Inside Television: Where to next for Don Draper and the rest of the Mad Men cast?
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Your support makes all the difference.Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner has always taken a sidelong approach to the real events happening around the time the drama is set – he doesn't believe that history impinges on day-to-day lives. When I interviewed him recently, he maintained his traditional omerta as to plot developments of the final, forthcoming seventh season, although we did discuss two specific events from 1969: the Charles Manson killings and Woodstock.
I can see Sally Draper, Don's daughter, going to Woodstock. And I have long had an uneasy feeling about Megan, Don's film actress wife who is now living in the Hollywood hills – possibly within screaming distance of the Sharon Tate compound...
What else happened in 1969? Well, there was the first Apollo moon landing, which Don will no doubt watch on his new colour TV. And who knows? Perhaps Don's destiny is to turn into a television showrunner like Weiner. It's a plausible career move. Next stop Love Boat?
Good goings-on behind the scenes
As a visitor to many television shoots I don't need Lenny Henry to tell me that – actors apart – black people are almost entirely absent from the filming process. While Henry lobbies culture minister Ed Vaizey, Big Talk Productions are doing it for themselves. With their comedy drama about south London urban musicians, Youngers, Big Talk have instigated an apprentice scheme – attaching five young black people from Southwark (where Youngers is filmed) to the art, camera and costume departments. The hope is that the apprentices will form a good relationship with the heads of department and follow them from job to job.
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