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Green Wing Interviews - The WritersIn this exclusive interview Green Wing writers James Henry, Stuart Kenworthy, Oriane Messina, Richard Preddy and Fay Rusling talk to The British Sitcom Guide about writing the show. Together with Gary Howe, Robert Harley and Victoria Pile they generated the Green Wing scripts - if GW made you laugh it's down to these people. Read on to find out more about the writers, how Green Wing was created and what didn't make it to the screen... Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about Green Wing. As a way of an introduction, perhaps you could explain how you got involved in comedy writing and give us an insight into what your favourite comedies are?
Comedy writing was never a lifelong dream or anything, but I thought I might be able to do some decent work. So, I signed on the dole and lived off next to nothing for a year. I spent the whole time writing and eventually got 12 sketches accepted for the third series of Smack the Pony. I was happy. The end! Green Wing had its moments, but I've enjoyed working on the new series of Spacehopper (a new sketch show in production) more than any other show. I've had a lot more freedom and that's been a revelation. I've just finished a job as head writer for It's Adam and Shelley (another sketch show by Granada for BBC3). This was probably the most civilised writing experience I've had. As a child my favourite comedy came from The Goodies, Pogles Wood, The Herbs, Pipkins, Hector's House, The Magic Roundabout, Benny Hill, Dick Emery and Mike Yarwood. As an adult my favourites are Monty Python, Ripping Yarns, The Likely Lads, Porridge, Shelley, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Alan Partidge, Father Ted, Black Books, Phoenix Nights, Early Doors, The Royle Family, Chris Morris, Frasier,Cheers, Everybody Loves Raymond and lots of others, including Rising Damp, The Larry Sanders Show, The Simpsons, and Twin Peaks (which is comedy in parts).
Green Wing has been my favourite writing job so far because it was a larf, and the people were great. I have since learned this is not always the case. I'm also enjoying all the stuff I'm writing now because I created all the characters myself and thus own all the merchandising rights. My favourite comedies are Spaced, Arrested Development, Father Ted and anything with Victoria Wood in it.
We sent some sketches for Smack the Pony, saw the pilot and then wrote on all 3 series of it. I still now can't believe I write - and neither can half the people I write with (including Rob Harley - who I think might want to murder me for my lack of punctuation!). My favourite comedies are Ripping Yarns, Dick Emery and Fawlty Towers.
I also enjoy writing Bearded Ladies which Fay and I co-write with Susie [Donkin] and Charlotte [McDougall] for Radio 4. We've just done a 4th series called Meanwhile With the Bearded Ladies which Ronnie Corbett and Mark Addy appeared in. We also did a speed dating Comedy Lab with Susie and Charlotte called Speeding and I loved doing that. Spaced, Friends, League of Gentlemen, Two Ronnies, Benny Hill, French and Saunders, Frasier, Porridge and Curb Your Enthusiasm are my favourite comedies; oh and recently I've started to totally love Skins.
I then thought maybe I could give writing a go (with Gary Howe). We sent some stuff off to various people we respected and largely got ignored. Then Geoffrey Perkins picked up some sketches for Harry Enfield's show and we wrote for that and the Fast Show and things went on from there. Except when they didn't. GW was fun - it's great being paid to sit around and bicker with people you like (apart from that one, obviously). Fawlty Towers, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Dad's Army, Hancock, The Likely Lads, Rising Damp, Cook & Moore in general, Fry & Laurie, dinnerladies and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin are my favourites. They're not comedy shows as such, but also Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. I deliberately compiled this list without reading the others' favourites; but I see our Venn diagrams have a lot of overlaps. Green Wing quickly picked up a strong following... in fact 'strong' is probably too weak a word - we can't think of many other modern comedies which have had fans who are still chatting about the show even though it finished ten months ago! When you were writing the first series did you have an inkling that Green Wing would be so popular? James: I had no idea if it would be popular or not - in fact it was hard to tell from the initial reviews and comments on various forums, as it seemed to get strong reactions across the board, from obsessive quoting to utter foaming hatred. By the time of the party episode though, it was apparent that the people who liked it really liked it, which has to be good. It's weird though, I do wonder if exactly the same show had gone out on say, BBC1 at half nine, what kind of audience figures it would have got. On the other hand, I don't get paid by audience figures, so who cares really. Stuart: I must admit I thought the show would be more popular that it was/is. The viewing figures were a bit on the low side and I was disappointed about that. We were about two million and sixteen viewers down on what I'd expected. The dedicated following wasn't a surprise as such, but it was really appreciated. I had hoped that the dedication and enthusiasm of these die-hards might lead to presents and proposals of marriage - but it never happened! Right at the start I looked at Cook'd and Bomb'd and they hated us so much I felt shamed and sullied and started cutting myself to ease the pain. I also had a look at the Channel 4 board which was more encouraging. Oriane: I had no idea - I thought it was funny and people would like it but the whole internet fan base came as a shock. I remember loving shows like Spaced and how great it would have been if there had been sites dedicated to that at the time. There is something about instantly connecting with a like minded obsessive that's great! Fay: I knew that the show was good - and I remember some of the other writers being a bit disappointed about some of the reviews and figures - but I remember feeling really confident in it - I knew the people who would get it would be hooked, and they were.
