Green Wing

TV Review: The Delivery Man

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The Delivery Man is a brand new sitcom set in a maternity ward and follows the endeavours of Matthew Bunting (played by Darren Boyd) as he swaps the life of a police officer for that of a midwife.

Would it be lazy to draw comparisons between The Delivery Man and Green Wing? They are both offbeat and fast-paced hospital sitcoms. They both utilise an upbeat soundtrack, a variety of camera shots and short, snappy scenes which give the episodes a strange, disjointed rhythm. Elements of both border on the surreal, with extroverted characters and painful social situations. The beginning of the series suggested to me that the new midwife was even to fill the role of Guy Secretan (played by Stephen Mangan) in the sense that he winds up in absurd circumstances due to his flawed communication skills. But this feeling definitely lost its intensity as the series progressed and the narrative began to fall in line with what I would consider a more regular situation comedy. It quickly found its feet.

It may be no surprise to hear that the programme was written by Robert Harley and James Henry, who also wrote Green Wing. This explains a lot for me, but also makes me feel considerably better about the similarities between the two, at least there is no foul play here. It is inevitable that writers will create programmes with similar themes, if they’ve found the area they are best at (and there is no denying that Green Wing is a fantastic sitcom). But if it does feel like Green Wing, it is certainly on a smaller scale, focussing on a small group of midwives and office workers, which allows the comedy to feel far more homely and processable. These two programmes are certainly not the same, and perhaps it is unfair of me to view The Delivery Man with these prejudices.

The onscreen character relationships are endearing as well as hilarious with the conversations between the ladies in the office being quick-witted and a little insane. Tash (Jennie Jacques) and Lisa (Aisling Bea) make a wonderful comic duo as they are both immensely likeable but arguably possess varying levels of common sense (note Tash’s near-hysteria at the arrival of a minor celebrity to the ward in episode four). This, when contrasted against the relative level-headedness of Lisa and Caitlin (Fay Ripley) is well on its way to creating a diverse and multi-layered character dynamic. A stand out performance came from of Alex Macqueen as he adopted the role of rather sinister consultant obstetrician, Luke Edwards. His delightfully odd mannerisms and twisted humour really add to the effects of the group of characters as a whole as well as adding that bit of surreal comic relief that Harley and Henry are so skilled at. Aisling Bea delights us as always with her sweet Irish charm and sharp tongue, making Lisa an integral character for the programme.

It is fair to say I was sceptical when the series of The Delivery Man began, but the excellence of both the cast and the writing has swayed me. This comedy is speedy, ludicrous in places and incredibly well scripted, making it a very enjoyable watch that really came into its own as the episodes progressed.

CATCH UP WITH SERIES ONE OF THE DELIVERY MAN ON ITV PLAYER.

TV Review: Green Wing

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I know I’m late to the party with this one, with Green Wing having first been broadcast in September 2004 (though you could say I’ve chosen the best time to watch it: on its ten year anniversary).

IMDB describes the show as a “funny hospital-based sketch-comedy-drama type show,” which I think is very accurate, but if I had to describe Green Wing in just one word, I would probably say it is ‘dense’. This is neither a negative nor positive judgement of the show, though I do like it very much. I think my feelings stems from a few core values it holds throughout: firstly, the episodes are physically very long (each around 50 minutes) and there are nine of them in the series. As well as this, however, I think this feeling of density comes from the vast amount of quality acting, writing and directing throughout.

The cast is thriving with young (therefore not so young and very well known now) British comedy talent, including Tamsin Greig, Mark Heap, Stephen Mangan, Michelle Gomez and Olivia Colman (a few of my favourites, though there are more than ten big roles). I admire the cast of this programme because they aren’t afraid to look foolish: the writers make it clear that this is not a serious drama from the offset by scripting in surreal situations along with extremely childish behaviour.

green wing

There is a great deal of slapstick comedy with an almost Mr Bean-like quality to add to the entirely strange experience of watching Green Wing. The use of camera and soundtrack will often accentuate this in cases where everything will speed up at times and then slow right down to less-than-natural levels.

A stand-out performance for me would have to be that of Michelle Gomez, who plays Sue White, an actress who recently appeared in a recent episode of Doctor Who: Deep Breath and is also recognised as Bad Education‘s Isobel Pickwell. She captures the insanity of Green Wing effortlessly with her deadpan delivery of lines like: “I could put a spell on you” in the middle of a mature conversation.

Although Gomez is a particular favourite of mine, it would be impossible to pick an overall ‘best’ performance because they are all incredible and devoted actors. The insanity of Pippa Haywood and Tamsin Greig’s characters teamed with the typical almost-character-tropes of Stephen Mangan, Olivia Colman and Karl Theobald’s roles makes for truly excellent viewing.

This is obviously a show for every comedy-lover out there and I regret being so late to the party.