Green Wing

Green Wing
Image:Greenwing.jpg Green Wing title screen
Genre	Sitcom
Creator(s)	Victoria Pile
Starring	Tamsin Greig Stephen Mangan Julian Rhind-Tutt Mark Heap Pippa Haywood Karl Theobald Michelle Gomez Oliver Chris
Theme music composer	Jonathan Whitehead
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	17 (+1 special and 2 shorts)
Production
Producer(s)	Victoria Pile
Executive producer(s)	Peter Fincham
Running time	Approx. 50-55 minutes, Special 90 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Channel 4
Original run	3 September 2004 – 4 January 2007
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Green Wing is an award-winning British television comedy set in a hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony.

Although set in East Hampton Hospital Trust, there are few medical storylines; most of the action is generated by a series of soap opera and Commedia dell'arte-style twists and turns in the personal lives of the characters. They proceed through a series of often absurd sketch-like scenes connected by lazzi, or by sequences where the film is slowed down or sped up, often emphasising the body language of the characters.

The show has eight writers. Two series were made by talkbackTHAMES production company for Channel 4. At sixty minutes including advertisement time, the episodes are twice as long as is usual for a British comedy series.

The series ran between September 3 and October 29, 2004, and between 31 March and 19 May 2006. A ninth episode was filmed with the second series, which was shown as a 90 minute long special on 4 January 2007 UK, but was shown in Australia and Belgium on 29 December 2006.^[1] The dates of transmission shocked lead actress Tamsin Greig, who said in a radio interview, "Channel 4 schedulers, where are they? Do they all live in Australia?"^[2]

Separate from the series, a special sketch was made for Comic Relief and screened on 11 March 2005. Another was performed live at The Secret Policeman's Ball on 14 October 2006.

Episodes are currently being repeated in the UK on Sundays on More4 and can also be rented from 4 on Demand.

Situation and plot

Dr. Caroline Todd (Tamsin Greig) is a surgical registrar and the newest member of staff at the East Hampton Hospital Trust, a seemingly normal NHS hospital, but with staff ranging from the slightly unusual to the completely bizarre. Caroline suffers from constant embarrassment, stumbling from one crisis to the next, mainly in the company of fellow doctors Guy Secretan (Stephen Mangan) and Dr. "Mac" Macartney (Julian Rhind-Tutt).

Guy is a half-Swiss, womanising anaesthetist who has slept with most of the women in the hospital. The only thing he likes as much as himself is probably Guyball, a sport he invented during his troubled years at public school. Mac is the effortlessly cool, charming surgeon, and is rather laid-back, probably explaining why he has never been made a consultant. He was once in a relationship with another doctor, Holly Hawkes, but after six years they broke up due to her having an abortion which he did not approve of. Guy and Mac have a long rivalry, and often play odd games and make stupid bets in order to see who is best. During her time at the hospital, it becomes clear that Caroline may have feelings for them, but she is unsure as to which one.

Other people Caroline meets include Martin Dear (Karl Theobald), a well-meaning house officer who is constantly failing his exams, unloved by his mother and often faces bullying from Guy. Martin soon starts to form feelings for Caroline, and even starts to fall in love with her.

Another member of staff is Angela Hunter (Sarah Alexander), a seemingly perfect and rather irritating senior registrar in paediatrics. Whilst Angela appears to mean well, Caroline cannot stand her, and despite her best efforts to avoid her, she ends up as Caroline's lodger.

Elsewhere in the hospital is Joanna Clore (Pippa Haywood), the 48-year-old head of human resources with an increasingly bitter attitude, especially towards the younger members of her staff. These include Harriet Schulenburg (Olivia Colman), an overworked mother of four trapped in an unhappy marriage; Kim Alabaster (Sally Bretton), who has a bad attitude towards most people; Naughty Rachel (Katie Lyons), who earned her nickname due to her perverted nature; and Karen Ball (Lucinda Raikes), the only member of staff who does any work, and suffers bullying from Kim and Rachel because of it. She is also a secret admirer of Martin.

Joanna's main form of excitement is usually in the form of Alan Statham (Mark Heap), a pompous, stuttering, kinky and extremely odd consultant radiologist. Alan and Joanna try their best to keep their relationship secret, despite the fact that everyone in the hospital knows about it. The one person most aware is Boyce (Oliver Chris), a junior house officer who spends most of his time trying to make Alan's life a living hell, rather than studying. Apart from Boyce, Alan is hated by most of the staff at the hospital, including Mac. Boyce spends most of his time with Martin and Kim.

