Mad Dogs (British TV series)

Mad Dogs
Blu-ray cover art of the series.
Genre	Drama
Created by	Cris Cole
Written by	Cris Cole
Directed by	Adrian Shergold James Hawes
Starring	Max Beesley Philip Glenister John Simm Marc Warren Ben Chaplin
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	14 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Elaine Pyke Andy Harries Suzanne Mackie Max Beesley Philip Glenister John Simm Marc Warren
Producer	Spencer Campbell
Production locations	Majorca, Spain (series 1–2) Cape Town, South Africa (Series 3–4)
Running time	40-45 minutes
Production companies	Left Bank Pictures Palma Pictures
Original release
Network	Sky1
Release	10 February 2011 (2011-02-10) – 29 December 2013 (2013-12-29)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Mad Dogs is a British psychological thriller television series, written and created by Cris Cole, that began airing on Sky1 on 10 February 2011, and ended on 29 December 2013 after four series and 14 episodes. It is produced by Left Bank Pictures, and co-produced by Palma Pictures. The series stars John Simm, Marc Warren, Max Beesley, and Philip Glenister as four long-time and middle-aged friends getting together in a villa in Majorca to celebrate the early retirement of their friend Alvo (Ben Chaplin). After Alvo is murdered, the group find themselves caught up in the world of crime and police corruption.

After gaining interest from some terrestrial networks, the series was commissioned by British Sky Broadcasting. Filming took place on location throughout the island of Majorca in May 2010, and took around four million euros and 44 days to make. The main themes are friendship and growing older; Glenister said it is about ageing and "getting closer to death". Photographer David LaChapelle directed three 30-second advertisements for the series. Mad Dogs opened with 1.61 million viewers, the 17th highest rated programme ever for Sky1, and attracted positive reactions from critics. They noted similarities with British gangster films, more predominantly the 2000 film Sexy Beast.