So Mad Men’s upcoming sixth season got its very own promotional poster last week, and wouldn't you know it Don Draper's (Jon Hamm) smouldering face looks just as good in pastels as it does in HD.

Anyway, it has been nine long months since 'The Phantom' brought season five to a close, and the current lack of Mad Men has reduced us to a festering blob of anxiety and impatience, sustaining itself with delusional statements such as “Homeland is still great television" and "Love/Hate is just as good as any American show" in a bid to stave off evaporation that little bit longer. *Ahem* Sorry about that.


Let’s look forward to Mad Men's return, and hope that it will help us become whole again. Until then, we've got some burning questions that need answering.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

1. Has Don fallen off the wagon?
Don's shock proposal to his secretary Megan (Jessica Paré) at the end of season four could have killed the show, according to some apoplectic fans, but season five saw our favourite identity thief on his best behaviour and pretty successfully building a marriage and a life with his toothy French-Canadian bride. However, an ill-fated upstate holiday in the brilliant, time-shifting 'Far Away Places' saw the Draper-Calvet union showing signs of strain, strain that would only be exerted upon as the season wore on. 'The Phantom' ended with a disillusioned Draper at a dimly-lit bar, and a young blonde asking him: "Are you alone?" Don's never been one to turn down a pretty young thing, so the subsequent fade-to-black left little to the imagination, but the question remains: did he cheat on Megan? And if so, was it a one-time transgression, or will season six see Draper's second marriage going the way of his first?

2. How's Peggy doing?
The season five finale also gave us our first glimpse of Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) in her new job - and rocking some serious shoulder pads no less. And while it pains us to know that Ms Olson won't be slinking around Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's fluorescent halls this year, her unholy alliance with Teddy Chaough is no doubt a great move for her, professionally. Moving away from Don's gravitational pull may have been in her best interest, but will the decision cut into her screen-time? It might do; just look at Betty post-divorce: she shows up every so often to shout at Sally, and her one storyline last year amounted to January Jones in a hilarious fat-suit to offset her real-life pregnancy. Will Peggy and Chaough become a sharper thorn in Don's side, or will her new-found sense of authority allow Don to treat her as some sort of confidant rather than a punching bag? God knows he needs a shrink more than anyone. Hopefully Peggy isn't shunted off to the side-lines or giving any more hand jobs to random cinema-goers, but time will tell.

3. Does Roger have a full-blown LSD addiction? Is that even a thing?
Oh, Roger. The silver fox has had his dizzying highs and crushing lows, but he's survived it all. Season five ended with Roger (John Slattery) high on LSD and looking out over Manhattan from his window, completely starkers. So with his professional relevance in constant jeopardy, two divorces under his belt, and Joan, the love of his life, spurning his advances, what has Sterling left to live for except the rush (and hallucinations) that come with his growing taste for acid? Maybe he'll clean up his act and happen upon a new lease of life, or maybe Pete will continue to push him out the door of his own company. Either way, it's going to be a long year for Roger. And if it all gets too much, maybe his bottle of vodka can blare out some Russian show tunes again - that's always fun!


4. How is Joan coping after, well, everything that happened to her?
No character has had to bear profound sadness like Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) has; SCDP's headmistress is seemingly the butt of a very mean cosmic joke. She perseveres, but happiness never lasts. Not long after she kicked her sleaze of a husband to the curb was she forced to prostitute herself to land a prestigious account, and then poor Lane committed suicide, depriving Joan of her only real friend and doubling her workload in the process. Rest assured she'll be her usual seductive, amazingly competent self soon enough, but trouble is never far away. How much more can she take? And will baby daddy Roger be drafted in to lend a helping hand? If so, sparks will surely fly.

5. Will Pete ever be content?
Peter Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) has it all. He's rich, he's successful, he's married to Alison Brie, i.e. the internet's girlfriend - what more could he want? That's the thing with Pete: he's such a sociopath he doesn't know what he wants or how good he has it. After his fling with Rory Gilmore of all people last season, it could be that he has developed a taste for the extramarital, but he and Trudy have proven to be such a strong, relatively normal couple, that it'd be a shame if Pete became Draper 2.0, especially as the Mad Men have little to no example of what constitutes a normal relationship. Here's hoping Campbell snaps out of it before his wife catches on. Also, it might be time to hit the gym, Pete; you look a little pudgy. Did they even have gyms in the 60s? So many questions.

6. How will Sally's teenage rebellion play out?
One of the greatest pleasures of being a Mad Men fan these past few years has to have been in watching the development of Kiernan Shipka from child actress tasked with shouting "Daddy! Daddy" every few episodes into a gifted, nuanced performer in her own right. Sally is among the show's best characters, and season six promises to be a very turbulent one for Don's eldest. Will she fall in with a counter-cultural crowd or defy the odds and remain on the rails? With parents like Don and Betty, it will be a miracle if she isn't sleeping on her psychiatrist's sofa by the end of the season. Worse yet, she could end up running away with Glen. You couldn't wish that on your worst enemy - there's nothing creepier than a child who watches people when they're on the toilet and then asks them for a lock of their hair.

7. When will it be set?
Season five ended in spring 1967, so how long will the time-jump be this time. Of what use will SCDP's now-existent second floor be? What excuse will be given for Betty's dramatic weight loss? Will Megan sing again? Will Harry keep it in his damn pants? What's Sal up to these days? Will the company still be called Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce since, y'know, that thing happened? That's way more than seven questions now, but all will be revealed on April 7th. 

Words: George Morahan