Mad Men’s Aaron Staton on shifting era for BBC drama My Mother And Other Strangers

Aaron Staton as Captain Ronald Dreyfuss (Stefan Hill / BBC)

MAD MEN star Aaron Staton is spending his working life in the past.

The smash hit series, set around a 1960s New York advertising agency, ran for seven series until last year.

Now US actor Aaron, who played ad man Ken Cosgrove, has moved on to another era, the ’40s, in the BBC’s Sunday night serial My Mother And Other Strangers.

And he reckons he can see a real connection.

“Working on a show that took place in the ’60s was fascinating as regards to how much things have changed while staying the same,” says Aaron.

“This is a different period of time in a very different place, but what makes people tick, what drives them, is the same whether it’s love, fear or whatever.

“These things are the same. This is a story with so many people in it, so many strangers, but you feel like you have known them.”

My Mother and Other Strangers (BBC /Stefan Hill)

The similarities of human reactions wasn’t the only thing that struck Aaron about the Second World War drama that looks at the impact of a huge influx of American service personnel into a rural Irish community.

“My grandfather fought in World War Two, I think a lot of Americans have a relative who fought,” says Aaron.

“They are called the greatest generation. To be honest, I take privilege in representing a time in history that everyone’s pretty clear on, but it’s also fascinating and interesting.”

West Virginia-born Aaron, who has three children with actress wife Connie Fletcher, admits that, like the wartime Americans, he took a little settling in.

“At first I felt self-conscious of speaking because obviously I have an American accent and people recognise it immediately,” he adds.

“But people were just so kind.”

My Mother And Other Strangers, Sunday, BBC1, 9pm