# Ja'mie: Private School Girl
*Ja'mie: Private School Girl* is a six-part Australian mockumentary comedy series from 2013, written by, co-directed by, and starring [Chris Lilley](https://www.edgepedia.org/chris-lilley-comedian) as Ja'mie King, a self-absorbed school captain in her final year at the fictional Hillford Girls Grammar.[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/jamie-private-school-girl-31899/) • [2](https://www.abc.net.au/contentsales/programsandgenres/jamie-private-school-girl/14108686) It was the first of Lilley's shows in which he concentrated all his efforts on realizing a single character, and the third series in which Ja'mie had appeared.[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/ja-ime-private-school-girl-tv-review-chris-lilley-s-latest-creation-is-sometimes-more-accurate-than-she-is-amusing-9113139.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Comedy mockumentary series, 6 × 30-minute episodes; Screen Australia records completion in 2013[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/jamie-private-school-girl-31899/) |
| Creator and star | Chris Lilley, performer, writer, and co-director, as Ja'mie King[2](https://www.abc.net.au/contentsales/programsandgenres/jamie-private-school-girl/14108686) |
| Production | Princess Pictures; producers Chris Lilley and Laura Waters; directors Chris Lilley and Stuart McDonald[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/jamie-private-school-girl-31899/) |
| Character history | Ja'mie King first appeared in *We Can Be Heroes* (2005) and *Summer Heights High* (2007)[4](https://aso.gov.au/titles/series/summer-heights-high/) |
| Australian broadcast | ABC1 premiere drew 924,000 viewers; episode four fell to 575,000[5](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/nov/15/not-so-jamiezing-chris-lilleys-private-school-girl-has-proved-disappointing) |
| Streaming | The first three episodes were played a record 810,000 times on ABC iView, including 216,000 plays in one day[5](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/nov/15/not-so-jamiezing-chris-lilleys-private-school-girl-has-proved-disappointing) |
| Award | Silver Logie, Most Popular Actor, TV Week Logie Awards 2014 (Chris Lilley)[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/jamie-private-school-girl-31899/) |
## Premise
The series follows Ja'mie King, described by ABC Content Sales as a conniving student and "Queen Bee" in her final year of school at Hillford Girls Grammar, back on the school's lawns after her term at [Summer Heights High](https://www.edgepedia.org/summer-heights-high).[2](https://www.abc.net.au/contentsales/programsandgenres/jamie-private-school-girl/14108686) As School Captain, she stops at nothing to climb her way to the top, abusing her prefectorial authority, disparaging Asian students and boarders, and pursuing boys.[2](https://www.abc.net.au/contentsales/programsandgenres/jamie-private-school-girl/14108686) • [6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/oct/23/jamie-private-school-girl-review) Her central goals are winning the Hillford Medal for "Best Girl in Year 12" and wooing Mitchell, a rugby player from nearby Kelton Boys Grammar.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/jamie_private_school_girl/s01)
The opening episode introduces the school's social groups through Ja'mie's own commentary: her "quiche" clique of popular girls, the Asian students she torments with racist Instagram posts, and the "povo Africans" from the western suburbs whom she visits for a charitable reading of *The Hunger Games*.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/oct/23/jamie-private-school-girl-review) Later episodes bring Kwami, a Ugandan boy, to live with the Kings, and follow Ja'mie's discovery that Mitchell has been dating her best friend Madison, a scandalous video, and a final showdown at Presentation Day.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/jamie_private_school_girl/s01)
## The character's history
Ja'mie King is Lilley's longest-running character. She first appeared in *We Can Be Heroes: Finding the Australian of the Year* (2005), a mockumentary in which Lilley played six characters nominated for Australian of the Year; Ja'mie was nominated for sponsoring a village of more than 80 African children, and failed to pass the state finals when the village was washed away in a flood.[8](https://chrislilley.fandom.com/wiki/Ja%27mie_King) • [9](https://www.abc.net.au/tv/heroes/about.htm) In *Summer Heights High* (2007), an eight-part mockumentary following three characters, all played by Lilley, at a fictional public school, Ja'mie appeared as a Year 11 student visiting from a prestigious private girls' school for one term under an exchange program, campaigning for a Year 11 formal.[4](https://aso.gov.au/titles/series/summer-heights-high/)
Lilley described the design of that appearance as a deliberate contrast: a private school girl everyone thought was wonderful set against a boy everyone thought was terrible, when in fact the girl was the nasty one and the boy was simply lost in the system.[10](http://www.televisionaryblog.com/2008/11/high-school-musical-talking-with-summer.html) Critics have read the character as a satirical embodiment of privilege. An academic article on *We Can Be Heroes* by [Robert Johnson](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-johnson) described Ja'mie as an inner-urban girl whose school and home typify a world of self-absorbed privilege, disconnected from the wider world and indifferent to those less fortunate.[11](https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/global2.vic.edu.au/dist/5/3744/files/2015/01/We_Can_Be_Heroes-1sjc0aj.pdf)
## Production
The series was produced by Princess Pictures, with Chris Lilley and Laura Waters as producers and executive producers, and directed by Lilley and Stuart McDonald; Lilley wrote all six episodes.[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/jamie-private-school-girl-31899/) • [2](https://www.abc.net.au/contentsales/programsandgenres/jamie-private-school-girl/14108686) Australian sales were handled by ABC Commercial and international sales by Home Box Office Inc.[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/jamie-private-school-girl-31899/) The series aired on HBO in the United States, with the first episode there on 24 November 2013.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/jamie_private_school_girl/s01)
