Green Wing is a British television comedy, set in a hospital. It was created by the same team as the sketch show Smack the Pony. Although set in a hospital, there are few medical storylines; most of the action is generated by soap opera style twists and turns in the personal lives of the characters. The episodes are, unusually for a comedy, an hour long, and proceed through a series of often absurd sketch-like scenes joined with a linking device of speeded-up or slowed-down motion, often emphasising the body language of the characters. One series of nine episodes was broadcast by Channel 4 on Friday nights between September 3 and October 29, 2004; a second series has been commissioned.

Tamsin Greig plays surgical registrar Dr. Caroline Todd, a newcomer to the hospital. Her colleagues include smarmy, Swiss-born anaesthetist Guy Secretan (Stephen Mangan), high-flying and effortlessly cool surgeon Dr. "Mac" Macartney (Julian Rhind-Tutt), hapless junior doctor Martin Dear (Karl Theobald) and the irritatingly perfect Dr Angela Hunter (Sarah Alexander).

Joanna Clore (Pippa Haywood), the director of human resources is carrying on an affair with pompous consultant radiologist, Dr. Alan Statham (Mark Heap) which they persist in thinking is secret, though in fact most hospital colleagues know about it. Oliver Chris plays Statham's student Boyce, whose failure to conceal his contempt for Statham progressively turns into outright bullying. Meanwhile, Joanna secretly adores IT specialist Lyndon (Paterson Joseph), although he can't stand her.

Joanna's team of human resources assistants (notably Olivia Colman as forgetful mother-of-three Harriet) also feature, along with Michelle Gomez as the show's most absurd character, the sociopathic staff relations counsellor Sue White. Lucinda Raikes as Karen Ball, a worker in the admin office who is also Martin Dear's deeply shy and insecure secret admirer completes the regular cast. The first series ended with a pastiche of the clifftop scene in The Italian Job with three characters perched precariously in a stolen ambulance.

External links

• Green Wing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423661/) at the Internet Movie Database
• Green Wing "microsite" (http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/green_wing/) at Channel4.com
• British Sitcom Guide (http://www.british-sitcom.co.uk/green_wing/)