Green Wing

Green Wing was devised, created and produced by Victoria Pile. She was also the casting director, one of the writers, and part of the editing, filming and post-production teams. She described Green Wing as "a sketch-meets-comedy-drama-meets-soap",[3] and a continuation of her previous show, Smack the Pony, where Green Wing's crew also worked. Unusually for a British sitcom, which typically has only one or two writers, the show had eight: Pile, her husband Robert Harley,[4] Gary Howe, Stuart Kenworthy, Oriane Messina, Richard Preddy, Fay Rusling and James Henry.

Pile and her co-writers initially used battery packs to represent characters, moving them around on her desk to develop scenarios for the show. The decision to make the characters doctors came later. Pile recalls that she mentioned to Peter Fincham that a hospital setting would work well and that he subsequently reported that Channel 4 were enthusiastic about a hospital location, which settled the matter. Even later still, a plot was developed and wall charts were used to mark up story arcs.[4]

The show was directed and edited (along with Pile) by Tristram Shapeero and Dominic Brigstocke. Sketches were sped up or slowed down to create comic effect,[5] often using body language to create humour. Editing was also used due to the amount of corpsing that occurred during the filming of the show. Tamsin Greig was said to corpse frequently,[6] and episodes were written to minimise the contact between the characters of Caroline Todd and Alan Statham because Greig found it difficult not to laugh when acting alongside Mark Heap.[7] The music, which features prominently in the show, was written by Jonathan Whitehead (under the name "Trellis") and won him an RTS Craft & Design Award.

Following her success with Smack the Pony, Channel 4 gave Pile a fairly free hand with her next project. Their only requirement was that it should have enough of a narrative thread to make it more of a sitcom than a sketch show.[4]

The show had a half-hour pilot made in 2002 that was never aired. Scenes from the pilot were used in the first episode, "Caroline's First Day", and can be spotted due to the characters' appearance, most notably Rhind-Tutt's haircut.[4] The pilot allowed the writers to experiment, such as using different filming techniques.[8] In the pilot, Doon Mackichan played Joanna Clore and was meant to play her in the original series, but left when she became pregnant.[1][4]

Although each script was fully written, the actors were allowed to improvise their own jokes, frequently adding to what had already been written. Workshops were often used to allow actors to improvise their own material.[9] One example of improvised material was Stephen Mangan's idea of Guy falling in love with Caroline. The show's crew also make appearances in the show as extras. For example, Pile's former assistant Phil Secretan (after whom Guy is named) appears at the end of a scene in the first episode.[8] Henry appears in the background during Martin's exam in the episode, "Tests".

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 hospitals, with their 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.[8] However, some scenes, such as those in Sue's and Alan's offices, were filmed in a studio.[10] The pub in series two is filmed at the Foundation Beefeater in Fulwell, South West London.

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.[8] This plastic man appears at the end of the credits on every show.

Some plot lines written for Green Wing were never used. Unused storylines included Alan having an 80-year-old wife and step-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 porters, car park attendants and kitchen staff. However, she decided that they had enough material with the eight main doctors and human resources workers.[3]

Two endings were created for the special. The alternative ending is included on the DVD release of Green Wing, along with deleted scenes from the episode.[12] The alternative ending was planned to be used if a third series was going to be commissioned, as this ending was much more ambiguous. Green Wing's cast preferred the alternative ending, but after some debate, it was not shown.[1]

Caroline arrives at East Hampton for her first day of work and meets her colleagues Guy and Mac. She is forced to spend her second day on the job quashing rumours that she slept with Guy after he put her up for the night. Failing junior doctor Martin soon falls in love with Caroline. Meanwhile, Alan and Joanna maintain their relationship, the worst kept secret in the hospital. Alan wants to shout their relationship from the rooftops, whereas Joanna wants more spontaneity and danger, so quickly turns her affections to Lyndon Jones (Paterson Joseph), the hospital's head of I.T.

Martin is revealed to be the son of Joanna Clore; she does not want anyone at the hospital to find out. Joanna briefly believes that she is pregnant once again, only to find out that the test results had been mixed up and it is in fact Harriet who is pregnant. Alan, elated by the thought that he may become a father, becomes obsessed with babies and suggests that they try for one when he finds out that Joanna is not pregnant. Joanna, bored of Alan's predictable behaviour, finally decides to end her relationship with him.

