James R | On 02, Jul 2020

Amazon has snapped up the streaming rights to Mad Men, following its departure from Netflix.

The AMC series, which was one of the first TV shows in the current era of prestige drama, remains a jewel in the crown for any broadcaster, thanks to its many awards and starry cast – including Jon Hamm, January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser, Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Aaron Staton and Kiernan Shipka.

The series explores the glamorous and ego-driven “Golden Age” of advertising, where everyone is selling something and nothing is ever what it seems. And no one plays the game better than Don Draper (Hamm), Madison Avenue’s biggest ad man – and ladies’ man – in the business.

From Friday 3rd July, all 92 episodes of the period drama will be available to stream with Amazon Prime in the UK, Europe, Australia, Latin America and other territories. In the US, meanwhile, Amazon’s IMDb has also bagged the TV show, where it will be the free streaming home.

The acquisition comes after its departure from Netflix, which paid a reported $1 million per episode for the rights in 2011 and led Lionsgate TV to shop the show around to other broadcasters and streamers. It also arrives as the show is back in the news following the decision not to remove an episode from Season 3 (My Old Kentucky Home) in which character Roger Sterling appears in blackface at a party.

This title card will appear before the episode from now on across all platforms: “This episode contains disturbing images related to race in America. One of the characters is shown in blackface as part of an episode that shows how commonplace racism was in America in 1963. In its reliance on historical authenticity, the series producers are committed to exposing the injustices and inequities within our society that continue to this day so we can examine even the most painful parts of our history in order to reflect on who we are today and who we want to become. We are therefore presenting the original episode in its entirety.”

Mad Men: Season 1 to 7 is available to watch online on Amazon Prime Video as part of a Prime membership or a £5.99 monthly subscription.

 

Add to Watchlist