It’s a Mad world (From The Northern Echo)

It’s a Mad world

11:30am Tuesday 2nd March 2010 in

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Mad Men (BBC2, 11.20pm); One Born Every Minute (C4, 9pm); Paws, Claws and Videotape (BBC4, 9pm)

THE US import Mad Men takes us back to a time when smoking and drinking were as much a part of the working day as doing some actual work – at least, if you were a New York ad man.

The series has done a good job of showing us some of the more widespread vices of that time, and the impact they have on the characters.

The Sixties-based drama has avoided becoming too familiar by bringing us a slight change of scenery and adding some new characters to the mix for this third season.

In fact, the only thing wrong with this excellent show is that it has been placed in such a late timeslot.

Elisabeth Moss, who plays Peggy Olson, says it took a little while for Mad Men’s success to sink in.

“It was the Golden Globes – that was pretty big, like, ‘oh, wow people are paying attention.’ We weren’t surprised that people were enjoying it, because we thought it was good, but we still had this idea that we were the only people that knew about it, that it was just this really small little show.

“Then, all of a sudden, when it won the Golden Globe, you’ve never seen a group of more shocked people. We were literally floored. I think that really opened up our eyes.”

Since that first Golden Globes success, Mad Men has gone on to win the award for Best Television Drama Series twice more, as well as picking up numerous other accolades including a Bafta and a range of Emmy Awards.

In the first of tonight’s double-bill on BBC2, Betty’s father Gene, with his health failing, tries to get her to discuss his funeral arrangements, but she refuses to even consider the topic. Unfortunately, the decision may be taken out of her hands as she later receives some more bad news.

Peggy also has parental problems after incurring the wrath of her mother when she reveals she is to move to Manhattan, and sets out in search of a roommate.

THERE really is One Born Every Minute in Britain. A baby, that is.

And this fly-on-the-wall documentary series takes a close-up look at it all, by following life in a busy maternity hospital.

Cameras film everything, from the reception desk to the neo-natal ward and the birthing pool, giving viewers a glimpse of the emotional moments surrounding childbirth.

In this episode, Kelly comes in to have her fifth baby, while Joy is still waiting to have her first. Kelly has never had trouble in labour, with her last baby delivered three minutes after her waters broke.

Joy, on the other hand, has had to undergo five years of IVF treatment and after spending days waiting in the hospital there is still no sign of her baby putting in an appearance just yet.

NEVER work with children and animals, the old saying goes. However, comedian Hugh Dennis has never been the sort of bloke to play it safe.

He helped turn kid-centric sitcom Outnumbered into one of the best comedies of recent years and now he’s fronting Paws, Claws And Videotape, which should please pet lovers.

He takes a break from Mock The Week duties to meet the human co-stars of the animal kingdom’s most popular entertainers.

He discovers what it was like to work with Flipper, Skippy, Lassie and Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion, of Daktari fame.

They may have been sent up countless number of times over the years, but those shows are still loved by millions, with the animal stars usually eclipsing their human co-stars.