The Green Wing Series 2 Blog

Is anybody still there?

2009-10-28T23:19:00.004Z

If any of you still subscribe to this blog, please let me know if you still visit?

It's been such a long time since I posted here, that I'm not sure whether to just leave it, add more photos or delete it?

Any thoughts???

Cheers

JPG

@jpgdesign
www.setdesign.co.uk
Facebook

DVD Signing - Last Chance To See...

2007-09-24T18:48:00.000+01:00

If you didn't already know, there's a new DVD signing:

Time and Place
Date:	Monday, October 15, 2007
Time:	5:30pm - 8:30pm
Location:	Virgin Megastore, Picadilly
Street:	Picadilly Circus

I've missed all the others, so I'm going to make a big effort to be there, hopefully with my Art Director and Buyer.

Hope you can all make it....

JPG

Green Wing Convention

2007-01-13T00:02:00.001Z

Bit late I know but wanted to mention that there's a Green Wing Convention on tomorrow (Saturday 13th Jan) in London.

I know it's also sold out, but for all those who have tickets, I hope you have a great time.

JPG

More Wedding shots

2007-01-07T01:06:00.000Z

...and another

2007-01-07T00:52:00.000Z

...and one for the ladies!

2007-01-05T21:17:00.000Z

Caroline floats away

2007-01-05T21:13:00.000Z

More photos to follow soon....

Loads more pics to follow

2007-01-04T23:25:00.000Z

Once I get a chance I'll upload some more photos from the Special....any requests, let me know and I'll see if I can help.

Our Beloved Camper Van!

2007-01-04T23:22:00.000Z

Wedding Day

2007-01-04T23:19:00.000Z

Dawn breaks over our wedding preparations, whilst Steven and Julian look thoughtful.

The Special - A Beautiful Day at the Seaside

2007-01-04T23:02:00.000Z

Here's a few photos of the Green Wing Special....more to follow...
These photos show Mark & Pippa preparing for a cold swim, and cameraman extraodinaire, Martyn Porter lining up a shot.

Green Wing Book Signing

2006-11-09T19:21:00.000Z

For those of you that haven't heard...

MARK HEAP, STEPHEN MANGAN, PIPPA HAYWOOD & KARL THEOBALD OF GREEN WING
SIGNING AT FORBIDDEN PLANET

Forbidden Planet is delighted to announce a GREEN WING signing with Mark Heap, Stephen Mangan, Pippa Haywood & Karl Theobald. They will be signing the book ‘Green Wing: The Complete First Series Scripts (Titan - Special Offer Price £11.99) at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2 H 8JR on Friday 10th November 2006 1 – 2pm.

A BAFTA-winning, genre-defying, Channel 4 comedy, ‘Green Wing’ continues to prove medical issues needn't interfere with everyday hospital life. Written by the award-winning team behind ‘Smack The Pony’, this surreal show is part soap opera, part drama and part off-the-wall comedy and it features a unique and wondrously bizarre cast of characters.

The first series follows new surgical registrar Dr Caroline Todd through her first day at work and beyond, starting out as she means to go on - dishevelled and under-deodorised having spent the night in her car. This book contains all the scripts from the first series, as well as bonus material and scores of photos.

The Green Wing team will be signing at the Forbidden Planet London Megastore. The largest store of its kind in the world, this store continues the Forbidden Planet tradition of hosting appearances by the greatest names in science fiction and fantasy. Previous guests have Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, Iain Banks, Douglas Adams, Anne McCaffrey, Clive Barker, Stephen King, William Gibson and H. R. Giger.
ENDS

Worthy of a Post!

2006-10-23T18:23:00.000+01:00

Just found out today the following amazing news:

"Green Wing 2 has been shortlisted in the following categories for the RTS Craft / Design Awards.

GREEN WING – PRODUCTION DESIGN – JONATHAN PAUL GREEN

GREEN WING – TAPE AND FILM EDITING – LUCIEN CLAYTON AND BILLY SNEDDON"

Ceremony is on November 20th....watch this space!

DVD Signing

2006-10-02T21:42:00.000+01:00

Any fans want to email me stories and/or photos from today's signing, that they want to show on this blog?

Let me know how it went.

Buy Green Wing Scripts

2006-10-02T21:40:00.000+01:00

Buy the complete Series 1 scripts from Amazon.

