It was my Birthday last Sunday (oh, thanks!) and I was lucky enough to get the Green Wing Definitive Box Set on DVD. Every episode of the wonderfully surreal hospital comedy/drama and all the special features that goes with it! For those who have never seen the show, a little about it:
Think an NHS version of Scrubs, or Casualty on Acid. It follows the working day of Surgical Registrar Caroline Todd, the new girl at the fictional East Hampton Hospital, and the other staff that work along side her.
There's Surgeon "Mac" McCartney - Hospital heart-throb, Anesthetist Guy Secretan - he thinks he's the Hospital's heart-throb, HR Manager Joanna Clore - sex-hungry, age-obsessed and sleeping with Consultant Radiologist Alan Statham - Neurotic, stuttering, eternally troubled by Student Radiologist Boyce.
Then there's Junior Doctor Malcolm Dear, Joanna's oft-ignored son - a hopeless, hapless romantic in love with Caroline. And there's Staff Liaison Officer Sue White - a foul-mouthed, Scottish, abrasive sociopath. Along with a whole supporting cast of uniquely odd characters, from the HR office staff to the nurses and many, many others. There isn't a "normal" character in the whole show! And it's one hell of a Great British cast!
I watched twenty-two hours of Green Wing in just two days, so much that I found myself speaking just like Alan Statham sometimes, without even realising I was doing it! It is without question one of the most original, most bizarre programs you will ever see. If you're not a fan of hospital-set shows, fret not - there are no medical storylines at all; the hospital is simply a canvas for the characters to paint their bizarre days over.
It's often laugh-out-loud stuff, often heartbreaking drama, often curious love-triangle. It's always a pleasure and you never, ever feel short-changed. Not even when you're given the same cliff-hanger (literally) ending for both series - it's a wonderfully welcome nod. I love this show and now I've finished it. I think I'll give it a week or two then start watching it all over again!