Fay: We wrote so many scenes each, hundreds and hundreds we had those characters doing the weirdest things - Statham had an old wife, like 80 years old! Victoria [Pile] had us improvise the characters even before the actors were cast - and we never stopped until we knew exactly what, for example, Sue White would do in any situation we threw her into. We all wrote for all the characters, no one writer is responsible for one character... the Green Wing characters are made up of the warped mind of six writers! Stuart: None of the show was scripted. The actors made it all up without even knowing which characters they were playing. Some of them didn't even know it was set in a hospital. The writers just added punctuation to the scripts and clapped at the read throughs. On the flip side we improvised a lot of their acting. I actually appeared in three of the major roles in episodes 4, 5 and 8. Apart from that we hired children from a local school and fed them prescription cough medicine until they wrote something we liked. What most people don't realise is that a lot of the original scripts were coloured in using crayons and felt tips! Actually, we met about once a week at first and then as the animosity built we tried to cut this down to once a year. We decided upon a number of possible plot strands and then we all went away and wrote for all of them. So we were competing against each other to get work in the show. Those who got more work in the show got paid more than the others. You can imagine how joyful this made this particular part of the process. It was at this stage that I went into therapy! James: I've been saying "we met up every couple of weeks to sort out plot strands then went our separate ways again" for so long now I no longer have any idea if this is true or not. I know the end of the writing process for both series ended up in long hours in an office staring blankly at each other for hours on end (although no-one wanted to look at Stuart). We were fed Chinese takeaways though, so we could pretend we were Americans, which was fun. Oriane: Actually James it was Tai food. We all wrote what we wanted to start with, any character doing anything. Then out of that came story lines which were developed, like Martin and the yogurt theft (Mr Preddy). We always wanted audiences to fall for Mac in episode 5 at the party and Julian's brilliant look at Tamsin was perfect. Likewise we wanted Steve to fall for Tamsin in series two. Then the actors come in and read the scenes, then do it in their own words, then we re-write using some of their words, then Rob and Victoria basically put everything together! Richard: Hang on, I never had any Chinese or Thai food. Not that I like either cuisine, but that's not the point. I demand the cash equivalent.
Oriane: I loved writing in a team mainly because I love talking and shouting. Although I think it wasn't actually a team, in that we all wrote separately; unlike the writers of Friends who all shout out funny lines. The only time we worked like Friends was for Statham's alphabet song in the Chinese Take Away. Other than that we were individuals working in a co-op with a chief. Fay: We never really discussed scenes, just direction the episodes might go in - and then we had Victoria shouting "quick write more stand alones" and then "stop! now write more plot". Victoria then had the mammoth job of putting it all together - that was the real job - first she would put her favourite scenes in episode boxes and we would all scavenge through them to see if any of our stuff got in - and then pretend to laugh at each others scenes while really thinking "shit - I'm not writing anything funny". Stuart: I always thought it was a mistake to refer to us as a team. We were more of a group, a collective, or a rabble of self-interested bastards! I did like the fact that it got me out of the house and it was nice to go for a drink or two when the meetings finished. We all worked together for four years and became quite comfortable so it did seem strange when it all came to and end. That said, I'd always prefer to work on my own. I don't have to share. James: ... or an anarcho-syndicalist commune, perhaps? We didn't write scenes together particularly; we'd meet up to discuss more general plot points, character development and so on, then go off to work on separate computers.