Scottish staff liaison officer Sue White (Michelle Gomez) is hired to hear the staff's problems. However, Sue is probably the least suited person for the job. She is - perhaps surprisingly, considering how much competition she has - the most eccentric member of staff there, quite apart from being rude, cruel, foul-mouthed and, seemingly, a sociopath. Her office is a place where the impossible tends to happen, and anyone who enters it is normally treated with a mixture of verbal abuse and mental torture. The only person she treats with any affection is Mac, whom she loves to the point of madness, but Mac, like everyone else in the hospital, sees her as bordering on the edge of insanity. Anyone else who attempts to get involved with Mac is normally treated with hate by Sue.

The making of Green Wing

The writers and crew

Green Wing was created and devised by Victoria Pile, who is also the casting director, one of the writers and the producer (with Peter Fincham as executive producer). Pile is involved in the editing, filming and post-production.

Pile describes Green Wing as being a continuation of her previous show, Smack the Pony, and as "a sketch-meets-comedy-drama-meets-soap".^[3] Most of the people involved in Green Wing also worked on Smack the Pony.

The show has eight writers: Pile, Robert Harley, Gary Howe, Stuart Kenworthy, Oriane Messina, Richard Preddy, Fay Rusling and James Henry. This is unusual for a British sitcom, which normally have only one or two writers.

The show is directed by Tristram Shapeero and Dominic Brigstocke. Along with Pile, they contribute to the editing, which is used heavily in Green Wing. Sketches are sped up or slowed down to create comic effect, often using body language to create humour. Editing is also used due to the amount of corpsing (breaking character) that occurs during the filming of the show. Tamsin Greig has said to frequently corpse.^[4]

The other notable member of the crew is Jonathan Whitehead, who wrote the music for the show (under the name Trellis), which plays prominently in the show. His work won him an RTS Craft & Design Award (See Awards).

The writing and production

Green Wing's title is said to have come from a small plastic green man with wings that was in executive producer Peter Fincham's top pocket, and fell on Pile's desk. Fincham claimed it was not his, so Pile kept it.^[5] This plastic man appears at the end of the credits on every show.

Originally, the show had a half-hour pilot made a year before transmission that was never aired. Scenes from the pilot can easily be spotted in the first episode, "Caroline's First Day," due to the characters' appearance, most notably Stephen Mangan's and Julian Rhind-Tutt's haircuts. The pilot allowed the writers to experiment, such as using different filming techniques.^[5] In the pilot, Doon Mackichan played Joanna Clore and was meant to play her in the original series, but left because she had a baby.^[6]

Although each script is fully written, the actors are allowed to improvise their own jokes, frequently adding to what has already been written. Normally workshops are used to allow actors to improvise their own material.^[7] One example of improvised material was Stephen Mangan (Guy)'s idea of Guy falling in love with Caroline. He said in an interview, "Wouldn’t it be nice for him to actually fall in love with Caroline, rather than just be competing with Mac?"^[8] Also, during series 2, Olivia Colman, who played a pregnant Harriet, was also pregnant in real life.^[9]

Rusling, Howe, Messina and Harley all have had speaking parts in the show, most notably Harley playing Charles Robertson, the hospital's CEO. The show's crew often make appearances in the show as extras. Nearly everyone involved makes a small appearance. For example, Pile's former assistant Phil Secretan (whom Guy is named after) appears at the end of a scene in the first episode.^[5] Henry appears in the background during Martin's exam in the episode, "Tests".

Most of the filming was done at two hospitals, the Northwick Park Hospital in Middlesex and the North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke. This presented a problem because the show had to work around the real-life hospital, with its actual doctors, patients and emergency situations. In one scene in the final episode in series one, Guy (Mangan) was hitting squash balls behind him, and nearly hit a patient.^[5] However, some scenes, such as those in Sue's and Alan's offices, were filmed in a studio.^[10]

Unused storylines

Like many shows, Green Wing did have some plotlines that were never used, and some scenes that were cut from the show. Unused storylines included Alan having an eighty-year-old wife and grandchildren as old as him, and Guy suffering from impotence.^[11]

Pile originally wanted the show to cover the entire hospital, not just doctors, but also porters, car park attendants and kitchen staff as well. However, she eventually decided that they had enough material with the eight main doctors and human resources workers.^[12]

There is also an alternative ending to the special, which is included on the DVD, along with deleted scenes from the episode.^[13] It is known that the actors wanted the alternative ending, but after some debate, it was not shown.^[14]

Series Summaries

Series 1

Main article: Green Wing (series 1)

The first series introduced the main characters, as well as introducing Caroline to the world of East Hampton. She wonders whom she loves, Guy or Mac? Even then Martin seems to be attracted to her. She takes in Angela as a lodger. Alan and Joanna try their best to hide their relationship from others, unsuccessfully, but soon Joanna falls for IT manager Lyndon Jones and Alan becomes jealous.