Green Wing The Complete Series 1 Scripts out 22 October 2006

Get ready to jump aboard the out-of-control hospital trolley that is "Green Wing"! This BAFTA-winning, genre-defying, Channel 4 comedy continues to prove medical issues needn't interfere with everyday hospital life. This surreal show features a unique cast of characters: the endearing Dr. Caroline Todd; the wise-cracking, heartthrob surgeon, Dr. MacCartney; the lustful anaesthetist, Guy Secretan; the stammering, crazed radiologist, Alan Statham; the age-obsessed Head of HR, Joanna Clore; and the terrifying staff liaison officer, Sue White.

This book contains all the scripts from series 1, as well as bonus material and scores of photos.

320pp; £14.99 paperback. Available from all good high street bookshops, plus online from amazon and play.

DVD Signing

2006-10-01T15:29:00.000+01:00

Just a quick note to say that I thought I'd be in the area for the signing, but sadly now I won't.

Hope you all enjoy it and get loads of autographs from writers and cast alike.

Have fun!

JPG

Guy's Locker

2006-09-28T19:38:00.000+01:00

Here's a picture of Guy's locker.

Apologies if anybody received multiple posts of the lion pictures...Blogger must have had a glitch.

Thought I should upload a few more pictures...

2006-09-28T19:21:00.001+01:00

Pictures of a lioness and cub at the West Midlands Safari Park, plus a picture of the part of Sue White's office that we re-built at the zoo for the lion cub sequence.

Just in case you hadn't heard....

2006-09-26T21:10:00.000+01:00

Green Wing cast members will be available to sign copies of Green Wing series 2 DVD from 6pm on Oct 2nd @ Virgin Oxford St (opp Tottenham Court Road Tube).

Once again, prepare yourself for a surreal ride through the hospital corridors of Green Wing …

GREEN WING SERIES 2 & GREEN WING BOXSET

RELEASED BY 4DVD 2ND OCTOBER 2006

Green Wing is highly inventive, deeply surreal, visually groovy
aurally unsettling and very rude - Daily Mail
The best comedy in the world is back in the peak of rude health - Daily Mirror
A TV comedy phenomenon - Radio Times

Following on from the huge success of series one, the second series of the BAFTA award-winning Channel 4 comedy show Green Wing is released on DVD. Available from 2nd October 2006, the complete Green Wing Series 2 features all eight episodes plus 100 minutes of exclusive DVD extras.

To coincide with the release of Green Wing Series 2, the Green Wing Boxset is also released on 2nd October (£44.99). The boxset features series 1 and 2 in their entirety plus all additional extra’s and bonus material.

From the award-winning team behind Smack the Pony, this genre-defying comedy continues to prove that filming in a hospital doesn’t have to involve any reference to medical issues. Part surreal soap, part comedy drama, its characters now face the unenviable task of clearing up the mess they left behind at the end of series one.

The same ensemble cast are in place for more brilliantly observed, sophisticated mayhem. Tamsin Greig (Black Books, The Archers) is the idiosyncratic Dr. Caroline Todd; Julian Rhind-Tutt, (The Madness of King George, Notting Hill), the fop-haired, wise-cracking heartthrob Dr MaCartney; Steve Mangan (Confetti, I’m Alan Partridge, Adrian Mole – The Cappuccino Years) the lustful love god Guy Secretan; Mark Heap (Brass Eye, Spaced, Big Train, Happiness) as the stammering, neurotic Statham; Pippa Haywood (The Brittas Empire, Dalziel and Pascoe) the tyrannical, age-obsessed Joanna Clore; Michelle Gomez (The Book Group) the terrifyingly unpredictable staff liaison officer Sue White; Karl Theobald (Chef) the endearing failure Martin Dear; the bumbling Harriet, Olivia Coleman (Peep Show) and Oliver Chris, Dr Statham’s nemesis student, Boyce. Green Wing Series 2 also stars Sally Phillips and Sarah Alexander from the hit comedy sketch show, Smack The Pony.

Green Wing is a TalkbackTHAMES production, devised and produced by Victoria Pile. The series boasts a collection of award-winning writers including Victoria Pile, Robert Harley (Smack the Pony, Los Dos Bros), Oriane Messina and Fay Rusling (2DTV, Smack the Pony), Gary Howe and Richard Preddy (Birds of a Feather, Shooting Stars), James Henry (Smack the Pony, Aardman Sketch Show) and Stuart Kenworthy (Smack the Pony, Harry Hill's TV Burp).

