BBC4 to air 'Mad Men' this winter

Published Friday, Feb 22 2008, 11:06 GMT | By Dave West

BBC Four will air Mad Men - the latest series from The Sopranos creator Matthew Weiner - in the winter.

The drama is set in a competitive New York advertising firm in the 1960s. It stars Jon Hamm (We Were Soldiers), Elisabeth Moss (The West Wing) and John Slattery (Desperate Housewives) and promises "power struggles, hard drinking and clandestine sexual exploits".

The show will be part of a miniseason with documentaries on advertising in the 1960s (Selling The Sixties), the UK's top ad execs (The Rise And Fall Of The Ad Man) and eccentric ad guru David Ogilvy (The First Mad Man).

The centrepiece of BBC Four's winter/spring lineup, confirmed last night, will be a series of dramas about the off-camera lives of classic UK comedians. Stars will include David Walliams as Frankie Howerd.

A Medieval season will feature drama Heist, with Kris Marshall and Geraldine James, about a raid on Westminster Abbey going comically wrong, and see Stephen Fry attempt to recreate the world's first printing press in Stephen Fry And The Gutenberg Press.

There will also be a season on childhood.

"As BBC Four prepares to celebrate its sixth birthday next month I'm delighted to have returned with it in such great shape and with an exciting lineup of bold and original programmes to look forward to," said controller Janice Hadlow, who was away through last year.

"I'm particularly pleased that we've attracted such a strong lineup of big name talent to this season of dramas."