca$h (Will McDonald) after he gets out of jail. Amerie and the gang have to figure out who’s been leaving dead birds for herplus Amerie has to deal with the harsh realities of visiting an abortion clinic after a night with Malaki. The kids of Hartley High sure get a spoonful of drama this season, but they turn to each other when times get tough.

‘Sex Education’ and ‘Heartbreak High’ Are the Perfect Teen Drama Series

What is it about shows like these that center around teenagers but capture the interest of everyone? It could be that people love to reminisce about their pasts and relive the good old days. Or it could be that the writing is so well done, and the characters are so complex that you can’t help but be entranced. It’s not only students who love shows like these; adults get hooked on them as well. There’s so much discovery and change within the teenage years that seeing what people become is amazing. Everyone’s journeys are so different, and it’s great to see how each person makes choices and why they did what they did.

Shows like Sex Education and Heartbreak High give audiences something fresh and full of drama. They deal with things that are unfortunately a reality for so many people, but they figure out how to make it work for them. Not everything they figure out is terrible. Sometimes, they discover more about themselves and what they need to reach their goals. Another plus is that streaming services like Netflix give subscribers access to shows in different areas of the world, not just America. We now get to see different areas of the world from their perspective, like the UK and Australia.

Heartbreak High is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

WATCH ON NETFLIX