The fifth season of Mad Men will debut in the UK just two days after its US premiere.

The AMC drama – which stars Jon Hamm and Christina Hendricks – will air on Sky Atlantic from March 27.

The new run will begin with two-hour premiere ‘A Little Kiss’, penned by series creator Matthew Weiner.

“There’s a time jump,” said Weiner. “There are some new people. Changes have happened off screen, and the audience will have to catch up with that. Even though Don (Hamm) ended up making this overture to Megan (Jessica Paré), and the audience felt sort of peculiar about it, so did the people in the office. That’s something that we play on.”

Weiner previously hinted that future episodes will include “a feeling of being in the midst of change”.

“There’s this sensation, which I think people have right now… there is just so much change going on,” the showrunner explained. “I don’t know if anybody else identifies with that, but that’s a big part of the season. Just trying to hold on.”

Following the addition of Sky Atlantic to Sky Go this week, customers will also be able to watch the new Mad Men episodes on an iPad and selected smartphones.

Jon Hamm will direct the third episode of the new season, while his co-star John Slatterywill also direct several instalments.

Mad Men returns to the UK on Tuesday, March 27 at 9pm on Sky Atlantic.

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AWARDED the sexiest woman of the year title in 2010 by Esquire magazine and playing one of the most popular characters in US TV series Mad Men, Christina Hendricks clearly takes pride in her work. Just don’t expect her to be the same if you go round for tea.

The 36-year-old reveals that she’s not at all like feisty character Joan from the hit show about a Sixties ad agency in New York.

“All the mannerisms, the way that I become Joan – my voice changes a little bit, the walk changes a little bit and the way I use my handshake changes a little bit so it just happens when I go to work,” she says.

“I’m not like that at home. I get asked so much about the walk but it’s not me.”

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“You know, I always go back to Season 1, and I think it must be because it was all so new and fresh. There are so many wonderful episodes, but one of my favorite Joan episodes would be ‘Babylon‘ in Season 1, which has a lot of the relationship with Roger and he gives her the birdcage. And I really like the image of the girls putting on the lipstick and the guys on the opposite side … I remember getting that script and saying, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to do this!’ and I still feel that energy when I see that episode.”

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Christina Hendricks attended on January 14th the Mad Men cocktail reception that happened after the TCA winter press tour.

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[003] Public Appearances > 2012 > January 14: TCA Winter Press Tour – Cocktail Reception

Dapper Don Draper seemed unfazed by the flash bulbs popping mere inches away from his face while, a heartbeat away, Peggy Olson, resplendent in an ankle-length silver cocktail dress, smiled a smile so bright it lit up everyone around her.

All around, ice clinked in glasses in the stiff chill of a January evening in Southern California. Betty Draper appeared briefly, a thin smile flashing across her face, and then she left just as quickly. Nearby, Roger Sterling and Joan Harris held court, surrounded by eager listeners. The sound of civilized conversation swirled against a backdrop of mojitos and rum, and for a moment there, it was possible to imagine one had stepped back in time, to Hollywood’s classic age when Andy Williams serenaded listeners on AM radio with Can’t Get Used to Losing You, Bobby Darin sang You’re the Reason I’m Living and Eydie Gorme chose to Blame It on the Bossa Nova.

Except of course that this was 2012, not 1963, and that was not Don Draper but rather Jon Hamm, the man who plays Draper on TV in Mad Men. A small banner unfurled across the Viennese Terrace of Pasadena’s Langham Huntington Hotel proclaimed “Envy is back March 25,” with the “envy” and “March” in orange and “back” and “25” in black. Just feet away from Hamm, Elisabeth Moss could not stop smiling: The 29-year-old Emmy nominee was like a teenager again, her voice bubbling over in a frenzy of words while, nearby, John Slattery (who plays Roger) and Christina Hendricks (who plays Joan) held court with a kind of old-world sophistication.

Matthew “Matt” Weiner, Mad Men’s creator, executive producer and head writer, has a reputation for being a controlling and stern taskmaster but on this night he was visibly relaxed — humble even — as he worked the crowd, sparing time for a visiting reporter from Canada.

“I never thought we’d go past the pilot,” Weiner said, in a moment of quiet reflection. “The idea that we’re finishing season five in 48 hours is just . . . it blows my mind. It blows my mind that people know what it is. So, for me, I just want to keep it entertaining, keep it fresh. We’re all pushing ourselves. These incredible actors. I’ve watched this little girl grow up. I’ve watched a lot of my cast grow up. I was bald when I met them, and I’m still bald now, so nothing happened to me — but that’s really where it is. I feel blessed.” Continue reading »

Thanks to a very generous (and anonymous) Secret Santa, I’ve just added in the gallery screencaps from 4 “Mad Men” episodes back on season 2. Enjoy!

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[069] Mad Men > Season Two > Screencaps > 2×06 – “Maidenform”
[115] Mad Men > Season Two > Screencaps > 2×07 – “The Gold Violin”
[276] Mad Men > Season Two > Screencaps > 2×08 – “A Night to Remember”
[058] Mad Men > Season Two > Screencaps > 2×09 – “Six Month Leave”

Mad Men‘s famously spoiler-averse creator is breaking his silence about the plot of the show’s long-delayed fifth season.

“A couple of [themes] have emerged as we have gone on, one of them [being] ‘It’s every man for himself,’” Matthew Weiner said at a cocktail reception held Saturday at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour. “There’s a line in the third episode where somebody says, ‘When is everything going to get back to normal?’

“There’s a feeling of being in the midst of change,” Weiner added. “I love that feeling of, ‘Right when I think I’m on top of something, right when I think that I have some wisdom from life experience, you just sort of feel things slip away.’ And there’s this sensation, which I think people have right now — I know I do — [that] there is just so much change going on. I write from what I’m feeling, and I have this feeling right now of like, ‘Enough already! Let’s just get our feet on the ground and go back to the way it was.’ I don’t know if anybody else identifies with that, but that’s a big part of the season. Just trying to hold on.”

Weiner also revealed that the two-hour opener, airing Sunday, March 25, is not two individual installments sandwiched together but rather one super-sized episode. “As I started writing [the premiere], it started spreading and spreading and spreading…,” he said. “I was like, ‘There is too much story. I could either cut this thing down, or I think I have a Mad Men movie here.’ I had a great team helping me develop this story and we just sort of went for it. And the network was excited. I was like, ‘We’ve been gone for so long, let’s give [fans] a big Mad Men movie to start the season.”

One detail Weiner refused to part with was how how much time had lapsed between seasons. “I can’t tell you when it picks up,” he said. “You’ll have to watch.”

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The PaleyFest’s annual TV series panels kick off March 2 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills with FX’s American Horror Story. Highlights include a Mad Men session on March 13, just more than a week before the AMC series returns for the start of its long-in-the-works Season 5.

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Get your DVRs ready: Jon Hamm has confirmed that Mad Men will return on March 25! The AMC drama has been on hiatus since the Summer of 2010, but now Season 5 is just mere months away.

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