So the next set of essay deadlines and exams are looming, which clearly means it’s the right time to start a new TV series and take your mind off revision.
Green Wing is everything we look for in a true British comedy; the right combination of absurdity, surrealism, sexual innuendo and physical comedy. It might be quite difficult to believe that this is the British response to Scrubs, with the completely absurd attitude it takes, but it’s not all mime, innuendo and one-liners. By the end of the last season the tone rather changes, so get the tissues ready just in case.
Starring, Tamsin Greig as Dr. Caroline Todd, the socially awkward new kid on the department, Green Wing throws her in at the deep end of cathartic life at the fictional East Hampton Hospital. Unlike Scrubs there is no interaction with patients or sincerity to be found; instead the show solely fixates on the manic antics of the staff, which grow from odd to frankly absurd. It doesn’t take the unlikely heroine long to become trapped between the heartthrob Dr. Mac (Julian Rhind-Tutt), arrogant anaesthetist Guy (Stephen Mangan) and the endearingly dorky Martin Dear. With every character bringing so much life to the show, it’s impossible not to grow attached to them all.
Meanwhile stammering, neurotic and hilarious Dr. Alan Statham (Mark Heap) is completely obsessed with the despotic Joanna Clore (Pippa Haywood), when not trying to woo her he is busy battling his nightmare, wise-cracking student Boyce (Oliver Chris). Nobody does physical comedy quite like Mark Heap.
Perhaps not revolutionary in its approach to confronting gender stereotypes it does put all members on an equal footing of foolishness, with nobody being exempt from being ridiculed. Julian Rhind-Tutt’s luscious mane of ginger hair is a character in its own right, with its very own fan club consisting of the terrifying and psychotic Sue White (Michelle Gomez).
From everyday problems of Harriet (Olivia Coleman) the bumbling secretary forgetting where she left her children to camel riding, the show seems to have no boundaries. And in the midst of it all is the blossoming prospect of romance, which we are consistently tantalised with before it’s torn away once again. Even at the most uncomfortable jokes you’ll find yourself chuckling along mix of surreal, crude and situational humour thrown at you from every sketch. There’s nothing not to love about the absurdity of Green Wing!
Anastasia Kennedy