Green Wing
| Green Wing | |
|---|---|
| File:Green Wing - Logo.jpg The Green Wing logo. | |
| Created by | Victoria Pile |
| Starring | Tamsin Greig Stephen Mangan Julian Rhind-Tutt Mark Heap Pippa Haywood Karl Theobald Michelle Gomez Oliver Chris |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. of episodes | 18 |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 50-55 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | 2004 – present |
Green Wing is an award winning British television comedy, set in a hospital. It was created by the same team as the sketch show Smack the Pony.
Although set in East Hampton Hospital Trust (and actually filmed at two real hospitals, Northwick Park Hospital in Middlesex and Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke), there are few medical storylines; most of the action is in fact generated by soap opera/Commedia dell'arte style twists and turns in the personal lives of the characters.
At sixty minutes including advertisement time, the episodes are unusually long for a British comedy series (normally thirty). They proceed through a series of often absurd sketch-like scenes connected by lazzi or sped-up/slowed-down motion, which often emphasises the body language of the characters. The show has eight writers and several main characters.
The first series consisted of nine episodes made by talkbackTHAMES production company, was broadcast by Channel 4 on Friday nights between September 3 and October 29, 2004. It subsequently ran (modified for content and running time to eliminate sexually suggestive material and language and allow additional advertising) on BBC America between 19 May and 14 July 2005. A special was made for Comic Relief 2005.
A second series of eight episodes started on Friday 31 March 2006 and finished on 19 May, the DVD for the first series having been released on 3 April. A ninth episode was filmed with the second series, which will be shown as a Christmas special later in the year [1].
The cast, crew and writers of Green Wing have shown no interest in creating a third series because of scheduling difficulties due to new projects being undertaken by the creators. [2].
Situation and plot
Template:Spoiler Tamsin Greig (pronounced 'Greg') plays surgical registrar Dr. Caroline Todd, a newcomer to the East Hampton Hospital Trust. Her colleagues include smarmy Swiss-born anaesthetist Guy Secretan (Stephen Mangan), high-flying and effortlessly cool surgeon Dr. "Mac" Macartney (Julian Rhind-Tutt), hapless junior doctor Martin Dear (Karl Theobald) and the irritatingly perfect Dr Angela Hunter (Sarah Alexander).
Director of human resources Joanna Clore (Pippa Haywood) is carrying on an affair with pompous consultant radiologist Dr. Alan Statham (Mark Heap), which they persist in thinking is secret despite the fact that most hospital colleagues know about it. Oliver Chris plays Statham's student Boyce, whose failure to conceal his contempt for Statham progressively turns into outright bullying. Meanwhile, Joanna secretly adores IT specialist Lyndon (Paterson Joseph), although he can't stand her.
Joanna's team of human resources assistants (notably Olivia Colman as forgetful mother-of-four Harriet) also feature, along with Michelle Gomez as possibly the show's most absurd character, the sociopathic staff liaison Sue White. Lucinda Raikes plays Karen Ball, a worker in the admin office who is also Martin Dear's deeply shy and insecure secret admirer, who suffers under the bullying of fellow co-workers Naughty Rachel (Katie Lyons) and Kim Alabaster (Sally Bretton).
The first series features Caroline toying between Guy and Mac as to whom she really loves, with a envious Sue trying to stop any romance happening with Mac. Alan and Joanna's relationship deterioates as she attempts to go after Lyndon, while she also tries to keep quiet the fact that Martin is her son. Jealous of Joanna's lust for Lyndon, Alan temporarily turns to religion to find comfort, in the shape of chaplain Cordelia (Saskia Wickham), while Mac eventually finds a girlfriend in the shape of posh Emmy (Daisy Haggard). The series ends with Caroline and Mac finally realising they are meant to be together, and Guy finding out Joanna (whom he just slept with) is actually his mother as well as Martin's. This leads to a drunken rampage which leaves Guy, Mac and Martin trapped inside a precarious stolen ambulance in a literal cliffhanger ending.
