Blue Water High

[Andy]

I swear there was a seperate thread for Blue Water High, but I can't find it now.

Making waves

Sun Herald

21 August 2005

A SECOND series of ABC teen drama Blue Water High is likely to be approved with the first series winning solid ratings in its Wednesday afternoon slot.

The series, set in an elite surf school, is on air in Germany and has been sold to South Africa, Israel, France, Belgium, New Zealand, Lithuania and Central American countries.

[Andy]

Buoyed by success

Sunday Telegraph

11 September 2005

TEEN soap opera Blue Water High is being hailed as the next Home And Away after being sold to networks around the world.

"It's incredibly exciting," admitted series star Tahyna Tozzi. "It has such a big audience on an international level."

The former model and the rest of the cast, including newcomers Kate Bell and Christopher Foy, are fast becoming international stars.

Since the sun-and-surf soap opera debuted earlier this year, it has been sold to Latin America, South Africa, Israel, France, Belgium, New Zealand, Lithuania, Germany -- and, most recently, the Caribbean.

"For first-time actors, it was a big call to do a series like this, but I've had a ball," admitted Tozzi, 19.

The 26-part series was filmed at Bilgola Beach and follows the lives of a group of teenagers who attend an elite surfing academy on Sydney's northern beaches.

And with the exception of Tozzi, the actors who play the surfing students were all unknown six months ago, but now have a legion of fans around the world.

[msf]

Buoyed by success

Sunday Telegraph

11 September 2005

TEEN soap opera Blue Water High is being hailed as the next Home And Away after being sold to networks around the world.

"It's incredibly exciting," admitted series star Tahyna Tozzi. "It has such a big audience on an international level."

The former model and the rest of the cast, including newcomers Kate Bell and Christopher Foy, are fast becoming international stars.

Since the sun-and-surf soap opera debuted earlier this year, it has been sold to Latin America, South Africa, Israel, France, Belgium, New Zealand, Lithuania, Germany -- and, most recently, the Caribbean.

"For first-time actors, it was a big call to do a series like this, but I've had a ball," admitted Tozzi, 19.

The 26-part series was filmed at Bilgola Beach and follows the lives of a group of teenagers who attend an elite surfing academy on Sydney's northern beaches.

And with the exception of Tozzi, the actors who play the surfing students were all unknown six months ago, but now have a legion of fans around the world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's still not been sold to Britain though.

[Andy]

Blue Water hit - Teen drama surfs to international success - They love us in Lithuania

Daily Telegraph

28 September 2005

Like most teenagers on television, the students at the surfing academy at the heart of Blue Water High boast blemish-free skins and seem to have a maturity beyond their years. Take actor Kate Bell, who in reality is 22 but plays a 15-year-old on the beachside drama.

"It is strange, I just mentally go backwards," Bell laughs. "But the Americans are notorious for hiring 30 year-olds to play 15-year-olds with a five o'clock shadow. Maybe it's because they don't have pimples and they haven't just hit puberty."

While the cast may be older than their fictional counterparts, Bell believes the class of 2005 at the Solar Blue Surf Academy are a more realistic portrayal of teens than exists on many rival programs.

"These kids are highly ambitious and I hope that's what we're coming out of schools like," Bell says. "There are shows out there that are portraying kids as these really messed up, conflicted young people and hopefully we're not all like that."

The formula has worked. It only airs once a week (at 5.25pm Wednesday), so it has higher production values than five-night-a-week soaps. It has been found by a legion of fans with between 420,000 and 500,000 tuning each week - and sometimes beating commercial rival A Price Is Right.

Filmed on Sydney's northern beaches, the seaside setting and fresh-faced stars saw Blue Water High often compared to Home And Away when it first aired in May.

But unlike a traditional soapie, the series focuses on the intensive training of seven would-be professional surfers at an elite academy and does not end each episode with the mandatory cliff-hanger.

Executive producer Noel Price says: "It's not like soap where things roll across a flat plain forever - every episode is selfcontained and the stories are all very tight and dense and well-written."

