Loosely based on the novel of the same name by Julie Burchill, Sugar Rush starred Olivia Hallinan as socially awkward 15-year-old Kim Daniels, who has just moved from London to the seaside town of Brighton with her deeply chaotic, dysfunctional family – Mum and Dad, Stella and Nathan (Sara Stewart and Richard Lumsden), and her eccentric younger brother Matt (Kurtis O’Brien), who is convinced he is an alien.
Kim has to navigate all the usual adolescent anxieties – along with the massive realisation that she is a lesbian.
She has a massive hormone-fueled infatuation with her new best friend, Maria “Sugar” Sweet (Lenora Crichlow) – a wild, rebellious, and fiercely charismatic heterosexual girl who routinely drags Kim into reckless, trouble-filled situations involving binge drinking, shoplifting, and chaotic relationships.
Other important characters include Kim’s nerdy, sweet, next-door neighbour Tom (future Hollywood star Andrew Garfield), who desperately tries to date her, and Saint (Sarah-Jane Potts), a cool, older lesbian sex-shop owner and DJ who becomes Kim’s first serious girlfriend.
The book was badly written and cliched, but Channel 4 did a good job of adapting it for TV. Critics praised the series for its refreshingly bold, unapologetic, and humorous look at young LGBTQ+ identity, and it won Best Children & Young People Programme at the 34th International Emmy Awards.
Despite solid ratings, the show was unexpectedly cancelled by Channel 4 in 2007.
Kim Daniels
Olivia Hallinan Maria “Sugar” Sweet
Lenora Crichlow Nathan Daniels
Richard Lumsden Stella Daniels
Sara Stewart Matt Daniels
Kurtis O’Brien Tom
Andrew Garfield Saint
Sarah-Jane Potts
She has a massive hormone-fueled infatuation with her new best friend, Maria “Sugar” Sweet (Lenora Crichlow) – a wild, rebellious, and fiercely charismatic heterosexual girl who routinely drags Kim into reckless, trouble-filled situations involving binge drinking, shoplifting, and chaotic relationships.