Green Wing Series 2 DVD details Green Wing Series 2 DVD extras
Released: 2nd October 2006 75 minutes of deleted scenes
Format: 8 x 50 minute episodes Out-takes
Discs: 3 Behind-the-scenes documentary
CERT 15 Cast / production audio-commentaries
Cat No: C4DVD10107

I'm filming at The Comedy Store that day, so I must just pop in and have a look....
Maybe see you there!
JPG

Lack of Blog

2006-08-13T18:03:00.000+01:00

I thought I ought to post a little note seeing as its been a very long time since I contributed to the GW2 Blog, so firstly, apologies for that, because I know there are a lot of fans out there.

It's partly due to the fact that I've posted quite a lot of my stock of photos, and partly because the ones I haven't posted have to be saved for a little while (lots of really fab new pictures to follow at some point....watch this space).

And it's also partly due to the fact that I've been really busy on other Productions.

I've just finished filming a fantastic new comedy series for Channel 4, which is due out on September 15th, called Star Stories.
I know this isn't strictly GW info, but it is comedy, and I'm sure it'll do really well because it's excellent (although nothing like GW).

So look out for a new blog (possibly).

In the meantime, here's a photo of the gorgeous Tamsin, doing what she does most on set.....apart from acting of course!

Be back soon!
JPG

Vote Green Wing!

2006-07-07T00:44:00.000+01:00

Now's your chance to show your support for Green Wing by voting for it at the TV Choice Awards.

Even at this shortlist stage the public get a chance to vote until Tuesday 18th July by either phoning 0905 648 0748 (calls cost on average 50p) or by texting TVCVOTE followed by a space and then the category and
your vote options, plus your name, door number and postcode to 87080 (texts
cost 50p).

You can vote for the special 10 years at the top award by calling 0905 6520 332 (£1 per call) or texting 10YEARS followed by a
space, your vote option , plus your name, door number and postcode to 86633
(£1 text vote). Please note that there is no online voting at this
stage.

Thank you.

JPG

Early morning General Medical Reception

2006-06-25T20:33:00.000+01:00

This is a photo taken very early in the morning in the studio, on the GMR set.
Always a lovely time of day, quiet and peaceful before the crew arrives on set and the lights are turned on.
Time to get everything in place before the day starts.

Statham's Car

2006-06-25T20:30:00.000+01:00

Here's a couple of extra pictures showing Statham's car in his office.

Lots of fun....

A few more....

2006-06-19T20:25:00.000+01:00

I'll try to post some more photos and interviews once I get a bit more time...madly busy on other projects at the mo, so please bear with me.
Thanks.
JPG

Some random GW photos

2006-06-19T20:20:00.000+01:00

Apologies for not posting more things sooner, but here are a collection of some more photos from Series 2.

Crew Interview Number 3 - Ian Pollington

2006-06-02T23:12:00.000+01:00

Here's the third in the series of GW crew interviews.....todays offering is with Location Manager Ian Pollington.

1) Ian Pollington, you were the Location Manager on Green Wing. What
exactly does your job entail?
THE LOCATION MANAGER IS BASICALLY THE BUFFER BETWEEN THE PRODUCTION COMPANY AND THE LOCATION.
YOU HAVE TO BALANCE WHAT THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SCRIPT AND SHOOTING SCHEDULE ARE WITH THE LOCATION OWNERS.
FROM THE BEGINNING; TRADITIONALLY YOU BREAKDOWN A SCRIPT TO ESTABLISH WHAT LOCATIONS ARE REQUIRED, YOU THEN MEET WITH THE DESIGNER, PRODUCER, DIRECTOR TO GAUGE WHAT WE ARE ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR; USUALLY A LONDON LOCATION THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE LONDON, THATS NEVER BEEN FILMED BEFORE, THATS OUTSIDE THE
CONGESTION CHARGE ZONE, WITH SEA VIEWS AND THE TOWER OF LONDON OUT THE WINDOW!!
YOU GENERALLY SCOUT AND WORK THROUGH A LIST OF OPTIONS FOR EACH LOCATION AND THESE GET TRIMMED DOWN AS YOU PAIR LOCATIONS TOGETHER GEOGRAPHICALLY OR DUE TO SCHEDULING. ONCE A LOCATION HAS BEEN AGREED BY THE DESIGNER PRODUCER DIRECTOR; YOU THEN LIAISE WITH THE LOCATION OWNERS, LOCAL COUNCIL, POLICE, HIGHWAYS TO CONTRACT AND FACILITATE YOUR FILMING ACTIVITIES.