Bell agrees. "We've got similar characteristics like the beach, surf, sun and the young people - all those iconically Australian things but I think the nature of the stories that are being told is our biggest difference," she says.

"And just the demographic alone separates it from your Home And Awaytype shows - we really are reaching out to a younger audience."

It's an observation that's confirmed by the ABC does not see it as a direct competitor to its timeslot rivals, the show dominates among its target demographic - viewers under 17 years old.

Which is not to say that older viewers are excluded from tuning in to the surfing serial.

"I have friends that are nearly 26 who sit down and watch it and that's a real crack up," Bell says. "What are you doing watching this show? Then again the actors are all around 22 so I guess it makes sense that older people want to watch it."

Even more satisfying to the producers is the number of countries which have snapped up Blue Water High with the series already sold to an eclectic group including Israel, France, Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, South Africa and New Zealand as well as Latin America and the Caribbean.

While undoubtedly its oceanic backdrop caught the eye of international networks, Price believes the storylines are responsible for the program's universal appeal.

"It's not drowned in hedonism or suffering from angst," he says.

"It's got an innocence and energy in a really lucky situation. So it's positive and aspirational without being saccharine and sentimental."

Blue Water High's international sales means the show will be broadcast in countries the young cast have barely heard of, much less visited.

"It's really weird," says Bell.

"I consciously try not to think about that.

It is a really odd sensation to think that many people will be seeing us.

"It will be strange to see Bec Sanderson [her character] speaking in German - that will definitely be odd."

Having grown up in a country town after spending five years of her childhood in Hong Kong, overseas audiences would probably be surprised to learn Bell does not share Bec's affinity with the beach.

"When I got the job they sent us to surf school for two weeks. I'd say I'm passable now ... I can get up but once I get up on the board it's not long until I'm straight into the reef or something."

* Blue Water High, Wednesday, ABC, 5.25pm

SARRAH LE MARQUAND

----------------------------------------------------------------

Washing dishes at Bondi's Sean's Panorama restaurant may still pay the rent , but Blue Water High immediately opened doors for Khan Chittenden, who plays Dean "Edge" Edgely. He graduated from the West Australian Academy For Performing Arts last year and quickly scored a role o n the sur f soap.

"It was a great experience to be getting up every day and working on a show and immediately being able to refine my acting skills in that environment ," he says. "It was like going straight into an apprenticeship after school and when we finished filming in March I'd established some credentials."

Since then he's worked on a feature film to be released next year called The Caterpillar Wish and had a role in a short film alongside Kerry Armstrong.

While far from a household name, plenty of 10 to 15-year-olds appr oach Chittenden in the street. "When you see the look on their face you think, yeah, the show is really worth it because these kids are loving it.

"They work out who you are and look a bit bewildered. So you relax the situation and have a bit of a yack about surfing."

Chittenden ( pict ured) is 21, but his baby face means he can play a 16-year-old.

He's stoked about the series' overseas sales. "I think they'll be the audiences who appreciate it the most.

"But i t's a bit of a spin out to think someone in Lithuania is tuning in."

MARCUS CASEY

[Jay Preston]

I'm not sure I would consider Blue Water High a soap. That's not a good or bad thing, just a thing.

I love it. I watched it today and really loved it. It's essential viewing.

[Drew]

Hey guys i searched and found nothing on this topic so i thought i should start one lol... Are there any fans here or am i the only one?

Anywho, for anyone that does watch it , was that Palm Beach they were filming at for the windsurfing competion thing?

[Kimmy]

When is it on?

[Drew]

It's on Wednesdays 525. It's really good! lol It's not one of those s*** children shows

[ILuvRobbie]

Oh gosh should I go get my 11 year old sister, she seams to be obsessed !!!

[Drew]

LOL it's really good, have you ever sat down and watched an episode, i used to think it was a kids show until my 17yr old cousin forced me to watch it... It's great!