Stuart: Always. Oriane and Fay would shout and eat sweets. Victoria would nip out for a fag. Rob would try to put forward a sensible solution and would be shouted at. Gary would try to speak but no one would listen to him. Richard would make a couple of absurd suggestions in an effort to throw everyone off balance. These were often accepted as the way forward. I would argue with everyone about everything. James wasn't there for quite a long time. I'm not sure when he joined us but he always tried to jolly things along (but we could tell that beneath the surface he wanted to slit our throats). Victoria had the final say. James: To explain, I started after the pilot had been made so all the blood had been cleaned up by that point. Any tensions remaining after that were purely sexual. Fay: I can't make decisions so I would be swayed with whoever shouted the loudest, nod and then think about how I'd like a cigarette or some Revels. By the end of the session still no decision would have been made and it would stay that way until finally Victoria was pushed in a corner with a Channel 4 sniper laser pointed at her forehead - then she would make a decision - no point in making it, if it is not going to be right! I disagree with James though, there was no sexual tension... well maybe there was between the gents! Oriane: Victoria made all the final decisions but we often shouted at her, each other - at everyone actually! There was no sexual tension between Fay and the men but I can reveal that there was actually lots between me and the men... in that they were tense and I was sexual!
Stuart: As Fay said earlier, we didn't write a character each however some had more success with certain characters. The first series I had a lot of success with Mac/Guy/Sue and Harriet. I don't really associate myself with any characters. Actually, I suppose Statham for the rage and frustration. A lot of the horrible things Guy said were things I'd said in the past to make people laugh or shock them (when I was young and cared about such things). And all the guff Mac spouted came from the dreadful lines I used to spin when I was trying to get off with girls. Girls should beware of men like Mac, they're the very worst kind. Beware I say! I love Guy/Statham/Joanna in equal measures. Dr Mancoo, the guy Sue White tried to kill, is the character I feel should have been more developed. Richard: The hardest to write for was possibly Guy. My favourite character was Statham; like Stuart says, there's something about his anger, bruised pride and pettiness that really appeals. I also like his belief that you can try to suppress or change situations or other people's opinions using irrelevant knowledge. Statham that is, not Stuart - Stuart uses firearms and Pernod to try and change situations. Fay: Sue White was the hardest for me - I wanted her to have a weird home life, like Psycho - and for her to ride on a bike to work looking like that bad witch in the Wizard of Oz. I loved writing for them all though. My favourite character was definitely Guy - I loved him and loved it when he realised he was in real love. As for the character I'd like to develop further... well, there was this ginger nurse - she should have her own show! [Editor note: this ginger nurse just happens to have been the one played by Fay in her cameo appearance]. Oriane: The hardest to write was Joanna. I most associate with Caroline, she's my favourite character, along with Statham (and Guy too). I think the characters that should be developed further are the small handed nurse in series one and Statham's prostitute series two. [Editor note: again, we're sure it is just a coincidence, but these characters were played by Oriane]. James: Who I wrote for depended on what mood I was in: bad=Statham; rude=Guy; sincere(ish)=Mac; confused=Caroline; pervy=Boyce and so on. I most enjoyed writing for Guy - I'm quite polite in real life so it was a good outlet. My favourite character depends on the series - in the first it was Mac, in the second series it was Guy. None of them should be developed further, apart from Posh Pimp, the Hair Assassin Bloke, and Stephen Merchant's character, all of whom deserve their own series, unless it turns out I've signed away the rights, in which case they don't.
