As soon as actress Jessica Marais heard the soundtrack for the new drama series Love Child, she had complete faith it would be a hit.
Marais is one of more than half a dozen female leads in the Nine Network series, which launched last Monday with more than 1.3 million viewers.
Love Child, set in 1969, is about a spirited housewife, Joan Miller, who gets swept up in the plight of five young women in an unwed mothers home attached to a hospital.
Marais plays Miller and Mandy McElhinney is matron Frances Bolton, while the cast includes Gracie Gilbert, Ella Scott Lynch, Miranda Tapsell, Sophie Hensser and Harriet Dyer.
Marais said even though the set design and costumes are all based on the `60s, nothing puts the viewer in the era better than the music.
"If you use music and the correct clothing people, suddenly you put viewers in the right era," Marais told AAP.
When Marais heard a cover of The Supremes hit Love Child during the opening credits, she knew there had been a strong investment and commitment in the series.
"They've definitely put money into production values where Australian TV hasn't really done it the past," Marais told AAP.
"That's a credit to the network for taking a leap of the faith and going the whole hog with music and production values.
"Soundtracks are very expensive for a production and the fact they have spent the money on it, really is a dream come true for all of us."
The launch episode included a number of original Aussie hits including The Easybeats' Good Times, The Real Thing by Russell Morris and Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs' Don't You Dig That Kind Of Beat.
Nine has even used some of the finalists from its reality series The Voice on the series.
In the first episode, Emma Birdsall, who was on the first season of The Voice, appeared in a club singing Show Me, which was originally performed by American Joe Tex.
"I had high hopes for the music and they came through, which is phenomenal," Marais said.
* Love Child airs on Mondays at 8.40pm on the Nine Network.
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