2) Location Manager sounds really glamorous, what time do you normally come
in to work on a shoot day?
ITS ALL REALLY GLAMOROUS CHAMPAGNE, FAST CARS, FASTER WOMEN, I TEND TO GO FROM ONE CELEBRITY BASH TO ANOTHER AND THEN STRAIGHT TO WORK AROUND 0600HRS IN THE MORNING! - VERY GLAMOROUS!

3) So how many people work with you in your Dept.?
ON GWII THERE WAS GENERALLY MYSELF AND A UNIT MANAGER - ALTHOUGH WE DID EMPLOY LOCATION SCOUTS
AS REQUIRED.

4) What was the hardest location to secure and why (bearing in mind
that some scenes have yet to be broadcast)?
A LOT OF WORK WENT INTO BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH HOSPITALS, AND FORMULATING A SHOOTING SCHEDULE THAT SUITED BOTH PARTIES AS THESE WERE WORKING HOSPITAL ENVIRONMENTS NOT SETS.

5) Did you have any really tough moments on GW and if so, what were they?
PROBABLY IN THE ..... AT ............!(DON'T PRINT THIS!) (Hope the cheque's in the post Pollers or the dot dot dots become letters!)

6) What was your fondest or funniest memory?
FLETCH.(He was one of the Unit drivers) / STATHAM - EVERYTHING HE'S IN.

7) Apart from on GW, what was the most incredible/glamorous location
you've filmed in?
I WENT OUT TO MOZAMBIQUE ON "ALI", THE MICHAEL MANN, MOHAMMED ALI FILM, STARRING WILL SMITH. I LOOKED AFTER THE STADIUM AND AIRPORT LOCATIONS.

8) Art Dept. and Locations always work very closely together. What
was it like working with the GW Art Dept compared to others?
I THINK WE WORKED WELL TOGETHER, EVERYONE WAS GREAT!!
PROBABLY THE FINEST ART DEPT IN THE LAND!

9) You must be on the road an awful lot, looking for places and
arranging recces to far flung locations. How many miles do you drive a year?
ABOUT 30000MILES

10) How did you get into the Industry and what was your first TV job?
FRIENDS WERE RUNNERS AND UNIT MANAGERS IN FILM AND TELEVISION, WHEN I HAD A PREVIOUS LIFE RUNNING MY OWN BUSINESS. AS I WAS ESTABLISHING THE BUSINESS I USED TO DO SECURITY / CONE WORK. AFTER ABOUT 5YEARS OF RUNNING MY OWN COMPANY I SOLD UP AND STARTED UNIT MANAGING, SCOUTING AND THEN EVENTUALLY LOCATION MANAGING. MY FIRST TV JOB WAS A TALKBACK COMEDY FOR VICTORIA PILE PRODUCER OF GWII. BEFORE THAT I HAD ONLY WORKED ON FILMS.

11) What TV show would you most liked to have worked on?
CELEBRITY LOVE ISLAND

12) What tools/items are essential to your work, and what luxuries do
you have?
A CAMERA, LAPTOP, MOBILE PHONE AND CAR ARE ALL ESSENTIAL TOOLS OF THE TRADE. MY LUXURY IS PROBABLY MY CAR!

13) Everybody on the cast and crew got on really well together. Is
that normal on most shows, and what do you put this down to?
SEXUAL FRUSTRATION, EFFECTIVELY BEING AT SEA, ON SUCH A LONG SHOOT - FAR FROM
HOME!!

Ian Pollington....thank you very much.

Guess The Desk No. 4

2006-05-30T12:34:00.000+01:00

Not much to go on in this picture....or is there?

Guess The Desk No. 3

2006-05-30T12:33:00.000+01:00

Is it who you think? Have a close look......

Crew Interview Number 2 - Billy Sneddon

2006-05-30T12:24:00.000+01:00

Here's the second interview with GW crew members.

This is with Billy Sneddon....read on and enjoy....

1) Who are you, and what is your title?
My name is Billy Sneddon, and I am one of the two editors of Green Wing. The other one is Lucien Clayton. As you can tell from the name he's the posh one, I'm the bit of rough. We can also do good cop/ bad cop impressions.

