So there you have it...

Hope you thought it was worth the wait?

Let me know what you thought.

:)

PS So now you know what the mystery picture of the lift was for....

Part of the Finished Article

Here's a shot of the General Medical Reception, showing the view to the outside world, and all the prop dressing.

A little insight into the set build

The following photos show how from an empty warehouse studio, the Green Wing studio set evolved.

After a length design process, followed by many construction drawings and weeks fabricating scenery flats in a constuction workshop, the set gets loaded on to a number of articulated lorries, and delivered to the studio.

Prior to that, a team of chippies gets into the studio to lay a wooden t&g (tongue & groove) floor, to provide a stable base to build the scenery and lay the lino.
At the same time, a team of riggers gets in, to build an overhead grid out of scaffold, which supports the many set lights, and also the suspended ceiling.

Once the floor and the grid are in, the scenery can start to be put together. It took just over a week from bare empty studio, to the completion of this first stage.

Once the scenery starts being built, it took a further 2 weeks before the painters started taping and painting joins in the scenery, and the ceiling and flooring went down.

After this stage was complete, and only once the floor and paint was finished, a team of dressing prop men came in to start dressing all the furniture in, along with completion of fixtures and fittings.

The entire process took 4 weeks, or 20 days from empty studio to fully dressed and lit composite set.

If you'd been able to visit and wander around, you would have felt as though you were in a real and complete space, due to the fact that all the sets joined up via corridors, and double swing doors.

We used real hospital doors and real hospital lino, and most unusually for a studio, we were able to cut holes into the outside walls and create real windows to the outside world.

The first bit of scenery to be set was from Statham's Office.

Image  FremantleMedia Ltd. 2006

3 Days To Go!

In readiness for the new series, here's a little montage of characters used on our Staff Board....look out for it in Episode something or other...I can't quite remember which.
Also...check out the fancy new Green Wing Countdown Clock at the bottom....tick tick tick.

Five Pointless Statistics

Here's a bit of fun about Series 2:

Linear length of studio set construction: 0.25 miles

Litres of paint used to paint the set: 145

Number of ceiling tiles used on set: 1100

Number of births during Production: 2

Number of miles the Art Dept truck travelled: 3784

Things That Kept The Art Dept Going on Series 2

Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate

Berocca

Heat Magazine

Ground Coffee (with water!)

Lots of puddings after lunch

An endless supply of self-mocking/pity

Our luxury winnebago

Couriers that arrived on time

The Production Triangle

Pippa's constant praise

The entire cast

Above all else, an amazing team

The Green Wing Art Department

In case anybody's interested as to how my dept. works and what we do, here's a little description.

The Production Designer and the Art Dept. are basically responsible for the following (and also on most other TV Shows or Films, although there is some variation)

• Design, drawing, specifying and overseeing of build of all set construction (studio or location)
• Erecting the set in the studio and taking it down
  
• Dressing of all location sets to script requirements (and re-instating!)
  
• Sourcing and hiring/buying all dressing props (background)
• Sourcing and hiring/buying/making all action props (specific props to the script requirement, used in action)
• Hiring of all character or script specific vehicles
• Hiring of all animals, insects, fish, stuffed animals!
• Arranging all special effects (rain, smoke, fire plus specific effects)
• Co-ordinating stunts with Production
• Arranging any on-set food (edible or otherwise)
• Making all on set graphics (posters, wall dressing, hospital files, signs)
• Co-ordinating Armourers if weapons are used as props
• Scheduling prop dressing crews and studio chippies and painters
• Budgeting (without over-spending!)
• Creating Risk Assessments for all filming relating to all of the above!

Basically, anything that you can see on screen, that isn't to do with Lighting, Costume or Make-Up, falls under the Art Dept umbrella.

My Art Dept on Green Wing consisted of the following crew:

• The Production Designer (yours truly)
• The Art Director
  
• The Assistant Art Director
• The Prop Buyer or Production Buyer
• The Assistant Buyer or Petty Cash Buyer
• Various work experience/trainees on a short term basis (I try to give as many people starting out in the Industry a chance to get some work experience because the hardest thing in TV is getting a foot in the door)
• The Prop Master (in charge of all the props once they arrive on set, checking and returning)
• The Storeman (helps the Prop Master)
• Standby Prop Men (in charge of making sure all the action props are given to the artistes at the right time and standing by for all things prop related on set)
• Dressing Props (in charge of pre-dressing a scene before the film crew arrives)
• Chippies (in charge of erecting the pre-fabbed set in the studio or loc.)
• Painters (Location or scenery painting)
• Prop Drivers - somebody has to collect all the props and take them back again
• Sub-Contractors that included Prop makers, Set Builders, Animal Handlers, Special Effect Technicians, Action Vehicles and Stunt Arrangers. Plus ceiling tile and lino specialists for the studio.

If anybody missed it, there's a picture of me, my Art Director, Assistant AD, Buyer and Assistant Buyer over on my Series 1 blog (although this is the Series 2 Art Dept.)

Some scene name teasers for Episode 1

Seeing as its getting nearer and everybody seems so excited, I thought I'd list a few scene names for Episode 1, (without any descriptions obviously!)

But you'll be able to see how fun-packed the first show will be, and you can make up your own ideas as to what you think the scenes involve:

• My Gang
• Glasses/Harmonica (one of the best scenes EVER)
• Ticket Dispenser
• Back in the Saddle
• Statham's Retribution
• Guy's Story

These are only a handful that don't give away any plot lines, but watch out particularly for some beautiful Statham/Boyce scenes and some masterful Sue White scenes.

Keep checking back as I'll be posting some un-restricted Ep 1 pictures on March 31st

Article on the British Sitcom Guide

Here's a link to a little interview I gave to The British Sitcom Guide regarding the final episode of Series 1:

and in case you missed it on my previous blog, a picture of the storyboard.

Office Girls

Here's a photo from Episode 1 of the Office Girls, Kim, Rachel and Karen.

Episode 1

The beginning of the brand new series starts with a sequence of arrivals.

A normal start to a Green Wing hospital day....or is it?

This picture show Statham and Joanna.

Green Wing Series 2 - Ready

Series 2 of the award winning Channel 4 Comedy Show is 'ready'.

The Press Launch was held at BAFTA on Wednesday March 8th where Epsiode 1 was screened for Press, cast and crew.

Green Wing 2 promises to surpass the brilliance of the first series, with the comedic excellence of the original cast of Tamsin Grieg, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Stephen Managan, Michelle Gomez, Pippa Haywood , Mark Heap, Karl Theobald and Oli Chris.
Supported by Sally Bretton, Lucinda Raikes, Olivia Coleman, Katie Lyons and Sarah Alexander, the new series also includes Darren Boyd of Smack The Pony fame and Los Dos Bros.

Expect more antics and craziness from all your favourite Green Wing characters of Mac, Guy, Sue White, Caroline, Staham, Joanna, Boyce and Martin in a series that continues to push the boundaries of British Comedy.

First Week of Filming

Shooting for Series 2 started in mid April 2005.

Here's a shot of Stephen, Oli and Karl rehearsing a scene for Episode 2.

The shoot started in April, and finished on November 3rd, with a summer break over August.

109 days of filming - a job of epic proportions.

Welcome to the Series 2 Blog!

I hope you enjoyed my series 1 blog, and will continue to vist, as I'll still be updating it periodically.

Welcome now to my blog about the brand new Series 2 of Green Wing.