Jessica Marais defends Love Child’s trail-blazers

While Love Child has wrapped its season on Nine, its impact managed to linger with some recent discussion about the accuracy in reflecting the era.

But Jessica Marais, who played the assertive midwife Joan Miller, has defended the show against suggestions her character would not have stood up to authority in the late 1960s.

“For me it was definitely confronting and pretty turgid and difficult at times,” she told TV Tonight.

“Not just the girls’ babies being taken away but the political scene at the time, the racial issues, the social injustice and the patriarchal system that Joan’s fighting against.

“And there were a lot of people like Joan who did fight.

“They were trail-blazers. And Carlotta is another in exactly the same time period. There were women like that.”

Marais will next appear in ABC’s Carlotta telemovie, playing the role of the famed Les Girl showgirl.

She will also return for the second season of Love Child, to screen on Nine in 2015. Audiences responded to the mix of drama, romance and dark undertone to the series, which served as a departure from Nine’s Underbelly and House Husbands series.

“Channel Nine took a really big leap of faith with making something a little bit different for them and it’s paid off really well. I think the way that everyone backed the show, given its content and the 8 episode miniseries feel to it, has been wonderful,” she said.

“I don’t think you can tell that story without the sinister tone because essentially what happened to people was pretty horrific. Of course there is joy and all the rest of it, but all these girls were so young, they really didn’t know what they were going through.”