Sue also becomes jealous of Caroline as she starts to fall for Mac, and does her best to try and stop her, even to the point of attempted murder. However, Caroline is having problems in the form of Mac's current girlfriend, Emmy. Martin is having problems with his exams, as well as avoiding letting anyone know that Joanna is his mother. Boyce is busy mocking Alan and having a relationship with Kim. With Alan and Joanna's relationship falling apart, Alan becomes a Christian, but this is mainly due to the attractive chaplain.

Mac decides to move to Sheffield to get a better job, taking Emmy with him. Before he leaves, Mac bets Guy that he cannot sleep with Joanna. Guy accepts the bet and takes her home. However, Martin has discovered some shocking news and tries his best to stop them having sex, but is distracted by Karen's affections. Caroline does her best to break up the relationship between Mac and Emmy, but it is Emmy who breaks up with Mac. Lyndon soon tells Joanna that he finds her disturbing, and Joanna then puts an end to Alan's new-found Christian beliefs.

After Guy and Joanna have sex, Martin arrives to tell them that Joanna is Guy's mother. She met Guy's father whilst she was an exchange student in Switzerland. Guy then stabs a syringe full of Botox into Martin's legs as an act of revenge. Martin is taken away in an ambulance, and Caroline helps Joanna, but Guy punches Mac in a drunken rage and steals the ambulance. Mac tries to stop him and gets on the ambulance, which drives away.

Guy drives the ambulance to Wales, with Mac and the paralysed Martin with him. Whilst Mac tries to phone the police, Guy drives into a field and almost goes over a cliff. The first series ends with Guy, Mac and Martin teetering on the edge - a literal cliffhanger.

Comic Relief sketch (2005)

Mac fends off Sue's advances by saying he will only allow her to touch his arse if she can raise £10,000 for Comic Relief. Sue then proceeds to try and ask Martin, Joanna, Guy and Alan for the money, which she eventually manages to raise, though Mac runs off before she can get hold of him.

Series 2

Main article: Green Wing (series 2)

Eight weeks after the incident with the ambulance, Mac is in a coma and Guy has been suspended from his job. Caroline is spending too much time with Mac, in Sue's opinion, and Sue tries to stop her from seeing him. During his coma, Sue steals some of Mac's semen to make herself pregnant. Mac then comes out of his coma, but is suffering from memory loss and cannot remember his newfound love for Caroline. Angela soon leaves the hospital in order to take a career in television. With Angela gone, Guy becomes Caroline's new lodger.

Alan and Joanna are still having problems, though Martin and Karen seem to be getting along well. Martin then decides to leave Karen, and Joanna then tries to pull Lyndon again. However, Lyndon avoids this by saying he is dating Harriet. After a date, Harriet feels uncomfortable with the relationship and leaves him, but soon her husband Ian dumps her for having the affair.

Just when Caroline thinks she has managed to win Mac back, his former girlfriend Holly returns to the hospital, to replace Angela. Things become even worse when it is discovered that she never had the abortion that was the cause of Mac and Holly's breakup years ago, and that Mac has a son. Caroline distances herself from Mac, and Guy starts to fall in love with her. Caroline however seems to have feelings for Jake Leaf, a complementary therapist. Guy takes actions into his own hands and throws a Swiss army knife into Jake's head. Sue then discovers that Holly is lying, that Mac is not her son's father after all. Holly leaves the hospital. Caroline dumps Jake and then tries to impress Mac again.

When Alan becomes unusually happy after winning an internet caption competition, Joanna plans to make him upset again. Using her dwarf cousin, she plans to scare him. The plan backfires horribly when Alan is so scared, he beats Joanna's cousin to death with a stuffed heron. Alan and Joanna throw the body into the incinerator, but become paranoid that they will be discovered. Alan however learns from Boyce that the death is being viewed as a suicide, so Alan and Joanna go on a rampage, thinking themselves above the law.

After the death of a patient who offers them wise advice, Guy, Mac and Martin all decide to propose to Caroline. She rejects Martin, considers the offer from Guy, and Mac appears to be unable to form a proposal. Caroline then learns that Mac wants to meet her at the train station, but when she arrives, it is Guy who turns up. Mac is still at the hospital, where he learns that he is going to die. Caroline then accepts Guy's proposal of marriage.

Meanwhile in the HR department, Karen is sitting on a windowsill, due to her fear of clangers. Whilst sitting there, Rachel opens the window behind her, and causes Karen to fall out. However, no one seems to notice.

