Firstly, full disclosure. You might be reading this thinking that you’re about to discover a world of delightful British television that you can use to appear high-brow with your friends, or philosophical European art-house fare that you can pretend to enjoy for its deep meanings as opposed to the abundance of nudity.  Well, I’m about to disillusion you, I’m afraid, because my television habits are embarrassingly awful for the most part. What you’re really going to be reading about are my guilty pleasures, with the odd bit of awesomeness thrown in to right the balance. Unfortunately, we in the UK can’t use Netflix or Hulu or a whole host of other US only services, so I am at the mercy of Youtube, the on-demand service on my cable and my collection of DVD boxsets.

I will readily admit that what I’m about to discuss today is love it or hate it situation. Most people hate this show. And I can see why. But when bad acting, hilarious costumes and teenage angst combine with ambitious post-apocalyptic ideas, you know you’re in for a rare treat. And so it is with The Tribe, ostensibly a TV series for teenagers which ran from 1999 to 2003. It was produced and set in New Zealand, but was created in conjunction with a British network. I’m pretty sure it has been shown all over the world, including the US and Canada, but I don’t blame you if you’ve never been aware of it until now.

Basically, the plot involved a deadly virus which wiped out all of the planet’s adults, leaving kids and teenagers to fend for themselves. In this case, fending for themselves meant forming tribes and going a bit crazy with the hair dye. The virus plot line was pretty speedily resolved, as it became clear that some of the most popular characters were almost 18 and by the show’s own logic, would have to die. But there is five seasons worth of crazy to explore, and everything is included from alcoholism and teen pregnancy, to the dangers of joining a cult.

Let’s face it, if you are 14 and suddenly there are no grown-ups around anymore, of course you’re going to draw shit on your face and go tribal. Our heroes are a tribe called The Mallrats and there are other imaginatively named tribes like The Locos and The Demon Dogs. The appeal was massive and the kid actors were huge stars in Britain and, inexplicably, Germany. There were also a few music videos produced, and a soundtrack album which the cast sang on, which quite frankly put the over-produced antics of the Disney Channel kids to shame. The earnest, brave new world themed pop was never in any danger of troubling the charts and it may at times be difficult for even the most dedicated Tribe fans to endure. But apparently, I was the only one cringing at the music, since this very year new albums were released on iTunes. This is 2011 folks, and yet we have an album which includes four different versions of the closing theme of a kids TV show that was cancelled in 2003. I can’t even explain how ridiculously awesome that is. And no, I don’t own it. Yet.

The acting is terrible at first, and I can’t in all good conscience tell you that it gets any better, but you grow accustomed to it and by the time you’re finished with all five seasons, the average daytime soap will look like a Royal Shakespeare Company production in comparison. There are some stand out scenery chewing performances though, most noticeably Trudy and The Guardian, and it is always fun to watch. I love this show. It is undeniably something different in a genre bogged down with young starlets and perky attitudes.

And in case you were thinking that all of this sounds unbearably nerdy, let me just add that The Tribe has official street cred. Lo and behold, in Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, a reference to The Tribe.

If you weren’t sold before, I know you are now. There are rumours of a movie in the works, so you’d better catch up with the original series before all the band wagon jumpers.

[Ed. note.  I decided to throw in a YouTube link to one of the aforementioned videos.]