2) And what exactly does an Editor do?
While you're all off filming in the bum end of nowhere, I am tucked away in a warm room, hunched over a computer watching what you got up to the day before. I will look at all the footage and choose the best bits and create an assembly edit of the show while you are filming, then when filming ends I am joined by Victoria (Producer), and together we begin the long process of turning the assembly cut, which can be anything up to 90 mins long, into the 49 min final programme.

3) What sort of training have you had and how did you get into the Industry?
15 years ago I was out of work and met an editor in a pub. He was looking for an assistant so I told him editing was what I always wanted to do, even though I really didn't even know what it was. Unbelievably, he bought it and gave me a job, and here I am. It's ridiculous I know, but it's true.

4) Green Wing is a mammoth project. How do you keep track of all the footage?
I read somewhere recently that there are thousands of hours of footage shot for the series! It's not quite that bad, it's probably more like 300 hours, but I'm only guessing. Thankfully it's all done on computer these days so it's pretty easy to keep track of it all. It's shot on digibeta tape, then digitized into two Avid editing systems. We also have a lovely script supervisor called Lesley who gives us edit notes (a brief explanation of what is being filmed and selected takes), which I pretend to read...

5) You must watch a scene over and over (and over again) when you're cutting it. How on earth do you look at a final cut objectively and with a fresh eye?
The honest answer is it's impossible. By the time it gets on the telly, I feel like I've watched it hundreds of time already. You just have to try and remember how you felt the first time you saw it. In fact if I can get away with it, I don't read the script or look at the notes before I watch the rushes, just so I can see it the same way a viewer would, without any prior knowledge. Then I try to remember that feeling when I'm watching it for the 43rd time and want to throw myself out the window.

6) Whenever I've seen you at work, you're tucked away in a darkened office/edit suite. What do you do to switch off from work ?
I lie on my living room floor naked with a half empty bottle of gin, sobbing quietly. No, actually I've taken up golf recently. I appear to be slowly turning into my father...

7) They say that good comedy is all about timing, which is particularly pertinent to your job of editing cutting in and out of a scene. Do you think you can be taught that knowledge of timing, or are some people more adept at it than others?
There are a lot of techniques and tricks that can be taught, but I've noticed a lot of the best editors are also musicians of one sort or another, so maybe there is some truth in the notion that it helps to have 'rhythm'.

8) Having worked on Series 1, did it make it any easier to edit Series 2?
Yes and no. Yes because we had already worked out the visual style and look of the thing, and no because on the first series we didn't really know the scale of the task, because we had never done anything that big before, but this time we knew what we were in for, and that made it pretty daunting to be honest.

9) Are there any scenes that you feel particularly proud of and why?
I can't remember which episode, but there's a scene where Statham goes into Lyndon's office and strips and rubs his bum along the desk. For me it's a good example of where the speed ramping effects work really well in sync with the music.

10) It was always nice to see you on set, albeit fairly rarely, but you made an appearance in Series 1 and Series 2 (I think?). Would you ever want to be an actor?
I was the homeless guy at the beginning of episode 7. I have been hassling Victoria for a bigger part in series 2, and she kindly gave me one, but sadly I was nervous and arsed it up! So I may hit the cutting room floor. Oh the irony!

11) What was your happiest moment on Green Wing, and what was your saddest/most trying?
Happiest moment was meeting Tamsin as I've always fancied her rotten. Turns out she's married to a really nice bloke, damn! Most trying is always the last day before locking off a programme and you're still desperately trying to find a way of cutting it down to the required length.

12) What tools are crucial to you work and what if any luxuries do you have (like a gold-plated mouse)!?
I'm old enough to remember the days before Avid but I could never go back to cutting on film or tape, I'd rather be a plumber. Come to think of it, plumbers do all right don't they? As for luxuries, give me a bacon sarnie and a cappuccino and I'm yours forever.

13) For people that don't know, I'd say that there's a very fine line between Directing and Editing because they are very similar disciplines. Would you ever want to Direct?
I directed Billy Connolly's World Tour of New Zealand two years ago and that was a blast. There isn't an Editor I know who isn't a frustrated director, we've all got the T-shirt.

14) You're clearly a very talented chap, do you spend ages editing all your home movies?
Noooo way. I'm like the builder who's own house is falling down. My sister asked me to sort out her wedding video, I said I'd get around to it. That was over 10 years ago...

