It was a tiring day at work, I’d already watched an old (and slightly below-par) episode of Gavin and Stacey, I’d dropped the last cookie in the house in my cup of tea (turning it into a soggy mush), I was in a downward spiral. Gazing over at a pile of unwatched and unopened dvds, my listless eyes fell upon series 1 of ‘Mad Men’. Despite believing myself to be devoid of the energy that I usually invest in a new television series, I blithely decided to give the aliterated show a visual whirl.

As soon as I did so, my vegetative state took on a new guise as one rapt, transfixed by what I saw: glossy visuals, beautiful shots and clever mise-en-scene, stellar acting and a script on a level with Aaron Sorkin’s best work.

Set in early 60’s America amongst an elite community of advertising executives, the show explores politics, socioeconomic issues, sexism and ethnicity with apparent aplomb and proves what a hellish world the office workplace could be for women at the time, unprotected by the sexual harassment laws of today.

Admittedly this is all based on the first episode alone, but this is the first intelligent, high-quality series since ‘The Wire’ that I’ve got really excited about.