Richard: I can't really remember what I wrote. Oh, I liked writing Statham's vandalised badge when I realised all the right letters were in the right order in "Consultant". And Caroline's daring Pig Rescue... actually, did that even get in? - I can't remember now. And the tattoo of some Friesians, just for the sheer rubbishness of the pun. Oriane: My favourite scene to write was the slave auction in series one. Fay, Rob and I wrote that in the basement of TalkbackThames around Christmas I remember us laughing with tears at Martin and the bankers draft. One of those days I guess. In series two I loved doing Guy showing up at the train station instead of Mac. I'm proud of that. Victoria and I were fans of North and South and she wanted something like that. So I did Guy showing instead of Mac - Caroline mentions her friend Marianne Selby and a lesbian moment. My friend Marianne and I never had a lesbian moment but now people think we did! Stuart: Whichever scene lasted the longest was my favourite! You could write really good quick scenes (like Geordie Accent/the kitty gets it) and get paid in beans. Waffle worked best. I did enjoy writing the dwarf killing in series two because it was one of the few times I laughed whilst I was writing. I found anything with Mac and Caroline in it hard to write. I always wanted to slap them both. Will they? Won't they? Oh just take your clothes off for god's sake!!! Some that never made it to filming. Fay: Mac kissing Caroline over the toilet after she had been sick. I think that must have been it cause I can't remember anything else! James: The radio controlled car one, the Jacquard Loom/Sabotage one, Caroline finding Mac by the lake. Also the dalek/guyball match, although by a tragic series of mistakes, it was never filmed... or even considered.
Stuart: No statement. We were just trying to cobble a plot together. I am pro-abortion to the point where I think it should be compulsory but I don't think that came across. James: The only message we were trying to convey was that people in hospitals mostly have to do a shit job, and can only keep themselves sane by larking about quite a lot. I quite like Boyce being utterly open about the fact he'd shag men or women, but that's probably lack of communication amongst the writers, rather than a political statement per se. We got the characters to dress as animals when we couldn't think of a joke. See also: falling over; swearing. Fay: I don't do politics - I'm too shallow! As for the animals, well visual comedy - you can't beat it can you? Oriane: No, although we did use friends names and personal situations that our friends might recognise. Overall how much excess stuff was written which didn't make it to the screen? James: About ten per cent of what we wrote ended up on screen I reckon! Stuart: Yes, most of what we wrote never made it. I've never worked on any other show that's used up so much material. I think for series two I wrote over 600 scenes and the other writers must have done about the same. The idea is that we could write anything we liked and if it worked it could go in. This gave us a certain freedom we wouldn't usually get, but it meant that lots of fantastic pieces of writing were just cast aside. Richard: I've always believed that words are better than pictures, and wrote a lot of long wordy stuff that got edged out by the shorter visual bits. My favourite not seen scenes are: Martin being attacked by fire ants; the entire hospital being at a slight angle throughout the second series (which no-one would mention) and Statham's homosexual affair with the manager of his local video shop. Fay: We wrote so much stuff, all of it of course outstanding. Sue White bathing in virgins' blood in a tin bath on her desk; at the end in the special Caroline falling out of hotel window and, in the next shot that I wrote, she is sitting opposite Sue White in her office with Sue saying she has been looking out for Caroline and Caroline replying that she hadn't done a very good job; then Sue White standing up and stretching as two enormous white wings pop out (the ultimate animal costume) and she opens her office door and Mac is waiting outside - you see they are now both dead - and now they can be together forever (I love a happy ending - I grew up in the 70's they're seemed a lot of angels around - or maybe my parents were just kinky and drugged!) Oriane: I loved the idea of Statham having an old 80 year-old wife and 60 year-old step-children; Caroline having a fat identical twin; Boyce being in a boy band; Caroline's brother the dentist coming back from Dubai and being played by Tamsin. James: My mourned scenes: Mac cutting off Guy's hand with a ruler; Mac causing a temporal loop in the space/time continuum with a shoe; Guy buying Knight Rider; George Clooney stealing Caroline's flowers and the second series taking place in Regency England.
