''Blue Water High'' is an Australian television drama series, broadcast by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

ABC1 ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship (broadcasting), flagship ABC Television (Australian TV network), A ...

and on

Austar Austar was an Australian telecommunications company founded in 1995 as Community Entertainment Television (CETV). Its main business activity was subscription television. It was also involved with internet access and mobile phones. Austar's tel ...

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

channel in Australia and on various channels in many other countries. Each season follows the lives of a young group of students at Solar Blue, a high-performance surf academy where several lucky 16-year-olds are selected for a 12-month-long

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

program at Bilgola Beach,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. There are three seasons in ''Blue Water High''. The first two seasons aired in 2005 and 2006 and the producers did not intend to create a third and final season. However, due to popular demand by fans, they relented and made one more season with only Kate Bell returning in a main role. Season 3 ended with the closure of Solar Blue because of a lack of funding, indicating that the show would most likely not continue.

Plot summary

Season 1

The first season consisted of twenty-six episodes. It starred Adam Saunders as Heath (the relaxed joker who struggles with school),

Tahyna Tozzi Tahyna MacManus (née Tozzi; born 24 April 1986) is an Australian actress, director, writer and producer. Tahyna starred in several television series and film blockbusters including '' X-Men Origins: Wolverine'' before moving to roles behind th ...

as Perri (resident glamour queen from the Gold Coast),

Sophie Luck Sophie Kathrin Luck (born 17 October 1989) is an Australian actress best known for her roles on the television shows ''Blue Water High'' and ''Home and Away''. Biography Personal life Luck has had drama lessons since the age of seven. She ha ...

as Fly (the youngest), Kate Bell as Bec (the local),

Khan Chittenden Khan Chittenden (born 1983 in New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born Australian actor. Career Chittenden was born in New Zealand and moved at age 11 to Perth, Western Australia. He graduated from WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) ...

as Edge (the aggressive and competitive teenager), Chris Foy as Matt (the generic 'smart guy') and

Mara Scherzinger Mara Scherzinger (born September 23, 1989) is a Germans, German actress. She performed in commercials, TV films, TV series, and cinema movies. Childhood Mara Scherzinger grew up in Saig, Lenzkirch in the Black Forest. Her father, Paulus Straub, ...

as Anna (a famous German kiteboarder). At the end of the year, two of them (one girl and one boy) get a wild card spot on the pro-circuit tour. The first season was released on DVD in 4 volumes, though fans are strongly urging for a complete re-release featuring the entire season in one package, as was later done with season 2.

won the 2005

Australian Film Institute Award The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

for Best Young Actor for her role in the series. The winners for season 1 were Fly and Edge.

Season 2

Filming of a second season began in early January 2006 in Sydney, with a revised cast, which included

(who was back as Fly), Adam Saunders as Heath (who leaves in episode six) and

Trent Dalzell Trent Dalzell (born 15 October 1988) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Axel Hay on the Australian soap opera ''Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Ala ...

as Corey,

Ryan Corr Ryan Corr is an Australian actor. He is known for his roles in the Australian drama series ''Packed to the Rafters'', '' Love Child'' and '' Underbelly'', along with film roles in '' Wolf Creek 2'' (2013), '' The Water Diviner'' (2014), '' Holdi ...

as Eric, Lesley Anne Mitchell as Brooke,

Taryn Marler Taryn Natalie Marler (born 1 September 1988) is an Australian actress. Biography Marler is best known for her role on ''Blue Water High'' as Rachel Samuels which was filmed in 2006. She was also in the short film ''Car Pool'' as Chrissy Clapton ...

as Rachel,

Gabrielle Scollay Gabrielle Scollay (born 6 April 1989) is an Australian actress known for the role of Amy in the second season of the television series Blue Water High. She has been involved in many successful film and television projects including Dangerous ...

as Amy, and

James Sorensen James Sorensen (born 18 July 1986) is a former professional model and actor. He is best known for portraying Declan Napier in the soap opera ''Neighbours''. Sorensen served in the Australian Army in his early 20s. He completed his PhD in medic ...

as Mike. It premiered on 28 June 2006.

, Adam Saunders, Kate Bell, Chris Foy,

Nadine Garner Nadine Lynette Garner (born 14 December 1970 in Knoxfield, Melbourne) is an Australian actor who started her career as a teen performer. Biography Garner first came to public attention in 1985, as Tamara Henderson in the Australian TV series ...

and

have all reappeared in the second season in various episodes. The winners of season 2 were Brooke and Eric. The complete second season was released on DVD in Australia on 1 October 200

Season 3

The third and final season began filming in October 2007. Kate Bell returns as Bec for season 3 and is joined by

Craig Horner Craig Horner (born 24 January 1983) is an Australian actor and musician who first appeared in the Australian television program '' Cybergirl''. He is best known for his role as Richard Cypher in the television series ''Legend of the Seeker''. E ...

as Garry. The new Solar Blue pupils are Guy (Kain O'Keeffe), Charley (

Lachlan Buchanan Lachlan Buchanan is an Australian actor. Biography Buchanan was born on 25 April 1987 in Australia and grew up in Maleny, Queensland. He attended Maleny State School and Matthew Flinders Anglican College. Buchanan acted in soap operas such as ...