Billy Sneddon, Editor extraordinaire, thank you for your time.

Jonathan Green, designer to the Gods, you need to get out more. heh heh.

Crew Interview Number 1 - Finn Hopson

2006-05-28T21:17:00.000+01:00

As promised, and a little later than I'd hoped (but then at least there'll be lots of fun things for all you GW fans to read now the series is over)

The first interview is with 3rd Assistant Director Finn Hopson (pictured in a photo with Mark Heap posted earlier)

1) What's your name and what was your job on Green Wing?

Finn Hopson.
3rd Assistant Director. Which means I spend my day on set with the 1st AD
and director. I direct the extras on set and liaise with the 2nd AD to make
sure we have all the right people in the right place at the right time.

2) It is fairly obvious just how integral and important every single job on the team
is. What do you think it was about Green Wing that produced such a
great team of cast and crew who all got on so well for so long?

It's a really funny show and I think everyone found something that they really liked about it. It was also a really long shoot on both series and when you spend that much time with the same people i guess you bond a bit. I certainly made a few good friends and that really makes the job more fun.
There was also a lack of big egos or people with very demanding personalities. The cast are all absolutely fantastic and very down to earth. From my point of view that was one of the best things about the shoot. Green Wing was challenging in that it was still being written during the shoot and things were liable to change at the last minute. I think it says a lot about the cast and crew that most of the time everyone still managed to work well together and we still managed to make a really funny series.
It was also fortunate that lots of the key people from the first series were able to return for the second, and those that were new also happened to be very good and fitted in really well with the way Green Wing works.

3) Your job is involves long hours, getting in before most and leaving after most. Did you still wake up in the mornings feeling excited to go to work?

In a word, no. I felt many things (tired, grumpy, bewildered, hungover, surprised, lost, cold, wet) but i don't think excitement was usually one of them. Having said that, when we were away from London and doing something a bit more unusual than the hospital locations, it did feel good to find yourself doing something slightly random each morning. Although I have had
to get up very early and travel a really long way to get to some of the Green Wing locations, we did visit some really great places and I often get to see them completely deserted at sunrise. Plus i could always feel smug in the knowledge that the Second assistant director Jon always generally had to travel about 50 miles more then me in the mornings as he lives on the
south coast. The crazy fool.

4) We all used to try to have a good laugh on set as well as getting on with the serious side of work. What was your funniest memory on GW?

Nothing made me laugh. I am the complete professional and remain dispassionate at all times. Plus it's very important to be quiet on set.
Actually it's really hard to think of one particular funniest moment. There were lots and lots of them. I remember finding Steve very funny in the operating theatre scene with all his keyboards. He spent ages working out which buttons to press and what bits of weird keyboard noise and tunes to use and it was a fantastic scene to watch. I also really liked his scene with the Jetski and the Swan. I was standing at the monitors just out of the shot and close to the action, and everyone watching was trying hard not to laugh out loud the first time he slapped the swan in the face. Tamsin has a ridiculously infectious laugh and whenever she cracks up half way through i scene, it tends to get everyone else going. There was one occasion on this
series where she collapsed onto Sue Whites office floor and just laughed for about ten minutes. I have no idea why but it was very funny. When we visited Basingstoke for the last time, everyone sat down together and watched "Team
America" and i have never heard anyone laugh as loudly and for as long as Tam did during that film. I also spent many hours in the camper van with Mark and Pippa, listening to their little improvised conversations in character and trying to pass on messages from Charlie the 1st AD whilst trying not to be clobbered on the head by everything rattling about in the back, or lying on the floor in the back to stay out of shot whilst mark swerved all over the road. It was like a big, terrifyingly surreal holiday.

5) You spend a lot of your time on set working with SA's (Supporting Artistes or Extras). What's that like?