Fay: I would call it more rehearsing than improvising - they had scripts in their hands for one thing! We did early on do some improv with Steve Mangan - he is amazing at it: the on the phone bit "see you in Zurich" came from him, and then a scene was written around it with Karl. I guess you could say we sort of used the actors like our puppets - trying different things out then re-writing it etc. What was nice about the process was being able to hear the scenes out loud at an early stage; it helped with what fitted the character and their voice. Oriane: I agree with Fay on writing process. The characters all existed before the pilot, and there was a script before they were cast too - once the actors were cast we then adapted dialogue to their skills and voices. Plus Mark plays the recorder so Fay did some scenes with that in and I did something with some Ping Pong for him. Stuart: I hated the improvisation. I think that it did more harm than good and I try to avoid it now wherever possible. Unfortunately a lot of people still think it's an interesting way to make telly. Glad I tried it, but never again. James: My view on improvisation depended on if it made the scene funnier or not. Sometimes I'd get annoyed that the rhythm of a line would be changed, which mucked about with the punchline. I'm ashamed to say I assumed that's how comedy shows were written anyway, so I was surprised how little they changed, in fact. If an actor tried to do that with my scripts now, I'd cut their bollocks off. Or punch them in the ovaries, not to be sexist. Obviously if it made the scene funnier I'd claim I'd always written it that way anyway, not that anyone cared who'd written what, apart from the other writers. The characters were created, then the actors came in and mucked about, then the pilot was made, then I was brought in because I made a good cup of tea, but all the hard work had been done by then. I wrote a lot of juggling stuff for Statham after finding Mark had all sort of strange skills. Similarly, I wrote a scene for Stephen where he satisfies three women simultaneously, although I'm not sure it made the final edit.
Fay: Steve is nothing like Guy, although Oriane and I treat him as if he is. Michelle has the guts and gung ho just to go for it - she is amazing to watch in full flow. Pippa also will just go for it - she is not afraid to look un-attractive - she is a very attractive woman in real life. Oriane: I think Pippa is the least like her character physically and mentally. She's the nicest person. Steve, Karl and Mark are amazing improvisers and we definitely used stuff they came up with a lot. In the end things often would revert to the original script anyway but I think it benefited the actors. Stuart: None of the actors are like their characters really. Mark Heap can be quite extreme in the same way Statham is. The very first time I was introduced to him he asked if I wanted to kiss him. I did, but daren't say. Of course, Mark is always good company in a way Statham never could be. Pippa is very different from Joanna. You couldn't meet anyone nicer. James: Mark is oddly like Statham but much sweeter, if such a thing can be imagined. Tamsin is much filthier than Caroline. Richard: In real life, Julian is exactly like Statham!
Richard: As a writer you tend to think everything's your own idea, which in fact I do about the ambulance ending. I think the series had established a relaxed attitude towards sense early on, so we didn't worry about series two and how we might have to resolve it. I wanted series 2 to start with Guy being caught by some Portuguese fishermen but then thrown back over the side. Stuart: None. We were never motivated in a dramatic sense. We tended to go where we thought the laughs were and then had to keep finding out way back out of dead ends. James: We really weren't that organised, hence the start of series two being a tad wobbly. I co-suggested the ambulance/cliff/Italian Job homage I think. I always wanted the characters to discuss how they'd survived, but have a marching band appear and drown out the explanation with all their noise. In the end, it seemed easier to leave it to the imagination of the viewer. Fay: I wanted guy to have gone feral in Switzerland for opening of season 2 and wrote some amazing Guy-suckling-on-a-wolf's-teats-in-a-cave-in-the-Swiss-Alps scenes (he was wearing a fur loin cloth). In the dream sequence I wanted it to be a Victorian mental institution - and Mac would occasionally allow Caroline to operate, even though she was a woman and just a nurse. Guy was locked in the cells and about to have a lobotomy. I also wanted series 2 to all be set on a cruise ship... we could have gone on for years like the Carry On... film series! Green Wing the Airport, Green Wing the Police Station etc.