Series two picks up several weeks later with Mac in a coma after the accident, and Guy temporarily suspended. During his coma, Sue steals some of Mac's semen to attempt to impregnate herself. After Mac awakens, he is initially unable to remember his feelings for Caroline due to amnesia. Angela leaves the hospital to start a career in television, and Guy moves in as Caroline's replacement lodger. The arrival of Mac's ex-girlfriend Holly Hawkes (Sally Phillips) and her son puts Mac and Caroline's relationship again in jeopardy, as Guy realises he too has fallen in love with her. Harriet has an affair with Lyndon, while Karen and Martin briefly date. Joanna scares Alan by dressing her dwarf cousin up as a monster, though the plan backfires when Alan beats him to death in panic with a stuffed heron. The series ends with another cliffhanger, as Joanna and Alan go on the run in a camper van, while Caroline agrees to a proposal from Guy and Mac recieves some very grave news.
Green Wing was nominated for three Bafta awards in 2004 (the April 2005 ceremony): Tamsin Greig for best comedy performance (Matt Lucas and David Walliams of Little Britain won); best situation comedy (Black Books, also starring Tamsin Greig, won); and the audience award, voted for by viewers, which it won.
The writers and crew
Green Wing was created and devised by Victoria Pile, who is also the casting director, one of the writers, the producer (with Peter Fincham as executive producer) and is involved in the editing, filming and post-production. She is also the creator of the all-woman sketch show Smack the Pony, noted for its unique style of women writing their own sketches, and showing they could be self-deprecating and sexy. Both "Smack The Pony" and Green Wing are known for being very surreal, which is somewhat increasingly common in British comedy.
Victoria Pile also describes Green Wing as being a continuation of Smack the Pony, and as "a sketch-meets-comedy-drama-meets-soap"[1]. She originally wanted the show to cover the entire hospital, not just doctors but "porters and car park attendants and kitchen staff as well", but eventually decided that they had enough material with the eight main doctors and human resources workers.
The show has eight writers, each of whom had previously worked on Smack the Pony. They are Victoria Pile, Robert Harley, Gary Howe, Stuart Kenworthy, Oriane Messina, Richard Preddy, Fay Rusling and James Henry. Although each script is fully written, the actors are allowed to improvise and create their own jokes, frequently adding to what has already been written. Rusling, Howe, Messina and Harley all have had speaking parts in the show, most notably Harley playing Charles the hospital's CEO.
The show is directed by Tristram Shapeero and Dominic Brigstocke, who also directed Smack the Pony. Along with Victoria Pile, they contribute to the editing, which is used heavily in Green Wing. Sketches are sped-up or slowed-down to create comic effect, using body language to create humour.
The other notable member of the crew is Jonathan Whitehead, who wrote the music for the show (under the name Trellis), which plays heavily in the show. His work won him an RTS Craft & Design Award (See Awards). He has also written music for Smack the Pony.
Characters
Main characters
- Dr. Caroline Todd (Tamsin Greig) - The new and undervalued surgical registrar. When Caroline arrives at the hospital in the first episode, she is homeless, hopeless, hapless, and "under-deodorised". She is constantly embarrassing everyone around her, and most of the time embarrasses herself, sometimes by her fellow staff, but mostly by her own stupidity or bad luck. From making rude remarks to her co-workers when talking about sexism, to accidentally getting a pen-top stuck up her nose, there is not one thing Caroline has not done wrong at some point.
- Dr. Guillaume Valerie "Guy" Secretan (Stephen Mangan) - Arrogant, womanising and part Swiss, anaesthetist Guy is always on the look-out for a woman who might like him as much as he likes himself. Constantly talking about the members of staff he has done it with, he even spreads rumours that he slept with Caroline after her first day at work, and keeps league tables of the hospital's female staff (Caroline scoring nine for easiness).
- Dr. "Mac" Macartney (Julian Rhind-Tutt) - The ever cool and professional surgeon. Not much is known about his background - even his first name is a mystery. He has been having problems recently due to his former girlfriend Holly getting married to another man and having a baby, but more trouble lies just around the corner. He is one of the friendlier members of staff, even helping out junior doctor Martin Dear, but Alan sees him as little more than a pain. His humour comes from his witty remarks, use of puns, subtle pranks, jokes and sarcasm, and his patronisation of Dr. Alan Statham.
- Dr. Alan Rodrick Statham (Mark Heap) - Consultant radiologist and one of the oddest people working in East Hampton. Very kinky, stuttering and constantly m