Always interesting. SA's have a bit of an undeserved reputation for being a bit odd. We had over a thousand on Green Wing and the vast majority of them were very professional and did a great job, but there were also a few interesting characters and to be honest, a few who were just a bit rubbish. On a day to day basis, it was always much easier to set up the background action when the SA's were familiar with the location and had been in previously. Obviously as the shoot progressed, i saw lots more people coming back again and again and as we all got to know each other and they became familiar with what was required from them on each shot, the easier it became to set them into the action. Green Wing isn't shot in a very traditional way and this sometimes made things a bit easier for me because lots of scenes were shot in one long continuous take, and because we also never did things like a reverse angle on a scene or lots of different angles that would have meant tracking everyone's movements for precise continuity all over the room.
However, those long continuous tracking shots down corridors or 360 walks around the action could also be very challenging, particularly because they often took place in very large empty areas of a hospital and i had to find ways of making the most of our limited numbers of SA's. Fortunately most of the hospital locations are replete with sneaky little corridors and shortcuts so people can appear from all sorts of places, vanish down a corridor and appear again magically at the end of the scene. A bit of a cheat but I hope it kept it looking busy. The other odd thing on Green Wing is that there are several places that we film where the public play a large part in the background action. The main hospital corridor scenes are often completely full of real people (sometimes so full that we couldn't film at all) and on those occasions we just shot the cast in amongst the public and had no extras involved at all.

6) How did you start in the Industry and what was your first job?

My first job was as a runner on a Children's BBC show called "Crush". I kind of stumbled into it when a friend broke his wrist and needed an extra pair of hands on set to help him out. We spent a coupe of months touring the country with our set in a van, visiting primary schools and setting up a shoot in their school hall, spent the day herding children about and keeping everyone happy, then went out in a random town of an evening and had a drink with the crew. Perhaps this was good training for Green Wing.

7) What would you like to be doing 5 years down the line?

Touring the country in a camper van on a spin off series with Mark and Pippa. Or perhaps earning enough to drive a convertible red Audi TT with a personalised number plate. Roof down, cruising down the M3 to Basingstoke, wind rushing through my luscious long hair. Or perhaps that's just an impossible dream.

8) How did your experience on GW compare to other shows you've worked on?

I've been lucky enough to only do two really rubbish TV jobs so far and whenever Green Wing was being stressful and difficult, I could at least congratulate myself that i was no longer stuck on a canal boat with a hippy and his naked girlfriend somewhere near Leeds, trying to dislodge his boat from its position blocking the entire canal, where we had just crashed it.
I have worked on both series of Green Wing and have hung an ambulance off a cliff, set mark heap on fire, met a camel, seen CPR performed on a swan, seen Gomez dressed as a squirrel, played a gay doctor, seen Julian Rhind-Tutt naked, relearned the rules of hopscotch, played Guyball and been clubbing at the end of Eastbourne pier. No other job i have done has let me do these things and i don't think it ever will.

9) Your job also entails being a bit of a go-between, between artistes and Production. How important is it to be personable and diplomatic in your job?

I do spend quite a lot of my time being the messenger who gets shot, and that's never very fun. But people know that I'm just passing on information or requests and they are usually pretty good at starting their rants with the phrase "i know its not your fault but...". Actually, being stuck in between crew, production and artistes means that i can learn a lot about what everyone thinks about everyone else and how things are going, which can be a huge help when trying to be diplomatic and pass on difficult bits of information. The downside of this is that you are always trying to do a bit
of a balancing act between everyone and keep everyone as happy as possible, which is often not possible. I also have to spend a huge amount of time asking people to be quiet. I should have just had the phrase "quiet please" tattooed on my forehead. Not the nicest thing to have to do but a neccesary part of the job and one that's a bit easier if people like you.

10) When you're a big-shot Producer, will you remember me and give me a job?

No.

11) What were your fondest memories of working on GW?

Kind of the same as the funniest moments really. One of my least favourite memories was with some cast and a very serious
need to get everything shot quickly. I had a megaphone to yell at the cast from a distance, a radio for talking to the support crew and sound man, a radio to the monitors and director, and the camera crew to pass information to next me. I had information coming at me from about 4 different people at once and found the whole thing incredibly stressful. Apparently I looked very funny though so that's ok.

My thanks to Finn for that great little interview which I'm sure you'll all find very interesting, and a great little insight into what goes on behind the scenes.

More interviews to follow shortly....

Charity Memorabilia Auction

2006-05-24T21:40:00.000+01:00

Green Wing Editor (extraordinaire) Billy Sneddon is auctioning off some amazing Green Wing costumes and signed scripts for charity.

Head on over to eBay, for a chance to own some exclusive Green Wing memorabilia, and also support the WWF.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4885762040&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4885746181&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

Don't miss out!

Guess The Desk No. 2

2006-05-21T20:57:00.000+01:00

This one should be easier!

Guess The Desk No. 1

2006-05-21T17:30:00.000+01:00

Probably too easy for all you clever fans....but see if you can guess who's desk this is?

