Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2346 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-04-03
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 450 minutes

DVD Description

The award-winning comedy series Green Wing follows new surgical registrar Dr. Caroline Todd (Tamsin Greig) through her under-deodorised first day at work and beyond, as she becomes acquainted with her bizarre and eccentric co-workers. Created by the makers of "Smack The Pony", Green Wing combines the cream of British comedy actors, inventive use of editing--in which sequences are often sped up and slowed down--and an offbeat sense of humour to create an unusual and imaginative comedy. The Green Wing - Series 1 DVD features: deleted scenes; four audio commentaries with the cast and crew; a behind-the-scenes featurette; and cast and crew biographies.

Synopsis

Green Wing - Series 1 follows the exploits of Dr. Caroline Todd (Tamsin Greig) and her hilarious encounters with a number of eccentric co-workers. The assortment of bizarre characters she meets includes: Guy Secretan (Stephen Mangan), the smooth talking part-Swiss anaesthetist and all-round misogynist; Dr. Alan Statham (Mark Heap), possibly one of the kinkiest doctors on the ward and a man whose affliction is to think out loud (something that the cheeky intern Boyce likes to exploit quite frequently); the dashing but aloof Dr. 'Mac' Macartney (Julian Rhind-Tutt), whom Caroline may or may not have a crush on; Joanna Clore (Pippa Heywood), the moody, age-obsessed HR Director; Sue White (Michelle Gomez), the sociopathic staff relations counsellor; the hapless junior doctor Martin Dear (Karl Theobold); and the irritatingly perfect Dr. Angela Hunter (Sarah Alexander).

Customer Reviews

I laughed so hard I wet myself (well, almost...)
I missed Green Wing on TV the first time, and ended up late one night watching it repeated as I couldn't sleep.

I have not laughed so hard for a long time - the fast-fast-slow editing is now a trademark for the production, and having seen this more times on DVD than is probably advisable, I need Series 2 sharpish.

Any programme that makes a sentence like 'you will never feel my super vagina again' funny deserves a medal.

Character-Driven Classic
'The sitcom is dead' they cry, but surely they can't trace the fingerprints on the murder weapon to the insane geniuses behind this show. 'Green Wing' does what many classic comedy series have done before - ripped up the rulebook and broke new ground. 'Green Wing' features episodes almost double the length of your conventional sitcom and slinky, helter-skelter camera tricks that you would normally expect to see in some sort of avant garde movie.
But what really makes this a very different sort of comedy is that it could really be a Drama. Yes, that's right. Because unlike other comedies, 'Green Wing' doesn't just plonk a group of one dimensional characters together for the sake of cramming in as many gags as possible. It is far more interested in the dynamics of plot and, perhaps more significantly, character. The protagonists are not just ciphers for jokes: we actually care about and are interested in what they are doing. They drive the action, and not vice versa. No other sitcom (at least to my mind) places this much emphasis on character.
The characters themselves are, almost without exception, utterly bonkers. But there is logic to their actions and we can almost (almost) recognize them from our daily lives. We've all stumbled across a smooth-talking womanizer who, surprise surprise, is actually a b*stard (Guy). Ditto humourless, anal types who can't help but routinely humiliate themselves in painfully hilarious ways (Dr Statham). We also have the charming one everyone likes (Mac), the downtrodden loser treated with scorn and affection in equal measure (Martin), the monstrous, predatory bully (Joanna Clore)...and then, of course, there's the put upon one wracked with self-doubt who sometimes struggles to fit in (Caroline Todd - aka our hero). We can recognize traces of others and ourselves in these people. That they're all madcap just maximizes our enjoyment level. Even peripheral characters, like smart-alec Boyce and the borderline-anarchy of the admin girls, are a hoot.
It's the characters that make this show, and Green Wing is crammed with memorable creations. Everyone has their favourite (I'm torn between Guy and the wonderfully diabolical Sue White), but each plays their part in the often surreal whole. 'Green Wing' is a great comedy series that ably balances side-splitting laughs with effective Drama.

Green Wing is Great, Even to this Yankee
I gave Green Wing a shot on BBC America last summer and it was fantastic. I now own the series 1 DVD and await the series 2 DVD this fall (since BBC America isn't airing series 2).

Thw show is hilarious. Guy Secretan is one of the great sitcom characters of all time. Sue White is hilarious. The whole cast is great. The show is original, funny, witty, off the wall. I wish American TV were more like this.

The only thing I don't quite get is Dr. Alan Statham. I understand you Brits seem to go crazy over him, but he is mostly annoying. The exception would be the banter between him and Boyce.

But overall, a great show. Probably my favorite British comedy.