As with Lilley's earlier series, the production used what producer Laura Waters calls a "hybrid" documentary-mockumentary approach, recording a fictional world as if it were real, with much of the dialogue improvised.[4](https://aso.gov.au/titles/series/summer-heights-high/) The supporting cast included Georgie Jennings as Madison, Lester Ellis Jr. as Mitchell, and Brodie Dare as Erin.[12](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/jamie-private-school-girl/season-1/)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed to negative. The season scored 40 on Metacritic based on 10 critic reviews, labeled "mixed or average", with a user score of 6.0.[12](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/jamie-private-school-girl/season-1/) On Rotten Tomatoes the season held a 64% Tomatometer from 14 reviews and an 84% audience score.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/jamie_private_school_girl/s01) Reviewers were divided: Hank Stuever of *The Washington Post* called the series "an enjoyably sick wallow in the evil that lurks in adolescence, as well as a formidable exercise in extreme portraiture", while *The Boston Globe* found the writing sharp but the story slow to unfold.[12](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/jamie-private-school-girl/season-1/) *The Independent* judged that the single-character focus made Ja'mie "sometimes more accurate than she is amusing".[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/ja-ime-private-school-girl-tv-review-chris-lilley-s-latest-creation-is-sometimes-more-accurate-than-she-is-amusing-9113139.html)
Australian broadcast ratings fell sharply across the run: the premiere reached 924,000 viewers on ABC1, and the fourth episode drew 575,000, beaten two weeks running by a repeat of *QI*.[5](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/nov/15/not-so-jamiezing-chris-lilleys-private-school-girl-has-proved-disappointing) Streaming told a different story: the ABC reported that the first three episodes had been played a record-breaking 810,000 times on iView, including 216,000 plays in one day, beating the previous record held by *Doctor Who* by 140,000.[5](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/nov/15/not-so-jamiezing-chris-lilleys-private-school-girl-has-proved-disappointing) A *Guardian* analysis attributed the broadcast decline to the series' sole focus on Ja'mie, arguing that *Summer Heights High*, Lilley's greatest commercial and creative success, had balanced her paper-thin character against more rounded figures in Jonah and Mr G.[5](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/nov/15/not-so-jamiezing-chris-lilleys-private-school-girl-has-proved-disappointing)
At the 2014 TV Week Logie Awards, Lilley won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor, and the series was nominated for Most Popular Light Entertainment Program.[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/jamie-private-school-girl-31899/) • [2](https://www.abc.net.au/contentsales/programsandgenres/jamie-private-school-girl/14108686)
## Later removal
In 2018 the ABC removed *We Can Be Heroes*, *Summer Heights High*, *Jonah from Tonga*, *Ja'mie: Private School Girl*, and *Angry Boys* from its iView streaming platform after censure from the Australian news media picking up criticism from the online public.[13](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13548565231201597) Lilley later revived the character in the satirical comedy podcast *Ja'miezing*, created, produced, and performed by him without the gatekeepers and production constraints of broadcast television.[13](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13548565231201597)
## References
1. [Ja'mie: Private School Girl, Screen Australia](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/jamie-private-school-girl-31899/)
2. [Ja'mie Private School Girl, ABC Content Sales](https://www.abc.net.au/contentsales/programsandgenres/jamie-private-school-girl/14108686)
3. [Ja'ime: Private School Girl, TV review, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/ja-ime-private-school-girl-tv-review-chris-lilley-s-latest-creation-is-sometimes-more-accurate-than-she-is-amusing-9113139.html)
4. [Summer Heights High, Australian Screen (NFSA)](https://aso.gov.au/titles/series/summer-heights-high/)
5. [Not so Ja'miezing: Private School Girl proves disappointing, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/nov/15/not-so-jamiezing-chris-lilleys-private-school-girl-has-proved-disappointing)
6. [Chris Lilley's Ja'mie: Private School Girl – TV review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/oct/23/jamie-private-school-girl-review)
7. [Ja'mie: Private School Girl: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/jamie_private_school_girl/s01)
8. [Ja'mie King, Chris Lilley Wiki (Fandom)](https://chrislilley.fandom.com/wiki/Ja%27mie_King)
9. [We Can Be Heroes – About, ABC](https://www.abc.net.au/tv/heroes/about.htm)
10. [High School Musical: Talking with "Summer Heights High" Creator/Writer/Star Chris Lilley, Televisionary](http://www.televisionaryblog.com/2008/11/high-school-musical-talking-with-summer.html)
11. [Robert Johnson, article on We Can Be Heroes (Australian identity study guide)](https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/global2.vic.edu.au/dist/5/3744/files/2015/01/We_Can_Be_Heroes-1sjc0aj.pdf)
12. [Ja'mie: Private School Girl season 1, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/jamie-private-school-girl/season-1/)
13. [Ja'miezing's Podcast Persona: Intertextual and Intercommunicative, Jasmyn Connell and Christopher Moore, 2025](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13548565231201597)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Sitcom and comedy series › Mockumentary comedy series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license