Oriane: The answer to that is 'no', but only in so much as I felt strongly that Mac and Caroline should end up together. I felt that the audience would feel cheated - I know I would if Ross and Rachel didn't end up together, Daphne and Niles etc Stuart: No! Always ours. Hands off! If anything I always wanted to go against what was expected. I hate those Victorian dramas where heroines are rescued from poverty and evil men turn out to be great really - Urgggghhh! So whenever possible I wanted to do something different and avoid as many cliches as possible. The best ending we ever came up with involved killing Mac, Guy and Caroline and it was so bloody funny. James: No, you can't give the audience exactly what they want or, oddly enough, they feel cheated. It was interesting to find out what people wanted to happen though, so we could mock them and their stupid feelings from out of the open windows at Talkback (we never did this). Fay: I want to cry - so that element was important to me. Richard: I am well known in the media world as a boorish, football obsessed bloke, given to breaking women's hearts with my empty promises and then laughing about it with my mates down the pub (note: that statement may contain some fictional elements). As a result I wasn't keen on a happy romantic ending. I too wanted the main characters to die, horribly and inexplicably (this is true, however). The final special wasn't as well received as the two main series. Is there anything you regret about that episode? James: I regret nothing, the final special was ace, especially Statham and Joanna slowly running out of narrative plotlines and being drawn to their final scene like a marbles rolling downhill into a pit of acid. I also wanted all the others to die, but in a nice way. Fay: I thought it was great - Statham and Joanna especially, they were on fire - and I cried! One version of the ending had Guy and Mac both flying off holding her legs - but we liked her floating off alone - foiling them being together again. But I would have gone with something more final - like the murder idea! Stuart: It was a boring, rambling disappointment. It made me realise that whatever we'd had, it was over. Oriane: I loved it - I thought it left the audience to decide, and it looked amazing. I cried at Statham and Joanna walking off, I thought it was amazing. Richard: Add me to the writers' slaughter club - death to all characters.
Stuart: No. We've done eighteen hours which is quite enough. If there was a third series I certainly wouldn't be involved. I'm afraid that after the second series I decided I wanted to leave the group. It was nothing personal, but Green Wing took four years out of my life and I'd like to try some new things with new people. Of course, if the money was right... Oriane: Green Wing has been amazing. All of us owe a massive amount to it. I loved it. I loved all the people working on it (physically rather than mentally). I can't imagine there being a third series and I'm not sure I'd want to do one - I feel like we've all moved on now and it would seem odd going back to it. James: I don't really regret not being able to make a third as the show was spiraling out of control, and trying to bring it back with new actors wouldn't really work. The plot lines would no longer be even slightly grounded in reality, which is why I think it's best left. Best to move on and do something fresh. Still, we're all good friends, and often we hold hands and run through meadows, laughing. Just because. Fay: Victoria had brought us all together from Smack the Pony - and for some of us - had given us our first ever job writing - she is really the genius behind Green Wing - she pushes you, manipulates you, hits you, pokes you, feeds you and pulls your hair until you write the best you can! My son was four weeks old when I first went for the meeting - he is now five and a half - Green Wing has been amazing part of my life and certainly kept my son in nappies and me in chocolate! What about this GW spin-off we keep hearing rumours about? Stuart: There isn't one. Or, if there is, I haven't been told about it. If there was a spin off it should be with the office girls, or the dinner ladies. James: I wanted to do a spin off about Guy becoming a professional Guyball player. In fact I still do. Other than that: don't know. Fay: How about a spin-off about the ginger nurse... called Alright Ging! Oriane: Or, the prostitute in a studio based sitcom called I've Still Got My Tights On! Richard: The spin off features Martin as a desperately poor student who plans to kill a despised and corrupt local pawnbroker (Harriet) to end his money worries, but also because he believes it is morally correct. Along the way he falls in love with a prostitute (Statham) who... Oh hang on, no sorry, that's Crime and Punishment isn't it.
Stuart: There are none... not really. Some people have managed to put some together, but the fun in writing the Guyball stuff was to make it as incomprehensible as possible. James: I like there being enough rules to suggest it might work, without having to actually play it through, which in real life would be just a bit annoying and dull. Fay: Originally the topmiler was a cornflakes box taped to the head! Have you had any thoughts about what Alan and Joanna are up to now? Fay: Alan and Joanna were captured by mermaids and now are king and queen of the the sea and terribly happy - (now there's a spin off!) Oriane: I think they are in France running a terrible hotel. She drinks and flirts with the guests and he is wearing tiny swimming trunks organising events like pool-side ping pong. Stuart: I thought they killed themselves by over-indulging at a running buffet! James: Alan and Joanna opened a hotel/restaurant in Torquay.
