Do we like them?

Do we like Don Draper?

A character from Mad Men (2007–2015)

Our score: 4 out of 10. A genius at his job who can be generous and perceptive. He's also a liar and a cheat, and he hurts the people closest to him. We'd admire his pitches and keep our distance.

Mad Men opens in 1960 and follows the staff of the Sterling Cooper advertising agency in New York. Don Draper is its star: handsome, confident and brilliant at selling people on what they want. He has a nice house in the suburbs, a beautiful wife and two kids. He also keeps secrets, and a deep sense of emptiness sits behind the polish.

Don is a man who sells the idea of identity but has no settled identity of his own. His life rests on a stolen name and a hidden past, and he spends years running from them. That hurts the people around him, and his marriage and his work both suffer for it.

Our score reflects that split. At work he is inspired, and he gives some colleagues, Peggy above all, room to grow. At home and in love he repeats the same self-destructive habits. The show's own lesson is that actions have consequences, and Don collects plenty. He's fascinating and sometimes sympathetic, but we wouldn't call him a man to follow.