Puberty Blues

• Looking through this unique window into the past is fascinating. The fashion and the lingo of a different time is something that last night glued me to the television.

• Based on the 1979 book of the same name, Puberty Blues was a funny, sweet and sometimes difficult-to-watch show that was just as exciting for its recreation of a 1970s Cronulla as it was as a depiction of teenage friendship. Part of the reason this show was so good was the two main actresses, Breanna Harding (Sue) and Ashleigh Cummings (Debbie), who managed to convey a balance of naivety and enthusiasm, with extreme weariness at the exhausting daily task of being a teen girl.

• It was written, directed, acted, and shown in a way that will make you go through every and any emotion under the sun as you watch. If you haven’t watched it, please do, and if you have, go rewatch; because despite the systematic inequality, there are some joyous scenes that make you smile and cry, both at the same time.

• Each week, the highlight of my television viewing is Ten’s Puberty Blues. The network may be struggling but this is Australian drama at its best. There hasn’t been a series of this calibre on Australian screens in years. The performances are rich, raw and powerful. The script is intelligent, compelling and convincing. The direction is clever and the cinematography stunning.

• And, like the book, the series is racy, confronting, often quite brutal, heartbreaking and coruscatingly entertaining. It sparkles even as it disturbingly illuminates a culture of adolescence that seems not so much dated as distressingly contemporary.

1 / 5