Mad Persons

You certainly get a quick intro to this series when the advertising executives discuss a product and one asks "What is the woman's angle on this?" The leading man shrugs his shoulders and mutters "Who cares?". Its a shock and it should be.

Surely this beautiful series could not have come at a better time when people like me are longing for the 'put together' looks of Audrey Hepburn and the sharp hair cuts and tailored suits of the men of long ago. 'Mad Men' is about the time when women wore petticoats and suspenders and men wore hats and looked very fine in them too. Nobody wanted to be like a New York criminal and boys wore their jeans round their torsoes not their knees. But with all this snappy attire came cigarettes and sexism, very odd canapes and a giant amount of alcohol.

That's the awful fascination of this as you watch the men compete with each other for every step up the ladder, driving their wives mad with suspicion that turns into avarice while their husbands dally with mistresses from the office and then step casually into their fabulous cars, fully tanked themselves. And the racism is of another order altogether. It is all so beautifully done that wounds and insults slide by in a congenial fog of beauty and style and you are left at the end blinking at the closing credits following the 'Mad' Madison Avenue man as he spirals down the sheer cliff face of his multi storey office block.

Thank your lucky stars I say and give it a long hard look. We've come a long way and it was well worth the trouble.

To see a trailer of Mad Men Series 1&2, click here: