Series 1 can be annoying, infuriating even as it repeatedly flips between different decades. It's difficult to keep up and it's over long so you'll probably be tempted to give up on it, like I was. But my advice is stick with it because then you'll know the background to the main characters and you'll be rewarded by Series 2, which is quite simply one of the best programs shown on TV for a very long time. Thankfully there's no decade flipping, it's all sequential, so it is a lot more to my taste.
So could you skip S1 and go straight to S2? Yes possibly if you really can't endure S1, then it is an option.
So could you skip S1 and go straight to S2? Yes possibly if you really can't endure S1, then it is an option.