Fay: Mac's first name was Paul. James: Mac's first name was 'Doctor'. Stuart: Mac never had a first name. Although I think it would have been Geoffrey! OK, come on, you have to tell us - does Mac REALLY die? James: Mac now only exists in the white space between the show ending, and him actually dying. Poor sod. Fay: Mac didn't die - because he can't - he's going to be the next Doctor Who - wouldn't that be good! Oriane: Mac doesn't die (if he did think Alex Kingston and Mark Green in ER in Hawaii) I imagine he got cured somehow. Stuart: Yes and he was eaten by his family! Richard: As I mentioned earlier, I am very much in the "Kill 'em all" camp. I thought one advantage of the ending to the special was that it was inconclusive. Viewers are given a bit more freedom to think... maybe Martin came up with a miracle cure for Mac and he got together with Caroline, and Guy fell in love with Fernelia Glompt (Guyball's leading lady proponent and only beneficiary of the "Glompt Hats and Pies" fortune) and they lived happily ever after in Obwalden Canton... They didn't though. Mac died. Or maybe he didn't?... you can believe what you want. Except that he did actually die. Or *did* he? Yes, he did! The British Sitcom Guide is visited by quite a few aspiring comedy writers. Would you mind giving them some tips? Oriane: Keep at it! Send your stuff to anyone and everyone. Fay and I used to send it to any producer we could find in the Radio Times. People are always looking for ideas. Richard: Yes, keep going, and try not to take rejection too badly (this is, of course, impossible). When someone says they're not sure about something, do not laboriously explain the joke. They almost certainly understood it, they just didn't like it. If someone asks for a re-write on something they might be right. On the other hand, they might not. As William Goldman famously said (about the film industry): "No-one knows anything!" Especially me. Stuart: I'd also recommend you all quit your jobs. Don't worry about money because you can always steal it from people. You could try going to university (if you haven't already been). You have lots of free time to idle about feeling happy at uni because you don't have to go to work. This can lead to creativity. Just keep going. Persistence is everything. Apart from being able to write. And be funny. And... James: Write lots and lots, read lots and lots. Embrace rejection as you would a fit bird with notes stuffed down her cleavage. Do some jobs that involve working with the public, and listen to how they speak, as opposed to how they do on Eastenders. Also, be polite to runners, as they are inevitably the offspring of insanely powerful producers, and will be employing you in three years time. Fay: The runners bit is really good advice James! Also, you should steal from what people say in the street and read trash magazines and books. Basically don't think too much about it - just start writing and see what happens - I do that every day! Send your stuff to people at Radio 4; go and see stuff - Radio 4 do lots of recordings. Don't be to precious about your stuff either! Great advice, thanks. Talking about comedy writing careers, what new projects are you currently working on? James: At the moment I am creating a teen drama pilot for the BBC (which is secretly about the class war and property prices); re-writing my superhero movie script and being stared at by the cat. Oriane: Fay and I went to LA recently to pitch and amazingly we sold a show to Fox which is very exciting. We are currently in the throws of writing a storyline, hiring a US Lawyer and dreaming of becoming Hollywood big wigs - who'd have thought! Fay: We've just done some Pinky and Perky and, as Oriane says, we're now writing a pilot script for Fox. It's an animation which is scary (we're now watching alot of American Dad and Family Guy) but ultimately we are thrilled, and we got to do some great shopping too! Richard: I'm working on a sitcom pilot script for the BBC; one for Channel Four; an animated feature film; some corporate stuff; and other bits and pieces. Some of which I can't talk about yet and others of which are boring/unlikely to happen. Stuart: I've just had Spacehopper commissioned to series by BBC3. It's a sketch show about young people and it's set up t'north where I come from and live and stuff. This will take up most of my time until Christmas. At this point in the interview Gary Howe dropped in to let us know what he's up to... Gary Howe: I'm in a place called 'America' (Scottsdale Arizona) playing golf, sunbathing, swimming, reading, doing the crossword, jogging, playing golf (again), laughing, smiling, rogering the wife and drinking ice cold drinks by the pool. And every single second of every single day I thank Christ in the holy heavens that I never have to write another word of 'comedy' as long as I live! [Editor note: As you can gather Gary has now quit the comedy writing industry]
