On a wet and squally September day in Sydney, being greeted by Deborah Mailman is a tonic. Wearing reading spectacles and a black tracksuit top with white stripes, she steps away from her laptop in this ABC office to smile radiantly with both arms extended for a handshake. Then she throws her head back, claps her hands and laughs when I recite her salty dialogue as a senator in Total Control, the stormy political television drama series directed by Rachel Perkins.

‘I know you fought my appointment, you two-faced slimy fuck,’ says Senator Alex Irving on the phone in a pub scene in episode two. ‘Let me tell you, mate, the average Australian would rather a used condom as prime minister than you, so you can fuck right off, you fuckin’ hypocrite.’