Remember Jessica Mauboy, runner up on Australian Idol 10 years ago?

The 16-year-old who described herself as a Darwin bush pig and who judge Kyle Sandilands charmingly advised to “lose the jelly belly”?

Well, fast-forward 10 years and welcome the grown up Jessica Mauboy, accomplished actor and singer, and undoubted star of Channel 7’s new drama, The Secret Daughter, which begins tonight.

We’ve seen her act before of course – in Bran Nue Day and The Sapphires, for example – but this series gives her a chance to showcase her full range of skills in a role which was specially written for her.

From the promos, you might think it’s a serious story about the secret love child of a hugely rich man determinedly emerging out of the past to wreak havoc on his other family members.

It’s nothing like that! Instead, it’s a very funny comedy of errors where Mauboy’s character, Billie Carter, by force of circumstances, claims to be the lost daughter of millionaire hotelier, Jack Norton (the legendary Colin Friels).

It’s a neat solution for her because her real Dad (or is he?), Gus Carter (David Fields), is up to his eyeballs in trouble with the local crims and he’s dragging her down with him.

Watch Jessica Mauboy’s Australian Idol audition below:

In Monday night’s premiere, Field provides the first clue to the tone of the show with an almost slapstick performance of a dropkick of a single Dad who is helped out of strife constantly by the honest and upright Billie.

It is a story of two disparate families. Jack’s wealthy family – including his ruthless younger wife, Susan (played by Rachel Gordon), his manipulative elder son, Chris (Jared Turner) and his charming, rather naive youngest son, Jamie (Matt Levett) own a luxury hotel and live a rich Sydney life.

Well away from the world of Billie and Gus.

Billie’s a singer in a local pub in the country town of Walperinga (the NSW town of Dungog in real life) but her main job seems to be sorting out Gus’ life. She dreams of being a successful musician on a bigger stage and the series opens with a cracker of a pub scene – rocking, the odd punch and great music.

Billie comes into contact (literally as it happens) with Jack Norton who’s come to town searching for his “secret daughter” – the result of an affair he had there in his past. A daughter he has not told his Sydney family about.

Billie and Jack spend hours talking under the stars before tragedy strikes. Jack’s family join the hunt for this “lost daughter” with some of them determined to stop her getting her hands on the family fortune.

This promises to be a cleverly plotted and well-written series and the twists and turns are surprising. Actor turned Director Leah Purcell applies a deft touch and gets excellent performances from Mauboy and the rest of the very strong cast.

But does Australian commercial TV really need yet another family-focused drama? I wasn’t too sure but, if this series lives up to its first episode promise, then yes, we do.

This is fresh, different and funny and, largely because of the work of Jessica Mauboy and David Fields, a world away from the white middle class tales of angst favoured by most commercial drama these days. Which is a big relief.

The Secret Daughter premieres on Channel Seven at 9pm on Monday, October 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MesNOAF4cPc