James: Um, just to say we've all been immensely touched by how much the GW devotees really took the show to heart, we never could have imagined the loyalty and love it would receive. And personally, I'm hoping to work with all the various GW creative team again at some unspecified point in the future. Even Stuart! Stuart: Thanks to all involved in the making of the show. I wish you all well with your future projects and hope to see you all again soon. And if you liked the show, thanks for watching! Fay: It's been a kick in arse but we are out of here (you have to say that in an American accent). Oh and many thanks to The British Sitcom Guide for their support. Oriane: Yeah, thanks to the British Sitcom Guide - it's my bible to what's going on in comedy. Also all the Green Wing MySpace and 'blog' readers who are really loyal and also come to our other shows too! Richard: Yes it's been heartening and slightly scary how much viewers got into Green Wing. Thanks for the support and friendship from the others working on the show- professionally, but also personally. To find out more about the writers check out their websites: Oriane and Fay: Stuart: James: |
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GREEN WING
Stuart Kenworthy: I'd gone back to university as a mature student and when my degree finished I couldn't face going back to a proper job. The only thing I could imagine doing was writing comedy, so I decided I'd either do that or be a tramp. The tramp thing's working out very nicely thank you.
James Henry: I too, was unsuited for real work due to a chronic inability to concentrate on anything that didn't interest me, and being too tall for it. I wrote scripts until someone gave me a job.
Fay Rusling: I met Oriane when we were acting in Agatha Christie plays in the provinces - I often played a sixty year old woman, she a doctor's secretary. We bonded over the idea that one of the other actresses had cloven hooves. Ori said "have you ever written?", I said "no I can't spell and don't know about punctuation" - she said not to worry, "computors can do that".
Oriane Messina: Fay has explained about how we started writing and met etc. I think Green Wing has been my favourite writing job, if sometimes frustrating - but it was an amazing learning experience and I loved the whole thing.
Richard Preddy: My background is similar to Stuart and James really. I left university and then worked as a fruit picker, exam invigilator, receptionist, filing clerk, in the accounts department at the Blood Transfusion Service, in a Motorbike shop and as a Management Consultant researcher... plus lots of signing on.
Much of the show's success is clearly down to the writing. How was the process organised?
The organisation you describe sounds difficult. Is it difficult to write in a team? Given a choice would you prefer to write as an individual or part of a team?
Were there any major disagreements about how a scene should pan out or how a key plotline should be resolved?
Could you talk us through the characters - which was the hardest to write for; did you tend to write for one character more than others; do you think you're like any of the characters; and which character would you have liked to develop further?
What was your favourite scene to write? And what about the hardest scene to write?
Were there any hidden political or personal messages in the show? For example, one of our readers pointed out that Mac appeared to be angry that Holly had an abortion - was that a statement? Oh, and what about all those animal costumes... what was that all about?
Those lost scenes all sound brilliant, shame they didn't make it into the final scripts! OK brace yourselves for a tough question: one of our readers wanted to know how you felt about the actors taking your scripts and going away and then improvising their own lines?
OK, so time to dish the dirt: are any of the actors like the characters they play?
How many of the ideas for season 2 were in place when you were writing season 1? e.g. did you know how you were going to resolve the cliff hanger ending when you wrote that?
There was considerable strength of feeling and discussion about the various plot lines in the show. Did you ever feel that your creation had become the property of the audience? And did public opinion shape the way the second series un-folded?
It has now been said by many people that Green Wing is unlikely to ever return. If things changed might you be tempted to write another series?
Bother, we were hoping that you were collaborating on something new together. Maybe later! Changing the subject a bit then, can you tell us the official rules of Guyball? We're quite confused.
Did you ever come up with a first name for Mac or did you just decide not to give him one?
That's it. Thanks ever so much for talking to us guys - I'm sure all our readers will agree that your answers provide a fascinating peep behind-the-scenes of what will surely be remembered as one of the most original comedies of the decade. Any final thoughts you'd like to share?