MAD MEN’s highly anticipated fifth season to debut exclusively on Sky Atlantic HD on Tuesday 27 March at 9pm

·         The critically acclaimed drama will air on Sky Atlantic HD just two days after AMC’s US premiere

·         Following the addition of Sky Atlantic to Sky Go this week, customers will also be able to watch MAD MEN on the move on iPad and selected smartphones at no extra cost

Sky Atlantic HD today announces that the new, fifth season of the multiple award-winning and critically acclaimed MAD MEN will premiere on the channel just two days after it returns in the US. MAD MEN will begin on Tuesday 27 March at 9pm with a double bill and there will be an unbroken run of all thirteen episodes.

The two time BAFTA® award and four time Golden Globe® award-winning series, which made history last year as the first basic cable series to win Primetime Emmy® Awards for Best Drama for four consecutive years, burst onto the scene  in July 2007 on AMC and quickly became one of the most talked about series on television. Set in 1960s New York, Mad Men follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising. The award-winning ensemble includes Golden Globe® winner Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Jared Harris and Kiernan Shipka and is created, written and executive produced by Matthew Weiner.

Season four saw fledging advertising agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce struggle to stay afloat. Newly divorced creative director Don Draper (Hamm) became an increasingly solitary figure, drinking heavily as he battled with his inner demons. And despite a romance with colleague Dr Faye Miller (Cara Buono) - to whom he revealed his darkest secrets - Don shocked colleagues and viewers alike with an unexpected proposal to his secretary Megan (Jessica Paré). Meanwhile, Peggy (Moss) and Don's bond tightened, and Joan (Hendricks) and Roger (Slattery) reignited their affair, with married Joan falling pregnant.

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

The fifth season opener will be written by Matthew Weiner and directed by Jennifer Getzinger. Leading man Jon Hamm will direct the third episode and series star John Slattery will also take the helm for a couple of upcoming instalments.

MAD MEN returns on Tuesday 27 March at 9pm exclusively to Sky Atlantic HD.