Love Child

Channel Nine’s new drama series Love Child, starring Jessica Marais, Jonathan LaPaglia and Mandy McElhinney; produced in Sydney.

It’s 1969 in Kings Cross and Joan Miller (Jessica Marais), a smart and sophisticated midwife, returns home from London to take a job at the Kings Cross Hospital and find a new life for herself, at a time when Australia is coming of age and the new generation believes anything is possible.

Jonathan LaPaglia plays the charismatic Dr Patrick McNaughton, head of obstetrics at Kings Cross Hospital, and Mandy McElhinney plays Frances Bolton, the tough matron who also controls the running of Stanton House, a home for unwed pregnant young women.

Their lives intersect between Kings Cross Hospital, Stanton House and the wild streets of Darlinghurst beyond the hospital walls.

The cast also includes Ryan Corr, Ella Scott Lynch, Sophie Hensser, Miranda Tapsell, Gracie Gilbert and Harriet Dyer.

In a joint statement, Andy Ryan and Jo Rooney, joint Heads of Drama at the Nine Network, said: “A powerful and uplifting series, Love Child tells the stories of young women and men fighting an unjust system in a world on the brink of change.

“We are thrilled to join forces again with Playmaker Media to bring Love Child to the Australian audience and showcase a superb cast.”

David Maher and David Taylor, from Playmaker, describe Love Child as a series with a stellar cast, a gripping story, and all the exuberant music, fashion and attitude of the late 1960s.