The police arrive at the hospital. Alan and Joanna believe that they will be arrested, and with Boyce's help escape from the hospital. Alan and Joanna then escape in a camper van, with Alan becoming increasingly unstable. When it is discovered that Martin is riding in the back, Alan then drives into a field, and nearly drives the camper van over the same cliff that Martin was teetering over at the end of the first series.

The Secret Policeman's Ball sketch (2006)

A sketch was performed for Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball, with performances from Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Michelle Gomez. Mangan and Rhind-Tutt appeared in two sketches.

When the announcer at the ball asks if there is there a doctor in the house, Mac puts his hand up, to Caroline's embarrassment. Things get more embarrassing when Guy also volunteers, and asks why Caroline is sitting next to Mac when she is Guy's fiancée. Things become even more bizarre when Sue appears in a tutu and a pair of very long arms, trying to protect Mac from stalkers.

Special

Main article: Green Wing Special

The episode begins with the funeral of Angela, who departed the show during the second series, after being killed by a moose, according to Guy. Mac, after a month's leave, discovers what has happened between Caroline and Guy, and although hurt, makes no attempt to interfere. Guy, upon learning of Mac's terminal illness, tells Caroline to marry Mac instead of him.

Meanwhile Alan and Joanna are still on the run, rescued by Martin who calls the AA. Whilst on their journey, they continue to accidentally kill more people, including a shop assistant whom Alan "sat on to death". Boyce ends up missing Alan, after his replacement turns out to be even more horrible than Alan. Soon, they decide that, with no transport, money or employment, the only option is suicide. They are last seen, naked, walking hand-in-hand towards the sea.

Karen returns to work after her fall, but has changed drastically. She has become more confident, has developed better dress sense, but has lost her right hand and her nose whistles whenever she has an orgasm. With Joanna gone, the office girls start to run riot, forming their own tribe and becoming hostile to anyone who enters the department.

Mac and Caroline finally marry, despite Mac's terminal illness (the exact nature of the illness is never disclosed, although Mac does tell Guy that its name has an "a" and an "e" in it). Sue White gets over her obsession with Mac, and finds love with a new man, who reciprocates her feelings. The episode concludes with Caroline being carried into the air by a bunch of helium filled balloons at the wedding reception.

Long-running jokes

Green Wing has a lot of jokes that constantly run through the program; the most famous is Guyball, a sport invented by Guy when he was at public school, with somewhat confusing rules. The basic object of the game is to throw a ball into a "Topmiler", a basket attached to a helmet.

Green Wing also has a large amount of jokes about hair. Jokes are often made about Caroline's masculine hair, Alan's moustache, Sue's "squirrel" and Mac's "lion's mane".

Other recurring jokes include Boyce's practical jokes, the bizarre games played by the human resources staff, and the operation scenes with Caroline, Guy and Mac, in which they avoid doing the actual operation.

Cultural references

Main article: Cultural references in Green Wing

Green Wing has many references to famous songs, films, television programs, and sometimes plays. There have been references to The Kinks, Shrek, The Italian Job, The Flintstones, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Importance of Being Earnest.

Comments and criticism

The show has received a somewhat mixed reaction. Many people like it for being original, funny, and breaking new ground. On TV.com it has mostly been given positive reviews.^[15]

Much of the media has praised Green Wing. The Evening Standard said that it was "a comedy as physically adroit as it was verbally sharp," and The Guardian said that "Channel 4’s hospital sitcom is the most innovative comedy since, well, The Office."^[16] Matt Rudd of the Sunday Times wrote, whilst reviewing the Series 2 DVD that Green Wing was "the best comedy series ever (yes, better than Fawlty Towers and, yawn, Only Fools and Horses.)"^[17]

The show provokes somewhat of a love/hate reaction. Although its fans tend to be very passionate, its detractors point to its seemingly random and meaningless comedy as being rubbish. Some complain that an hour-long show is too long. There was also criticism on the first episode of Series 2, which many people thought was not very good. The Sunday Times TV critic A. A. Gill was one who disapproved, writing, "Then the new one began with a dream sequence. Oh my God, I could hardly believe my eyes. Was I asleep? No, it really was a dream sequence. Now, every 11-year-old knows dream sequences are the lowest form of plotting solution, lower than unexplained superpowers such as the ability to stop time or become invisible; even lower than a magic get-better potion. Within two minutes, Green Wing had destroyed itself, lost its assured grip on the cliff of comedy and tumbled into the abyss of embarrassing overacting, formless gurning and pointless repetition."^[18]

