Green Wing Interviews - Stephen Mangan

Stephen Mangan is on fine form on a freezing cold day at Marylebone Station. He and co-star Tamsin Greig are filming the final scene of the second series of C4's award-winning comedy Green Wing and despite the chemistry between their characters since the first series, all the action is being kept strictly under wraps. But when suddenly Tamsin's real husband turns up and gives her a lingering kiss on the platform, Stephen turns and quips: "That's her real husband, I'm in trouble now!"

Steve plays Guy Secretan, the smooth-talking anaesthetist with a killer line in chatting up women. Here, he hold forth on life after Adrian Mole, taking the mickey out of his co-stars and his uncanny likeness to the donkey in Shrek.

Have you enjoyed making the second series as much as the first?
Yes it's been fantastic. It's one of those jobs where in the middle of it, you are already starting to miss it and don't want it to end. We are given so much scope for input into the programme. There are eight writers, there's Victoria Pile - the creator and producer - plus the directors, and you never really know what's going to happen every day when you turn up on set. The script is just a guide really, things change all the time.

It comes across as a very American way of doing things, with a team of writers and things changing as you go along.
That's absolutely right. With that way of working, there are so many different people having ideas, you do need one person to marshal the whole thing and be the final arbiter and that is Victoria . If the show works, it's because Victoria is so good at spotting what people can do and encouraging them to push it. We are trying to make her laugh really, and if we make her laugh we are doing okay. Hopefully we are making the viewers laugh too.

Your character Guy comes across as arrogant but ultimately quite lovable. What do you think of him?
He walks a fine line. Obviously he is trying to be funny but a lot of the humour is because he is such a wally. You are laughing at him. When we filmed the first series, I expected to be regularly punched in the face by strangers in the street because he can be quite arrogant, although I like to call it self-confidence! I think he is misunderstood.

There is something liberating about that kind of character who doesn't censor himself at all. If he sees a girl he likes, he'll tell her exactly what he likes about her and try and chat her up. People respond to that because in a way, part of all of us would like to be able to say exactly what we feel and not temper it at all.

What's in store for Guy and Tamsin's character Caroline in the new series?
They are very strict about us not giving anything away. The first series started off with this vibe between them and it's continued in the second series with a lot of twists and turns. It's unpredictable, all sorts of stuff happens.

The cast all look like they gel or is that just excellent acting?
We do get on very well. Whether that is just Victoria picking brilliantly or a bit of luck, I don't know. When we auditioned for the pilot, they got us in in twos and threes to see how we worked together. It makes more sense than getting people in one by one and hoping they'll get on. We have to get on because half the show is taking the mickey out of people's appearance and you could take that personally if you didn't get on. You've got to be very careful because any stories that you have in your private life get used.

Have any embarrassing stories about you made their way into the script?
I once told Victoria about a girl telling me I reminded her of somebody famous. I always get mistaken for Jerry Seinfeld, Elliott Gould and Pete Sampras so I listed about ten people and she said, no, it's none of them, it's the donkey from Shrek! Now every episode has me being compared to the donkey from Shrek. I'm much more guarded now but I looked at a picture the other day of Camilla Parker Bowles and her hairstyle and look are exactly like Julian (Rhind-Tutt). So that went in.

What have you been doing since Adrian Mole?
I did a lot of theatre in the West End and a C4 drama called Sword of Honour. I recently finished a new series for ITV1 called Jane Hall's Big Bad Bus Ride, with Sarah Smart. I play a very quiet and shy man, I know it sounds unlikely. I've done a couple of films - Festival last year and another called Confetti which is an improvised comedy about three couples who are in the finals of the wedding of the year competition. There are some good people in it, like Jimmy Carr, Martin Freeman and Alison Steadman.

What's been your biggest career challenge so far?
The Christmas Show at the Lyric Hammersmith. I was in The Magic Carpet. I'd never done anything like it before and I was scared witless. There were no Gladiators in it or Dean Gaffney, but there was flying, fighting, dancing and singing. It was a completely new thing for me, wearing a curly moustache and pearly slippers.