), Adam (

Eka Darville Eka Darville (born 11 April 1989) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as Scott Truman in ''Power Rangers RPM,'' Pip in '' Mr. Pip'', Malcolm Ducasse in ''Jessica Jones'' and Diego in '' The Originals''. Biography Early lif ...

), Bridget (

Cariba Heine Cariba Heine (born 1 October 1988) is a South African-born Australian actress and dancer. She is known for her roles as Rikki Chadwick in the Network Ten show '' H2O: Just Add Water'', Bridget Sanchez in the third series of '' Blue Water High'' ...

), Loren (Amy Beckwith) and Cassie (

Rebecca Breeds Rebecca Elizabeth Breeds (born 17 June 1987) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her leading roles as Ruby Buckton on the Seven Network soap opera ''Home and Away'' (2008–2012) and Clarice Starling on the CBS crime drama series ...

). Season 3 began screening on Rollercoaster on 3 April 2008. The winners are Bridget and Adam, but Bridget decides to go to university instead of joining the Pro Circuit, so Loren gets the wild card after Cassie literally 'draws the short straw' (as they both have the same number of points in the final surf-off, so they decide who gets the wild card this way). In the last episode, Simmo makes a surprise return as one of the three judges in what is described as "one of the best finals Solar Blue has seen", saving the day as he pulls "not a rabbit out of a hat, but an elephant", ensuring that the winners of the final surf-off still get a wild card invitation.

Cast

Season one

* Kate Bell as Rebecca 'Bec' Sanderson *

as Dean 'Edge' Edgely *Chris Foy – Matthew 'Matt' Leyland *

as Fiona 'Fly' Watson *Adam Saunders as Heath Carroll *

– Anna Peterson *

as Perri Lawe *

Martin Lynes Martin Lynes (born 12 July 1967) is a retired Australian actor who was best known for his role as Luke Forlano in Australian Drama All Saints.. Career Lynes is known for his work as Dr. Luke Forlano on '' All Saints'', an Australian hospital ...

as Craig 'Simmo' Simmonds *

as Deborah 'Deb' Callum *

Liz Burch Liz Burch (born 18 October 1954) is an Australian former actress. Career Burch is best known for her lead roles as Liz Cameron in police drama series ''Cop Shop'' from 1980 to 1982 and Dr. Chris Randall in medical drama series ''The Flying Do ...

as Jilly *Matt Rudduck as Joe Sanderson *Clae Whitelaw as Simon Heart *Don Halbert as Mr. Savin

Season two

as Eric Tanner *

as Amy Reed *

as Michael 'Mike' Kruze *Lesley Anne Mitchell as Brooke Solomon *

as Corey Petrie *

as Rachael Samuels *Adam Saunders as Heath Carroll *

as Fiona 'Fly' Watson * Kate Bell as Rebecca 'Bec' Sanderson *

as Craig 'Simmo' Simmonds *Joe Ireland as Dave Jones *

as Jilly *Natasha Sitkowski as Greta *Don Halbert as Mr. Savin

Season three

Kain O'Keeffe Kain O'Keeffe (born 22 October 1987) is an Australian actor, known for his appearances in Australian television dramas and minor roles in films. Career O'Keeffe was born in Sydney, Australia, on 22 October 1987. Between 2003 and 2005 O'Keefe f ...

as Guy Spender *

as Charley Prince *

as Adam Bridge *

as Bridget Sanchez *Amy Beckwith as Lauren 'Loren' Power *

as Cassandra 'Cassie' Cometti *

as Garry Miller * Kate Bell as Rebecca 'Bec' Sanderson * Tom Fisher as James Cassidy *Erol Cimen as Michael De Santa *Don Halbert as Mr. Savin

List of episodes

Series one (May–November 2005)

Series two (June–December 2006)

Episodes of season 2 were not named but were numbered from 1 to 26.

Series three (April–September 2008)

Episodes of season 3 were also not named, but were numbered from 1 to 26.

International broadcasts

Africa

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, ''Blue Water High'' was aired twice a week on Go on the local satellite system, DSTV. After DSTV added more MNET channels, ''Blue Water High'' started airing every weekday at 19:30 on Magic World 112 from 1 July 2010.