Criticism of the show's use of lazzi methods between scenes was shown when it won the award for Worst Camerawork at the 2005 and 2006 Cookd and Bombd Comedy Tumbelweed awards, saying the "slow-slow-quick-quick-slow camera-work being one of a dozen different elements guaranteed to make me throw things at the telly."^[19]

Some people believe that the lack of patients in Green Wing might be a satirical reference on the National Health Service today. An article in The Word magazine read, "Now Labour has stealthily encouraged privatisation in far more areas than Thatcher ever managed, the NHS has found itself populated by tired, cynical loons who will do everything they can to grab 40 winks or get their rocks off at work because they don't know anyone else and never see their houses. And in true New Labour New Medical Profession-style there's not a trace of medical jargon nor a doctor-patient relationship in sight. The hospital staff are all, without exception, idiots. They have social problems, hygiene issues, chequered histories and very loose morals. And they don't do any work."^[20]

One possible example of this is Caroline and Mac trying to put some students off working in medicine in the episode "Housewarming Party".

DVD and book releases

DVDs

Books

The first series scripts were released as Green Wing: The Complete First Series Scripts in paperback on 22 October 2006 (ISBN 1-84576-421-8), by Titan Books. The book also contains bonus material made exclusively for the book and previously unseen photos.

According to the British Sitcom Website, the scripts for the second series are to be released in May 2007.^[21]

Awards

Green Wing won the first BAFTA Pioneer Audience Award in 2005.^[22] This is the only BAFTA award that is voted on by the general public. It was also the first time the award was given out, making Green Wing the first show to win a BAFTA voted by the public.

Pippa Haywood won the 2005 Rose d'Or for "Best Female Comedy Performance". Tamsin Greig won a similar award at the RTS Awards in 2005 for "Best Comedy Performance".^[23]

Jonathan Whitehead won "Best Original Score" at the RTS Craft & Design Awards 2005.^[24]

A possible spin-off

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 and talkbackTHAMES not having a big enough budget. However, creator Victoria Pile mentioned in an interview in the Radio Times that she may do a spin-off, saying, "I'm hoping to do another Channel 4 comedy imminently, possibly starring some of the same cast. Hopefully, it will be some kind of spin-off from Green Wing."^[25]

Since then, it has not only been accepted that Pile is creating a spin-off, but also that Channel 4 will probably accept it. However, details are not known. During the special appearance at the BFI, "When asked about a rumoured spinoff at the BFI event Victoria Pile seemed to glance in the direction of JRT, TG and SM before dodging the question."^[26]

However, Pile and some other writers have successfully written a new half-hour sitcom pilot for ABC, set in an police precinct in America. This is something of an unusual move as this show is marketed for the Americans first rather than the British.^[27]

Some fans who still want a third series started their own petition on 21 April 2006. So far, around 3,300 people have signed it.

Other

Between the end of series 2 and the broadcast of the special episode, Green Wing fans formed two camps as to how they wanted Green Wing to end, in terms of who Caroline fell in love with. Stephen Mangan (Guy) said , "Apparently, the internet is ablaze with speculation and there are rival camps: the Manganettes and the Mac fans."^[28] One camp, the Caromacs or Carmacs, want Caroline to end up with Mac. The other camp, who wanted Caroline to stay with Guy, are referred to as Caroguys or Guyolines.

There is also a cocktail called a Green Wing, served at the 2005 BAFTAs. It is made using vodka, cloudy apple juice, elderflower cordial and sparkling mineral water.^[29]

A Green Wing convention called "Wingin' It" was organised to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital, and took place on 13 January 2007 at the Brook Green Hotel, Hammersmith. The convention included a quiz, lunch, dinner, dancing, games, screenings, and a charity auction which raised £2,205. There was also a game of Guyball, refereed by Stephen Mangan. Other Green Wing cast and crew who attended included James Henry, Richard Preddy, Oriane Messina, Robert Harley, Patrick Schulenburg (Producer's Assistant), Billy Sneddon (Offline Director) and Finn Hopson (3rd Assistant Director).^[30]

There was a special appearance by Green Wing at the British Film Institute, on 17 January 2007. Pile, Greig, Mangan and Rhind-Tutt appeared, and some of the other writers, Theobald and Heap were in the audience. The event was hosted by John Lloyd.^[31]

There was an appearance by Green Wing in an episode of the BBC documentary series Imagine, entitled A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Studio.^[32] Some of the funeral scenes from the special were shown, and the presenter of the show, Alan Yentob, appeared as one of the mourners.^[33]

References

Wikipedia information about Green Wing This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Green Wing". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.