Preview: Boardwalk Empire

EVIDENCE that power is an aphrodisiac is to be found in Boardwalk Empire, HBO's new $65 million gangster drama, in which Steve Buscemi – a fine actor, but a man who more closely resembles a Hallowe'en turnip with hair – enjoys vigorous bouts of energetic sex with the nubile Lucy Danziger, played by Paz de la Huerta.

Buscemi plays Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, the corrupt county treasurer who rules prohibition-era Atlantic City from the penthouse suite of the Ritz-Carlton hotel. "Nucky"? It should be "nookie" and by episode five he's even having his way with our own Kelly Macdonald, who plays Margaret Schroeder, an Irish immigrant and leading light of the Women's Temperance movement whose abusive husband Nucky has kindly had whacked.

Television rarely gets more lavish than this ten-part series, which will debut on Tuesday on Sky Atlantic, the company's heavily hyped new channel dedicated to displaying all the TV booty it has bought up as part of an exclusive five-year deal with HBO. The deal will also see Mad Men migrate from the BBC to the satellite channel for the next round of martinis in season five.

The genesis of the drama was the book, Boardwalk Empire, a history of Atlantic City from its foundation in the 19th century to the present day, written by Nelson Johnson, a Superior Court judge in New Jersey.

It had originally been optioned by actor Mark Wahlberg, who was developing it with HBO. Terence Winter, a senior writer on the show, was passed the book and asked if he could find a series within its chapters. At first he was drawn to the 1950s and the era of the Rat Pack, but eventually he settled on Prohibition and the rule of Enoch Johnson, who, between 1911 and 1941, controlled all illicit business in the city from the Ritz-Carlton, where he had his own floor. He rose each day at 3pm and travelled around town in a Rolls-Royce, while never paying tax on anything more than $5,000. He once said: "We have whisky, wine, women, song and slot machines. I won't deny it, and I won't apologise for it. If the majority of the people didn't want them, they wouldn't be profitable."

When Winter talked his ideas through with Martin Scorsese, who was attached as an executive producer, the director revealed this was something he might like to direct. Winter said: "Tell HBO and, trust me, it will happen."

The attraction for both writer and director was to portray the birth of the new America, which formed during the 13 years in which it was illegal to sell and consume alcohol. The federal government went to war against corrupt states whose politicians flourished alongside organised crime. Al Capone, Arnold Rothstein and Lucky Luciano are all prominent characters who run through the drama, which also focuses on the increasing political power of women as they achieve the vote. As Winter said: "I've always loved the way people talked in the 20s, and the clothes, the cars. It was such a transitional period. The world was changing so much. And in some ways it was a very modern time. This was almost 100 years ago, but they had planes, telephones, people went to the movies all the time."

They also paid 25 cents to peer in at premature babies in the new-fangled incubators that were a popular attraction on Atlantic City's boardwalk, which was lovingly recreated at a cost of $5m as the drama's principal set. From 78 recordings of Al Jolson, who sings Avalon in the first episode, to the sherbet-coloured high-collared shirts and perfectly tailored suits worn by Buscemi, to the books read by the characters (Henry James, Sinclair Lewis), accuracy and historical details have been a prime concern. As Winter said: "If you're going to do this kind of thing, the little details are important. Thank God for HBO. They let you tell intelligent stories in a slow, careful way. You can let them breathe."

A cinematic frame of reference for Boardwalk Empire is Sergio Leone's masterpiece, Once Upon A Time In America, and, frankly, it is diminished by comparison. Personally, I'm not yet sure, despite the rave reviews pinging over the Atlantic that Boardwalk Empire is as good as Deadwood (HBO's western series that illustrated the birth of the nation's business empire), but it's still a fine drama. The poorer characters may have been drinking swiftly distilled hooch, but Broadwalk Empire has been aged in an oak cask. It is a slick display of careful fermentation and goes down, episode after episode, ever so smoothly.

Boardwalk Empire begins on Sky Atlantic HD on Tuesday at 9pm

• This article was first published in the Scotland on Sunday on January 30, 2011