Jack Davenport
Zoe Boyle
Catherine Steadman
Iain Glen
Natasha Little
Oliver Chirs
Joanna Page
Shaun Dingwall

Created by:
Paul Unwin
Peter Grimsdale

2014 (U.S.)
Drama
PBS
TV-14

ITV’s “Breathless,” presented by Masterpiece Mystery! in the U.S., isn’t really a mystery. It’s absolutely not what you would expect from a typical mystery series; this isn’t a whodunit. Instead, it’s a drama series with characters who have secrets. They should call this Masterpiece Secrets! instead.

Really, this is a polished soap opera. The colors are clean and clear. The shots are well-planned. The plot zips from one part of the story to another: They don’t spend too long on one story line. So, it looks great, and it moves fast enough to avoid being boring; but is it compelling? Does it have any depth?

Well, based on the first two episodes (presented as one episode by PBS), the answer to those two questions is no. I don’t care about any of these people. However, that doesn’t make “Breathless” a bad show; it’s fine, I guess.

Since “Breathless” is set in the 1960s (it begins in 1961), “Mad Men” comparisons may come to mind. But this show gives its audience some candy with just a hint of substance (a whiff of it), whereas “Mad Men” gives us both the candy and the substance. Actually, the best thing that this series does is show just how special “Mad Men” is.

Even with smart pacing and a credible setup, “Breathless” doesn’t live up to its title. (That setup introduces us to a London hospital and its gynecology staff, along with the societal strictures of the time: Abortions are illegal; the pill is available only to married couples, and so on.) I guess the camera is breathless, and maybe even the characters; but certainly not the audience.

Verdict: Somewhat Good to OK

About: (Source: breathless)

In 1961 London, when abortion was illegal and the Pill a rare commodity, the brilliant, charismatic surgeon Otto Powell (Jack Davenport, Pirates of the Caribbean, Smash) presides over a busy hospital gynecology ward. With a passionate commitment to the women he treats, Powell provides safe and highly illegal abortions in private practice.

But under the shiny veneer of pre-sexual revolution Britain, troubles don’t afflict just the patients. Trapped in a loveless marriage, bound by a dangerous secret, Powell lacks the surgical control that he commands in the operating room when it comes to his passions and his staff. The heady threats of sex and ambition affect doctors and nurses alike in Breathless, where perfect lives are built on lies, and everything depends upon guilty secrets remaining buried.

Starring alongside Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean, Smash) in this stylish story of a dark secret amid the complexities of the sexual revolution 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).