Customer Reviews Green Wing Series 1 [DVD]

'The sitcom is dead' they cry, but surely they can't trace the fingerprints on the murder weapon to the insane geniuses behind this show. 'Green Wing' does what many classic comedy series have done before - ripped up the rulebook and broke new ground. 'Green Wing' features episodes almost double the length of your conventional sitcom and slinky, helter-skelter camera tricks that you would normally expect to see in some sort of avant garde movie.
But what really makes this a very different sort of comedy is that it could really be a Drama. Yes, that's right. Because unlike other comedies,best tv shows on dvd, 'Green Wing' doesn't just plonk a group of one dimensional characters together for the sake of cramming in as many gags as possible. It is far more interested in the dynamics of plot and, perhaps more significantly, character. The protagonists are not just ciphers for jokes: we actually care about and are interested in what they are doing. They drive the action, and not vice versa. No other sitcom (at least to my mind) places this much emphasis on character.
The characters themselves are, almost without exception, utterly bonkers. But there is logic to their actions and we can almost (almost) recognize them from our daily lives. We've all stumbled across a smooth-talking womanizer who, surprise surprise, is actually a b*stard (Guy). Ditto humourless, anal types who can't help but routinely humiliate themselves in painfully hilarious ways (Dr Statham). We also have the charming one everyone likes (Mac), the downtrodden loser treated with scorn and affection in equal measure (Martin), the monstrous,24 season series, predatory bully (Joanna Clore)...and then, of course, there's the put upon one wracked with self-doubt who sometimes struggles to fit in (Caroline Todd - aka our hero). We can recognize traces of others and ourselves in these people. That they're all madcap just maximizes our enjoyment level. Even peripheral characters, like smart-alec Boyce and the borderline-anarchy of the admin girls, are a hoot.
It's the characters that make this show, and Green Wing is crammed with memorable creations. Everyone has their favourite (I'm torn between Guy and the wonderfully diabolical Sue White), but each plays their part in the often surreal whole. 'Green Wing' is a great comedy series that ably balances side-splitting laughs with effective Drama.