PBS MASTERPIECE to air “Breathless” –  Sundays, August 24 to September 7, 2014. 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET

Learn more about “Breathless” online

BREATHLESS CAST Shown from L-R: Zoe Boyle as Jean Meecher, Oliver Chris as Dr. Richard Truscott, Sarah Parish as Margaret Dalton, Natasha Little as Elizabeth Powell, Jack Davenport as Dr. Otto Powell, Catherine Steadman as Angela Wilson, Iain Glen as Chief Inspector Mulligan, Shaun Dingwall as Dr. Charlie Enderbury, and Ronny Jhutti as Dr. Mehta -- Photo Credit:  Courtesy of (C) ITV Studios for MASTERPIECE

BREATHLESS CAST: L-R: Zoe Boyle as Jean Meecher, Oliver Chris as Dr. Richard Truscott, Sarah Parish as Margaret Dalton, Natasha Little as Elizabeth Powell, Jack Davenport as Dr. Otto Powell, Catherine Steadman as Angela Wilson, Iain Glen as Chief Inspector Mulligan, Shaun Dingwall as Dr. Charlie Enderbury, and Ronny Jhutti as Dr. Mehta — Photo Credit: Courtesy of (C) ITV Studios for MASTERPIECE

For fans of “Call the Midwife,” or “Smash,” this new show on PBS may be just the ticket back to the 60’s. Staring Jack Davenport (the naughty director in  “Smash” as well as  Dr. Lloyd Simcoe in “Flash Forward“) the English actor takes on the role of a London surgeon in 1961.

Said to be a “stylish story of a dark secret amid the complexities of the sexual revolution,” it feels a lot like “Mad Men,” but with English accents. The first episode sets the tone for the series, and it’s not a pretty one.  It’s a man’s world and in the hierarchy of medicine, the Doctor’s posses all the  power. They think nothing of destroying  a life to get their way.

Breathless VS Mad Men

It’s interesting to see the 1960’s London as compared to that of Don Draper’s New York experience. For that alone, it’s worth watching.  Both have illicit affairs, scorned women, as well as marital and money problems, and plenty  more secrets to be kept.

Still, I don’t think “Breathless” will have the cult following of the previous Masterpiece imports like “Downton Abbey,” “Call the Midwife,” and “Foyle’s War.” None of the characters have are standout after the first episode. Perhaps by episode 2 I’ll care about them, but true to the Masterpiece format, it’s only 3 episodes long (though they are 1-1/2 hours long).

Starring alongside Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean) are Zoe Boyle (Downton Abbey), Catherine Steadman (Mansfield Park), Iain Glen (Downton Abbey), Natasha Little (Case Histories), Oliver Chris (Sharpe’s Challenge), Joanna Page (Love Actually), and Shaun Dingwall (Touching Evil).

BREATHLESS Season 1, Episode 1

When the brilliant Dr. Otto Powell takes over a surgery before his junior colleague, Dr. Richard Truscott, botches it, Truscott’s long-simmering resentment is compounded. But the encounter is lost on the powerful surgeon who whisks his striking new nurse Angela off to assist him, against her principles, on a highly illegal procedure: abortion. Incurring her wrath for making her complicit, Otto – trapped in a loveless marriage, bound to his glamorous wife Elizabeth by a dangerous secret – is ablaze with attraction for the young nurse who is determined to resist temptation.

Richard’s marriage to Angela’s sister Jean begins with a wedding day deception; Powell’s oldest friend and possessor of his dark secret, anesthesiologist Charlie Enderbury, desperately depends on Otto’s help; and a chance sighting of Otto by a menacing figure sets in motion the dredging up of an event from the past that will threaten Otto ‘s very existence.

PBS MASTERPIECE to air “Breathless” –  Sundays, August 24 to September 7, 2014. 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET

Learn more about “Breathless” online