PARIS (AFP) - Two of the key people behind Mad Men are working on a crime television series set in 19th-century Paris, their producers said on Tuesday.

Andre and Maria Jacquemetton, who either wrote or executive-produced the bulk of the multi-Emmy Award-winning series set in a New York advertising agency, are the brains behind the new series called The Apaches.

Nicolas Coppermann of EndemolShine France told AFP that the series, which will be shot in English, is a cross between Martin Scorsese's Gangs Of New York (2002) and Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge (2001).

The action is set against the backdrop of the Belle Epoque, when the French capital was terrorised by gangs of dandyish gangsters called "The Apaches". Women played a prominent role in some of the gangs, further scandalising polite society.

"We are developing The Apaches as an ambitious original series of eight or 10 episodes," Coppermann said.

He said that the Jacquemettons, a husband and wife team, were "passionate about this period of history" and had already begun scripting episodes.

He said no date has yet been fixed for when shooting will begin.