Karen Out The Window

2006-05-21T17:29:00.000+01:00

Here's a photo of Lucinda by her window....

Camper Van

2006-05-21T17:04:00.000+01:00

Here are some pictures of the camper van stunt.

Cliff Hanger 2

2006-05-21T16:59:00.000+01:00

Here are some photos from our second cliff hanger, filmed in September of last year.
The first few photos were taken at the start of my day...sunrise over Eastbourne and Seaford Head.
You can also see our little Production Village setup which travelled to every location.
Another special day on the set of Green Wing...

Umbilical Sushi

2006-05-14T23:49:00.000+01:00

...in the making.
Prop Man Keith Warwick filling the tubes with goo....lovely.

Boyce and Statham

2006-05-14T23:48:00.000+01:00

Oli and Mark sharing a tender moment.

Statham's Campaign Car

2006-05-01T01:13:00.001+01:00

Sue White and 'Mac'

2006-05-01T01:13:00.000+01:00

Mac's Clay Head

2006-05-01T00:58:00.000+01:00

Here's a photo of the clay portrait head that I made of Julian.
5 years at Art School paid off on this job!

It was a really enjoyable thing to do, and a great opportunity to do something that I really miss doing.

There was a small little room inside the vast studio that we shot in, and whenever Julian wasn't on camera, and was able to spare some time, he'd come and sit for me whilst I sculpted his portrait.

The whole process only took about 6-8 hours, but spread over about a week or two, with Julian sitting for about an hour at a time.

I think I might have only had about 3 hours with Julian, the rest of the time I used photographs. Luckily, I got his likeness quite quickly. It isn't always that easy, and I was glad it worked out, especially as I haven't done a clay portrait head for about 15 years!

A sequence of fire photos

2006-04-27T00:48:00.000+01:00

Here's one of 3rd Assistant Finn Hopson giving Mark a reassuring chat prior to 'lighting up', Sue White's flaming desk, Mark alight and the Birthing Pool set.

Statham's New Office

2006-04-21T23:57:00.000+01:00

Another great gift to be able to do in the studio. One of the perks of working on such a great and funny show.

The Extended Green Wing Family

2006-04-19T19:35:00.000+01:00

Following shortly will be a few interviews with various crew members to give some insight in to what the rest of the team get up to on a day to day basis.

You've seen what I do, here's your chance to find out what the others do.
More to follow soon.....

Join the Green Wing Frappr Map

2006-04-19T13:52:00.000+01:00

Please put yourself on the Fans of Green Wing world map at Frappr.
Either find the map down on the bottom left of the sidebar, or click the link below.

Flying Sue White

2006-04-18T14:00:00.000+01:00

Here's a picture of Michelle preparing to fly

Episode 3

2006-04-15T03:56:00.000+01:00

Guy arrives at work...

Green Wing Cast Signing

2006-04-07T12:25:00.001+01:00

To celebrate the DVD release of Green Wing Series 1 the cast members will be present at a DVD signing at Virgin Megastores, Oxford Street on Tuesday 11th April at 6pm.

Get down there for this chance of a lifetime opportunity to meet all your favourite characters and get their autographs.

It promises to be a great event, but arrive early!

There's only one Sue White

2006-04-01T00:12:00.000+01:00

Michelle about to spend half an hour crawling around some ducting.

Episode 1 arrivals

2006-04-01T00:05:00.000+01:00

A little montage of cast arrivals for Episode 1

Area 51

2006-04-01T00:00:00.000+01:00

These photos were taken on location for the opening dream sequence arrivals.

So there you have it...

2006-03-31T22:11:00.000+01:00

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

2006-03-29T17:35:00.000+01:00

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

2006-03-29T17:01:00.000+01:00

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.

2006-03-28T19:12:00.000+01:00

Image  FremantleMedia Ltd. 2006

3 Days To Go!

2006-03-28T19:06:00.000+01:00

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

2006-03-17T16:57:00.000Z

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

2006-03-16T15:40:00.000Z

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

2006-03-13T08:42:00.000Z

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

2006-03-13T08:28:00.000Z

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

2006-03-12T22:56:00.000Z

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

2006-03-12T22:51:00.000Z

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

Episode 1

2006-03-11T23:44:00.000Z

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

2006-03-11T11:57:00.000Z

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

2006-03-10T00:08:00.000Z

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!

2006-03-09T13:01:00.000Z

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.