Europe

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the series is called ''Blue Water High, die Surf-Akademie'' (which means "Blue Water High, the Surf Academy") and is broadcast on

KI.KA Kika (currently stylised as KiKA, formerly as KI.KA; formally , ) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is managed by a joint venture by public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF. Its intended audience is childre ...

(a children's channel). In Ireland ''Blue Water High'' was broadcast on

RTÉ Two (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, television, RT� ...

as part of ''

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in Bermondsey, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter-of-a-mile from the Old Den, whic ...

'' and, in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, the show was broadcast on La 2,

Clan TVE Clan is a Spanish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Televisión Española (TVE), the television division of state-owned public broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE). It is the corporation's television channel for kid ...

and

Neox A breathing gas is a mixture of gaseous chemical elements and compounds used for respiration. Air is the most common and only natural breathing gas, but other mixtures of gases, or pure oxygen, are also used in breathing equipment and enclosed h ...

. In

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, it was broadcast on Filles TV as ''Blue Water High: Surf Academy'' in 2007 and

France Ô France Ô () was a French free-to-air television channel featuring programming from the French overseas departments and collectivities in Metropolitan France. It was part of the France Télévisions group. It was a national counterpart of the ...

has started re-airing the series on 12 November 2012. In

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

the show aired on

TV 2 Zebra TV 2 Zebra is a Norwegian television channel showing entertainment programmes, interactive programmes and live sport mainly targeted towards a male audience. The channel was started as TV 2 Xtra on 24 January 2004, but before that the channel w ...

. In

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

SIC The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; ''thus'', ''so'', and ''in this manner'') inserted after a quotation indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated as found in the source text, including erroneous, archaic, or unusual spelling ...

also bought the first season, and it aired in the country from Monday to Friday at 5pm in Summer 2009; the show was named ''Mar Azul'' ("Blue Sea"). It also started again on

SIC K SIC K is a Portuguese television channel aimed at children aged 7–14. Owned by Sociedade Independente de Comunicação (SIC), it was launched on 18 December 2009 on the MEO platform. The channel previously had an exclusivity contract with th ...

in December of that year, where it has, since, been airing, on and off. The series also began airing on

RTL 8 RTL 8 is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel that was launched on 18 August 2007 replacing Tien, previously known as Talpa. RTL 8's main target audience consists of women. It broadcasts soap operas, talk shows, films and reruns of programm ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

from 2009 onwards. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, it was broadcast on

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

and later on

Pop Girl Pop Girl was a free-to-air children's television channel in the United Kingdom, owned by CSC Media Group (formerly Chart Show Channels), a company associated with the makers of '' The Chart Show'', a television programme that had previously ...

North America

''Blue Water High'' was broadcast online in USA through the former

The WB Television Network The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on br ...

, which was resurrected by the

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

television arm as a website in 2008. Currently, the series is now streaming on Tubi.

Oceania

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the country of its origin, ''Blue Water High'' aired once every week on

ABC3 ABC Entertains is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched on 4 December 2009 as a children's channel called ABC3. It was rebranded on 19 September 2016 to ABC ME. It rebra ...

. In

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, ''Blue Water High'' currently airs every Saturday afternoon on TV2

South America

In the Spanish-speaking countries of

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, the show is titled ''Blue Water High, Escuela del Surf'', which translates as "Blue Water High, Surf Academy", and is broadcast on Boomerang Latin America. In

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, it is broadcast by Boomerang Brazil and

TV Brasil TV Brasil is a Brazilian public television network owned by Empresa Brasil de Comunicação. Its main headquarters are in Brasília, DF and Rio de Janeiro, RJ, with owned-and-operated stations in São Paulo, SP and in São Luís, MA, as w ...

under the title ''Galera do Surfe'' (The Surf Crowd). In

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

, ''Blue Water High'' was aired on Falkland Islands Television Service Tuesdays to Friday at 15:00 and Saturday at 11:30.

Home media

DVD releases

Season 3 was not originally released on DVD, but in October 2020 a complete collection boxset was released, which included all three seasons.

Online streaming

All Seasons of ''Blue Water High'' are currently streaming for release on

7plus 7plus (also stylised as 7+) is a video on demand, catch-up TV service run by the Seven Network. The service became available on 27 November 2017. 7plus also offers online live streaming of Channel 7, 7two, 7mate, 7Bravo, 7flix, Racing.co ...

References

External links

''Blue Water High''
at the Australian Television Information Archive *
Blue Water High at the National Film and Sound Archive''Blue Water High'' - "Winners and Losers"
at

Australian Screen Online The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

{{Southern Star Entertainment 2005 Australian television series debuts 2008 Australian television series endings 2000s Australian drama television series Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Australian high school television series Television shows set in Sydney Television series by Endemol Shine Australia Australian teen drama television series Australian English-language television shows Australian television series about teenagers Water sports television series Surfing mass media