Mad Men – the best thing on television

Jon Hamm and January Jones, channeling their Mad Men characters. Photographed at the Lightbourne House, in Lyford Cay, Nassau, the Bahamas. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz; styled by Michael Roberts.
(Source: Vanity Fair)

Mad Men season 3 premièred in the UK this week to a small but discerning audience. An audience blissfully disinterested in celebrity fly-on-the-walls so beloved of the MySpace generation (i.e. Big Brother), or doctor and detective dramas that proliferate across the mainstream channels (with the exception, of course, of Wallander, which has sadly now finished).

The much-trailed return of acclaimed US drama Mad Men drew 370,000 viewers to BBC4 last night, Wednesday 27 January.

This represented 1.8% of the available multichannel audience between 10pm and 10.45pm, with another 257,000 and 1.9% tuning in for the second episode of the new series between 10.45pm and 11.35pm, according to unofficial overnight ratings.

Although the audience was modest given the huge amount of hype around the third series of the heavily garlanded drama about a fictional advertising agency in 1960s New York, it was an improvement on the 242,000 who watched the debut of the second series last year. (Source: Media Guardian).

There is a good article in the Daily Telegraph this week about just why Mad Men is so good. And if you want a recap of series 1 and 2, New York Magazine has a slideshow with a very short summary and photo of the first 26 episodes (that comprise the first 2 series). Worth a look if you’re a fan.

Do also read the 7-page Vanity Fair feature from whence the photos came.