I put off renting 'Deadwood' for ages as I'm not a particularly huge fan of westerns, but I have to admit this is easily one of the best TV shows in the past 10 years. Not unlike other HBO shows such as 'Carnivale', 'The Sopranos' and 'Big Love' it's not so much the overall theme but the engrossing characters which hooks you into the series. Be warned though, 'Deadwood' is a series which fully deserves its 18 certificate, if you're easily offended by bad language especially the "C word" then you're better off giving this a miss. If however you're not easily offended and enjoy well crafted TV drama with superb character development, then 'Deadwood' is unmissable.
For women, you need to get half way through the first episode before you're hooked by the excellent character development; I imagine men will get hooked from the start --- great Western shoot 'em ups, etc. but with a lot better acting than is normally seen. I found the fact that this is based on historical events -- Deadwood existed as an outpost on Indian land, and therefore exempt from U.S. law -- makes the whole thing hold together in a very realistic manner and never a moment is it boring.
The mood in Albert square darkens when a rival Publican opens a more upmarket establishment to rival the Vic.