Breathless

Episode two
Despite the attention to period detail, voluptuous curves clearly modelled on Joan Holloway’s and manly swaggers reminiscent of the creative team’s boys’ club, this ’60s drama set in the busy gynaecology unit of a London hospital is slowly developing a narrative that’s a long way from Madison Avenue – not least through a growing cast of characters and complex narrative strands that will demand you keep your wits about you if you plan to stay on top of the increasingly unrealistic plot developments.

Charismatic Dr Powell (Jack Davenport, on characteristically louche form) is still central to the action, and issues such as abortion, impotence, infidelity and appallingly patronising attitudes to women on the part of bullying doctors are still clearly part of the agenda, but blackmail, unlikely connections stretching back decades and a seeming obsession with doctors having affairs threaten to set the drama on a narrative path that’s both far-fetched and mundane. Nice frocks though, and mid-century modern fans will have lots of fun looking for production design bloopers.