'Green Wing': Tube Talk Gold

Warning: This article contains language and/or sexual references that younger readers are advised to avoid.

Tube Talk Gold brought you memories of The Prisoner last week, but this time we're going for something completely different - a rather surreal comedy. Green Wing gathered a cult audience when it aired a few years ago, but what was it about the show that enthralled viewers so much?

Green Wing: Originally broadcast from September 3, 2004 to January 4, 2007

Where on earth do you start with Green Wing? It's hard to believe that the series first aired back in 2004, because it still seems all so recent. The fact that it was really seven years ago is a bit of a shock, but that's testament to how much of an impact the show had on its fans.

Green Wing is the sort of show that gathers a cult audience. It revelled in being endlessly creative and surreal (it's not every day that you see a camel being led down a hospital corridor). But it wouldn't have worked if it didn't have heart, too - enter Mac, Caroline and Guy.

The trio were the centrepiece of the show - Caroline (Tamsin Greig) was our heroine and our introduction to the insane world of East Hampton Hospital. She and Mac (Julian Rhind-Tutt) were also arguably the most 'normal' characters in Green Wing, grounding the show even when it was at its silliest.

And, of course, we all wanted Mac and Caroline to get together. Green Wing perfectly captured that all-too-familiar situation of the awkward, messed up hopeful and the cool, smooth, suave object of their affections. This just made us root for Caroline more (even when, for example, she embarrassingly started singing The Kinks just after finding out that Mac was a fan).

But even though Green Wing introduced all kinds of obstacles in the way of the Caromac romance, there was always hope for them. They were clearly meant to be.



One of those obstacles was the fabulous Guy Secretan (Stephen Mangan), womaniser extraordinaire (or at least, that's what he'd have you believe). Guy always thought he was cooler than he was, which obviously provided plenty of laughs. Take the time when he had to do community service and to fit in decided it would be a good idea to adopt a supposedly Cockney accent. At the same time, somehow Mangan managed to make you care about this awful human being.



The fact is, though, that it's almost impossible to choose a favourite Green Wing character. You might think it's Mac or Caroline or Guy, but every single person that was featured on the show was a distinct human being (quite an impressive feat).

What about frazzled mother Harriet (Olivia Colman), rubbish nerdy doctor Martin (Karl Theobald) or poor bullied Karen (Lucinda Raikes)? That's without even mentioning Pippa Haywood as Joanna Clore - bitter, twisted, and determined to be young again - or the fabulous Boyce (Oliver Chris), who wound up Dr Alan Statham something rotten.



Wait, did someone say Alan Statham? You could write a complete feature all about Alan Statham. Mark Heap's made a career out of playing doddery, stuttery nerds (see, for example, the recent show Friday Night Dinner), but Green Wing is clearly the performance of his life.

Completely overwhelmed on all fronts - by Boyce, by Joanna - and muddling through life spectacularly unsuccessfully, Alan Statham is one of those characters that you will never, ever forget. Of course, he also had a horrendously nightmare-inducing kinky side as well.

And apparently thought it was a good idea to serenade Joanna by stripping to his boxers and playing a recorder. There are so many other moments to mention, but we'll leave you with those terrifying images for now.



Another cast member who has to get a mention is Michelle Gomez, who played the frightful Sue White. Obsessed with Mac and willing to do anything to pin him down (attempting to murder Caroline, stealing Mac's semen when he was in a coma), Sue was possibly the oddest element of Green Wing.

Somehow, though, Gomez manages to pull it off and Sue became many people's favourite part of Green Wing. Credit has to go to Gomez for this - she was never afraid of looking absolutely, downright ridiculous and she committed to every scene, no matter what she had to do.



Indeed, though Gomez had a lot of the most surreal moments, the entire cast committed fully to what they were asked to do. And sometimes, this could be just a little bit controversial. Green Wing certainly wasn't a family show, and the writers and cast used their apparent freedom to stretch things as far as they could.

Sometimes this could make you feel a little nauseous - for example, Guy finding out that Joanna was his mother, just after he'd slept with her. Meanwhile, other moments were completely ridiculous, but you'd still ask yourself how they were getting away with it (see, um, Alan beating a dwarf to death with a stuffed heron).

Even if that kind of thing wasn't for you, though, you could be sure that there would be jokes just around the corner that would make you laugh. One of the greatest things about Green Wing is the fact that it has endless one-liners and gags that would make no sense to anyone who hadn't seen the show.

That bonded its fans even closer together - you could giggle about the show and many of the jokes have transferred from the screen to among groups of friends. It helped that the series had running gags, such as the crazy stuff the staff in the HR office got up to. One of the best, though, was the imaginary game of Guyball - it just proved that the writers were unbelievably inventive.



A mention has to go to Green Wing's editing and direction too, of course. As well as the fact that the stars were encouraged to improvise (which must have produced some of the classic moments), the show looked very different to other comedies. Things were speeded up and slowed down at will, and the snatches of music are inspired (and unmistakably Green Wing).

Of course, Green Wing wasn't perfect (what is?) Some have questioned whether the episodes should really have lasted an hour each, for example, though that's probably a matter of personal taste.

As often happens, the first series was probably better than the second, although the second run still had absolutely fantastic moments. And the concluding 90-minute special was widely considered, well, a bit disappointing.

Maybe Green Wing was just a one-off. After all, Green Wing creator Victoria Pile's latest sitcom - Campus - may have had some similar aspects, but just couldn't match the original.

For now, we should remember how much we laughed at a show that had so much fun that it included a literal cliffhanger, when Guy ended up in an ambulance dangling on the edge of the coast. But if memories aren't good enough, you're in luck - Green Wing is out on DVD and is available on 4OD.



Were you a fan of Green Wing? Let us know below!