Caroline starts to get broody, but is unsure as to whether it is Mac or Guy that she loves. Sue White, staff liaison officer, is deeply in love with Mac, threatening to kill her love rivals. Both women are devastated to find that Mac is intending to move to Sheffield with his new girlfriend to take up a consultancy position. Before he leaves, Mac bets Guy that he would not be able to sleep with Joanna, so Guy picks her up at the leaving party. Caroline accuses Emily of being a fraudster, which turn out to be a misunderstanding, but Emily breaks up with Mac after he is amused rather than angered by Caroline's accusations. Mac and Caroline later kiss.

As they are about to leave, Caroline and Mac find out that there is an emergency at Guy's flat. Martin has discovered that Joanna is also Guy's birth mother. When Caroline and Mac arrive in an ambulance, Guy steals it in a drunken rage, with Mac and Martin in the back. Guy drives the ambulance to Wales, where, in an attempt to avoid a sheep, he drives onto a cliff edge. The series ends with the three of them balanced precariously on the cliff edge.

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 asks Martin, Joanna, Guy, and Alan for the money, which she eventually manages to raise, but Mac runs off before she can get hold of him.

Eight weeks after the incident with the ambulance, Mac is in a coma and Guy has been suspended from his job. During his coma, Sue steals some of Mac's semen and tries to make herself pregnant. At the end of the first episode, Mac wakes up, but with amnesia, which means he does not recall his nascent relationship with Caroline.

As Mac's memory returns, he and Caroline are on the verge of resuming their relationship when his former girlfriend Holly (Sally Phillips) returns to the hospital to replace Angela, who has left to pursue a career in television. Holly has a son, called Mackenzie, who she says is Mac's. Caroline distances herself from Mac and starts dating Jake Leaf (Darren Boyd), a complementary therapist. Sue then discovers that Holly is lying, that Mac is not her son's father after all. Holly leaves the hospital. Caroline, excited by the news, leaves Jake.

When Alan becomes unusually happy after winning an internet caption competition, Joanna seeks to destroy his good humour. Using her dwarf cousin (Big Mick), dressed up in green body paint, she plans to scare him. The plan backfires when Alan is so scared that 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 known as "Yo-yo Man" 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. Mac then tells Caroline to meet him at the railway station for a weekend away, but then suddenly discovers that he is terminally ill, and rides off into the distance on his motorbike. Guy goes to the railway station where he finds that Caroline is now willing to accept his proposal. Meanwhile, in the HR department, Karen is sitting on a windowsill, believing that there are Clangers in the office. Whilst on the phone to a friend, Rachel opens the window, tipping Karen out in the process. As the day continues, no one seems to notice her absence.

The police arrive at the hospital. Alan and Joanna believe that they will be arrested, and with Boyce's help escape from the hospital in a stolen camper van. When they discover that Martin is hidden in the back of the van, Alan, panicking, drives into a field, and series two ends in the same way as series one, with the van hanging over the edge of a cliff.

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 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. An unconscious patient lies on an operating table. Guy touches her breasts, takes pictures of her naked body under the blanket, and kisses her. Caroline alleges that the patient is transgender, which repels Guy. Sue White then appears in a tutu, claiming that the patient is stalking Mac, and repeating the assertion that the patient is transgender.

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

Meanwhile, Alan and Joanna are still on the run, having abandoned Martin. Whilst on their journey, they accidentally kill three more people, a mechanic, a shop assistant and a policeman. 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. Meanwhile, Karen returns to work after her fall, but has changed drastically. She has become more confident and has developed better dress sense. Boyce ends up missing Alan, after finding that his replacement will not tolerate any misbehaviour. With Joanna gone, the office girls start to run riot. They form their own tribe and become hostile to anyone who enters the department.

Mac and Caroline finally marry, despite Mac's terminal illness (the exact nature of which is never disclosed, although Mac does tell Guy that its name has an "a" and an "e" in it). Sue 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 mass of helium filled balloons at the wedding reception. The DVD box set extras include an alternative ending where Guy and Mac grab onto Caroline's ankles and are taken to the sky with her; this alternative ending concludes with Mac saying, "Caroline, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

• Darren Boyd – Jake Leaf
• Keir Charles – Oliver
• Daisy Haggard – Emmy
• Paterson Joseph – Lyndon Jones
• Sally Phillips – Holly Hawkes

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 contains bonus material made exclusively for the book and previously unseen photos.

The soundtrack, entitled Green Wing: Original Television Soundtrack, was released by Silva Screen on 8 October 2007. It contains 23 tracks of the best of Jonathan Whitehead's Original Music created for the show.

The complete series is available on Channel 4 on Demand.