Heartbreak High was notable for breaking with the established formula for successful Australian audiovisual exports. Unlike feature films such as The Man from Snowy River and Crocodile Dundee, or television dramas such as A Country Practice and Neighbours, the series did not employ the themes of a perceived Australian innocence and harmonious community. It emerged from an early 1990s shift in Australian film and television toward the presentation of a grittier, urban, multicultural picture of contemporary Australian life.

     The series was a television spin-off of the feature film The Heartbreak Kid (1993) by the same production company (Ben Gannon Productions). Like The Heartbreak Kid, Heartbreak High was set in an ethnically diverse inner-city high school and explored the pleasures and problems of young people growing up in such an environment. It was the first Australian television drama to make a central feature of multiculturalism and so extend to television a trend developed in films such as Death in Brunswick, The Big Steal, and Strictly Ballroom, as well as The Heartbreak Kid.

     Set in Hartley High, a fictional school in suburban Sydney, Heartbreak High interwoven narratives based on teen romance, conflicts of young people with teachers and parents, and social problems such as racism, teenage pregnancy, alcohol abuse, gay bashing, and abortion. A key character in early episodes was Nick (Alex Dimitriades), an impulsive teenage "heartthrob" from a Greek family background. Nick was a central romantic interest but also faced problems such as grief over the loss of his mother in a car accident.

     Other major characters were Jodie (Abi Tucker), who came from a broken home but was a talented singer with ambitions to develop a career in the music industry; Rivers (Scott Major), a disruptive, anti-authority figure among the students; Con (Salvatore Coco), a "joker" who provided a comic focus; Steve (Corey Page), who found that he had been adopted and set out to find his birth mother; and Danielle (Emma Roche) who had an affair with Nick after he broke up from a longer relationship with Jodie. Among the teachers, the key characters were Yola Futoush (Doris Younane), the school counselor, who became closely involved with her students as she helped them overcome problems; and Bill Southgate (Tony Martin), a conservative authoritarian figure against whom the students rebelled. In the second series, these teachers were joined by Vic (Ernie Dingo), an Aboriginal teacher in media studies. Popular with the students, he taught them about more than the content of the official curriculum.

     Stylistically, Heartbreak High was a fast-paced, realist drama that employed naturalistic dialogue. While teenage romance was an important narrative element, it was structured into rapid sequences and frequently intercut with "harder" content that maintained a strong sense of immediacy and action. Similarly, the series' emphasis on contemporaneity and relevance to a youth audience was rarely openly stated or didactic. Its topicality rested more on capturing the texture of life of young people than a fictionalization of issues taken directly from news or current affairs.

     In its rhythm and editing techniques, Heartbreak High took its reference from the American-produced action or situation comedy genres, while at the same time taking on more "serious" content generally associated with the slower-paced genres of British or more traditional Australian television drama. Heartbreak High might therefore be seen as a "hybrid" televisual product that achieved commercial success while presenting a picture of an urban, multicultural Australia that had not previously had widespread international exposure.

     Although successful internationally, Heartbreak High always struggled to gain solid backing from Australian broadcasters. A patchy programming history made it difficult to build consistent ratings. Production of the program ceased in 1998 after a decision by the ABC not to commit to further investment.