THE Secret Daughter,
Channel Seven, 9pm Mondays
SET between the small fictional town of Walperinga and Sydney comes The Secret Daughter, starring Jessica Mauboy.
One episode in and this is a show that could go either way – fall completely to melodrama or become something rich and warm and worth watching like its Channel 9 counterpart Doctor Doctor. So far however, it is looking more like the former than the latter.
Episode one had a lot of ground to cover, characters to be introduced and suffered a little, bogging down with its pacing.
But the characters were interesting if a little stereotyped – Mediterranean bad guys, uptight rich people and country folk with hearts of gold.
But at its heart was some great Aussie music and Mauboy’s Billie Carter, a young woman working in a bakery, singing in the local pub and trying to keep her shonky father (played as comic relief by David Field).
The show marks the first time an Indigenous actor has spearheaded a drama on a commercial network, so you kind of wanted it to be great, and – well, it’s a work in progress.
Mauboy is believable and likeable as is her interaction with Colin Friel – as Jack, a wealthy hotel operator from the city looking for his secret daughter.
The meeting changes Billie’s life (and Jack’s too, as it turns out).
And so through a series of misadventures, Billie meets Jack’s family who are grieving and probably about to turn nasty, of course she is mistaken for the lost sister – but who is in for the biggest surprise, Billie or the family?
It’s an interesting premise for a “fish out of water” show and one that has potential to grow into something worth watching but other than Mauboy and Friels (who lifted the show in the acting stakes during his way too brief appearance) and Matt Levett as the youngest of Jack’s son, the actors seem to be going through their paces a bit.
It’s hard not to compare this to the brilliant Doctor Doctor with its clever dialogue and wit and it’s a comparison that, after one episode, doesn’t do TSD any favours.
But something tells me this is worth sticking with – even if it’s just to hear Mauboy tackle some more classic Australian songs.
– Tania Phillips
