'Sugar Rush' is unlike anything I've ever seen on TV before. On the surface it's a teen drama but it's really incredibly adult, hence its late-night slot on Channel 4. Some bits are most definitely not suitable for children, although it's more what's said than what's shown, and there is a lot of clever innuendo which completely passed me by on the first viewing. It doesn't tiptoe around anything; Kim is in love with Sugar and it's cute, but she's also 'sexually obsessed' with her and the programme makes no secret of the fact that she'd love to get into her best friend's pants.
It sounds like a recipe for every man's lesbian fantasies and from the first couple of episodes it might look like that's how it's going to turn out, but this programme had me totally hooked by the 3rd or 4th instalment and once it passed the half way point, I would probably have done a serious injury to anyone who'd made me miss an episode. I was in floods of tears more than once, which wasn't something I'd expected from the quirky comedy-drama I'd seen advertised. Kim is such a compelling character, and I just wanted to reach out and give her a hug every time she got screwed over yet again. The sub-plot of her parents' marriage falling apart was probably what hit me the hardest, with Richard Lumsden giving an incredible, heart-breaking performance as Nathan the well-meaning house-husband. The whole thing was so well written that just a few words uttered by one of the characters could mean so much, and stir up unbelievable amounts of emotion in me. There's also a slightly surreal style to the way the whole series is shot, which makes it all that little bit more compelling. However, the music contributed a lot to the brilliance of the TV programme for me, which meant I wasn't too happy to find it had almost all been changed on the DVD for 'contractual reasons'.
Olivia Hallinan is a fantastic actress who is definitely going places. What makes her so brilliant and sets her apart from other young actresses is her ability to downplay the role and keep Kim introverted, saying so much with her face and her eyes while keeping her lines almost deadpan at times, so that when she does bring out the emotion in her voice you can really feel it pouring out of her. For me, Lenora Crichlow was the perfect counterpart to this, making me hate Sugar most of the time yet still letting me understand Kim's infatuation with her.
This programme is utterly compelling and while I would give anything for another series, part of me hopes there isn't one, because it was so beautifully crafted that it would be a shame to see it fall apart with any more added to it.
