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Green Wing 1 - Filming The Cliff Hanger
Jonathan is the mastermind behind all the props, sets and stunts you see in Green Wing. As one of Britain's leading designers his comedy CV is long and enviable... he has designed the sets and props for comedy hits such as Brass Eye, the Ali G series, Smack The Pony, QI, Mock the Week and many more. "Planning for the cliff hanger stunt, started back in early October 2003, about 7 weeks before we actually shot it. At that point, the script wasn't fully written, but the bare bones of the idea that Mac, Guy and Martin would end up teetering on a cliff edge in an ambulance had just been conceived. For the next month or so, my job was to co-ordinate stunt arrangers, action vehicles and health and safety issues, and draw a storyboard for the Director, which was used to discuss and refine the shots required. We also had to source a 'stunt double' ambulance that matched the one we would hire, but was also cheap enough to trash, in case it was severely damaged during filming. This ambulance also had to have its engine removed, to cut down the weight, and special brackets welded to its chassis to facilitate the tethering.
During the number of meetings held to discuss the stunt, it was decided that we would set up 3 separate rigs. The first, would be the stunt ambulance, which would be tethered safely to a JCB out of vision by means of steel cables and safety cables. We would also protect the cliff edge by using steel plates, so that the location remained un-harmed. This ambulance would be driven by two stunt doubles. The second rig was the real ambulance, set on a motorised gimbel rig, on a platform, set some 20-30 feet away from the cliff edge. This rig would contain the 3 actors, and would rock backwards and forwards on cue, but would be shot in such a way that it would look like it was right on the cliff edge. The third rig, was a turntable, set in an adjacent field, that had the real ambulance fixed to it, and also contained the real actors. This rotated round and round, with the camera inside looking out, to give the spinning shots from the point of view of the drivers.
It was an amazing day for cast and crew alike, and one that I will never forget!" Thanks very much to Jonathan Paul Green for providing this great insight. To see the storyboard for the stunt along with other photos of the day visit Jonathan's brilliant Green Wing Blog |
GREEN WING
The first series of Green Wing ended with that scene no fan can forget, the literal cliff-hanger! We asked Green Wing's Production Designer 
The skill, as in every TV or film stunt, is to trick the viewer in to believing absolutely that the ambulance skids to the edge, and literally hangs in the balance right on the cliff edge, with 3 actors inside. In reality this isn't practical. The best stunt driver in the world couldn't place a vehicle on a cliff edge without risk of falling over it, and you can't risk having the real actors in a vehicle on a cliff edge either.
November 26th 2003 - Shoot Day: Having spent the night with cast and crew in a hotel in Eastbourne, I awoke around 4:30am. The sense of anticipation was enormous. After a short 10 minute drive through the darkness and driving rain, I arrived at Seaford Head Nature Reserve around 5:30. The rain was intense and the wind was ferocious. I walked towards the dining bus, buffeted by the storm, wondering how on earth we could make the stunt work. The bus (a double decker London bus) was swaying back and forth, with gusts making it too scary to venture to the upper level. The noise of the wind and the driving rain, and the pitch black darkness made the whole situation seem quite surreal. It was touch and go whether to abandon the shoot, but the cost of setting it up was so huge that it was decided to sit and wait.
Miraculously, as the sun came up, the rain stopped, and the wind died down. An air of calm descended over the East Sussex coast. Everybody sprang into action. The crane was rigged, the JCB put in place, and foliage dressed in around the steel plates to disguise them. For the rest of the day, we set up as planned and shot the sequences that created the end-of-series-one cliff hanger.