Mad Men, the sexy, stylised, provocative and multi award-winning drama delving into the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Sixties advertising agency Sterling Cooper, in the third series – and secrets and revelations rock the lives of the characters.

Lane Pryce and his secretary John Hooker from the parent British office of Sterling Cooper are introduced to clean up. Don has an ominous daydream about two women giving birth, while warming milk for his pregnant wife.

Everyone in the office is apprehensive as job cuts have started again, so when Pete is called to Lane's office he is surprised to discover that he has been promoted. But Lane is playing a secretive game to test the men and so appoints Ken to the same position. When the two find out Ken wants to work together but Pete shows that he is game for the competition.

Meanwhile, Don and Sal are sent to visit a nervous client, raincoat makers London Fog, in Baltimore. Posing as "Bill" and "Sam", the two are invited to dinner by a flirtatious air stewardess. Don proves that he hasn't changed despite his heavily pregnant wife. Later, Don catches Sal in a compromising position.

Back in the office, John Hooker becomes frustrated with his position in the female-dominated world of the secretarial pool.

Mad Men cast

Jared Harris plays Lane Pryce, Ryan Cartwright plays John Hooker, Jon Hamm plays Don Draper, Vincent Kantheiser plays Pete Campbell, Elizabeth Moss plays Margaret “Peggy” Olson, January Jones plays Elizabeth Draper, Chistina Hendricks plays Joan Harris, John Slattery plays Roger Sterling, Aaron Staton plays Ken Cosgrove and Bryan Batt plays Salvatore Romano.

Series two

In the second series, the Mad Men continue to blur the lines between good and bad, perception and reality. The world is moving in a new direction, can Sterling Cooper keep up?

Meanwhile the private life of Don Draper becomes complicated in a new way. What is the cost of his secret identity?

Series One

Series one revealed uber ad man Don Draper's secret identity. Far from being the stereotypical war hero and upstanding American, Don is Dick Whitman, the son of a prostitute with a drunken and abusive father.

Sterling Cooper's super-efficient secretary Peggy is also hiding a dark secret – she has given birth to Machiavellian account director Pete's baby.

At the finale of series one, the cracks in the Draper marriage really start to show when Betty plans a family Thanksgiving trip which Don refuses to go on. Taking control for once, Betty takes the children anyway leaving Don feeling very alone.

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US import Mad Men starring Jon Hamm

The hard-drinking, smoking and womanising life of John Draper Madison Avenue ad man

Starring Jon Hamm, Jared Harris, Ryan Cartright, Vincent Kantheiser, Elizabeth Moss, January Jones and Christina Hendricks.

Photograph of the cast of Mad Men including Jon Hamm (Don Draper)