Review of Green Wing: Series 2

Introduction

Massive deja vu here. When I reviewed series 1 of Green Wing I said:-

"If you have read any of my recent reviews, they have largely been negative. It seems that there has been a lot of dross coming out on DVD, and most of it has been passed out to reviewers."

And that`s exactly the same situation I find myself in now. After weeks of low budget kung fu releases that have been ill-treated by DVD companies, a chance to watch a good DVD of a fantastic show, and a chance to write something nice for once.

The second series of Green Wing arrives on DVD in a much more timely fashion than the first (we had to wait ages for it). The series got off to a slow start with the first episode, which received a bit of a beating in the media, but the rest of the episodes were of the usual quality.

If you`ve still not caught Green Wing, it`s basically an extended hospital based sketch show with elements of sit com, a loose plotline, and bags of craziness and surrealism. You either love it or hate it.

I love it.

Video

An exemplary 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, as first broadcast. Nothing wrong from a technical point of view.

The visual techniques of the show have already been commented upon, and many of them are the product of hours in the editing room, speeding up and slowing down shots, to cover gaps between takes, and gloss over any out-takes. Some of the other bits, such as swinging the camera away at the end of a scene are products from Victoria Pile`s previous series Smack the Pony.

There are also many brilliant visual gags, many of them coming from Michelle Gomez`s character, the wonderful Sue White.

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, again as first broadcast, and again perfectly fine technically.

The most striking thing is the absolutely excellent music, some of which is carried over from series one, along with some new themes. There are various riffs that repeat throughout scenes and you`ll find yourself humming bits of it afterwards, it`s that good.

Features

The series is spread across three discs, and they`ve packed extras on each one.

We have commentaries on three of the episodes, with a variety of cast and crew popping in and out on each episode. We get to hear from various crew members and various cast members who have plenty to say. Great tracks all of them, and again if I`m being niggly, I would have wanted more. There`s a decent amount to leave you satisfied though.

There`s a brief behind the scenes featurette, which is a bit better than the one on the first disc.

Each DVD also has some deleted scenes, which are fully produced with sound, video and everything all up to broadcast standards. There`s quite a lot of material here, and most of it is just as good as the episodes. And as a bonus at the end of the scenes on disc 3, there are some out-takes which are great.

There are also cast and crew biography pages. On the first series DVD these were a bit of a tease as they gave you teeny little bits of out-takes featuring the person in question - which made them actually worth bothering with for once. Sadly on this DVD they are just pages of text. However, given that the out-takes are now available separately, it`s not so bad.

Conclusion

Genius.

Pure unadulterated genius. Well, apart from the first episode which really is a bit flat. But these things happen with dream sequence style episodes.

Laugh out loud funny, surreal, bizarre, wacky and inspired.

Quite simply one of the funniest things ever made and a superb DVD. And it`s a pleasure to be writing something nice about a DVD once again. All of the comedic parts add up to an amazing whole. Michelle Gomez has to be the overall star of the show, her character Sue White is one of the greatest creations in the entire history of comedy. All of the other characters are great too, but Sue White just stands out above them all.

If you`re ever feeling down or depressed, sad or blue, buy this DVD and watch it. It should come with a cast iron 100% guarantee to leave you feeling happy after watching it. Sit back and marvel at eight episodes of 50 minute comedy perfection. It`s too good to analyse, so that`s your lot.

It`s great.

Buy it.