|
|
| GREEN WING NEWS | Issue 18 - 3rd October 2007 |
This much anticipated new release hits the shops in a couple of weeks (Monday 15th October to be exact). It will feature all the episodes from series one, the complete series two, the one-off 90 minute special and a new bonus disc of previously un-seen material too. There's also going to be a 32-page Green Wing booklet inside each boxset. Because it has quite a hefty price tag (about £50) we know a lot of you are currently un-sure of whether it's worth buying this new boxset. Hopefully we can help you out here... If you haven't got all the episodes on DVD already then your answer should be an unequivocal 'yes, buy'. This release contains all 18 episodes along with hours and hours of bonus features. Anyone who already has the series individually will tell you that you really ought to own them all! If you already have bought the previous GW DVDs the answer becomes a bit more tricky. You see, the first seven discs in this new boxset you already have (they've just been re-packaged) - only one disc is new. The decision as to whether to buy or not therefore boils down to whether you think it's worth trading in what you've already got (Amazon Marketplace will give you about £25 back) to get the extra bonus DVD, the booklet and the neatness of having all the DVDs together in one box. We've not yet seen the 32 page booklet so can't comment on that but we have checked out the new bonus disc. We will describe the contents of that to you here right now in our exclusive newsletter-only preview: hopefully this will help you make your mind up whether it is worth getting the new boxset. OK, the first thing on the bonus disc is a 15 minute documentary called Green Wing: The Phenomenon. In this feature GW creator Victoria Pile talks about the un-expectedly strong reaction to the series from the fans. It starts with footage from the DVD signing sessions (you could well see yourself on that if you were there) and has an interview with Virgin Megastores' PR Manager who explains that the shop wasn't expecting so many crazy fans to turn up! The next segment of the documentary is on topmilers, with the show's Costume Designer and Wardrobe Supervisor demonstrating how they made the first one. It turns out Michelle Gomez is a bit of an expert at making them! A rather good overview of what went on at the convention follows (again, if you were in attendance at that you could well see yourself). This segment also features an interview with GW writer Robert Harley who gives his positive impressions of the day. The mini-documentary then ends with footage from the TalkbackThames BBQ where the cast, writers and crew played (or at least tried to play) guyball. The main bulk of the bonus disc is about 30 minutes of never-seen-before deleted scenes from the various series. What is a surprise here is just how funny some of these scenes are - they're really great! It just goes to show how much must have been cut from the episodes if they've managed to find another half-hour of really funny scenes we've not seen before (as you know they've already put hours of extra footage on the previous boxsets). Some of these new scenes are a bit too saucy for TV which is why we're probably only seeing them for the first time now. Here's a quick run-down of some of our favourite new scenes... Series 1 (9 minutes of scenes in total): Guy and Sue talking about the time they had sex; Martin awkwardly chatting up Karen; Alan moaning at Sue while she distracts him with a woolly hat and Sue taking Joanna on at yoga fitness (following Sue dancing to her ringtone). There's also a very funny scene in which Alan steals from the hospital's shop - it was no doubt cut from the broadcast episode by the censors for reasons we can't mention here for fear of setting off spam filters! Series 2 (16 minutes): Guy and Martin singing Flying in the Air to a comatose Mac (five star performances from them!); Angela's attempt at being a TV presenter ruined by the boys making rude scenes behind her; Alan threatening Guy with a toilet brush (a laugh-out-loud funny scene) and Boyce's 'little mouse with clogs on' prank. There's also some scenes between Harriet and Lyndon which reveal a bit more about their romance (something that has been a bit of a mystery until now). Special (3 minutes): Three new scenes - Martin and Mac talking, Alan and Joanna in the camper van (nudity alert!) and Martin trying to find a suitable wedding present in a posh shop. The bonus disc also contains a spot-on musical spoof - Mark Heap and Julian Rhind-Tutt re-create Sparks' Top of the Pops performance of 'This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us' (the original of which can be seen on YouTube - have a guess which band member Mark Heap plays - it's not hard!) There's also some Green Wing Music but frankly this section of the disc is a little disappointing. No videos - just three Trellis tracks (Shammy, Twang and Vibrobed). If you want GW music you'd be much better off getting the new soundtrack CD (more about that later in this email).
Hopefully that above section has helped you make up your mind. If you are getting the new boxset it will be in all shops on Monday 15th October. Alternatively you can pre-order it from one of the websites below for a discounted price: If you want to sell your old GW DVDs to part-pay for the new one Amazon have their Marketplace and Play have a scheme called PlayTrade. Note: at the time of writing HMV have the boxset listed for £43 - however be warned that they might not have got the price right. They're only quoting the boxset as having five discs?!? As we all know, it actually has eight. Fans outside of the EU: Same advice as always - make sure you can play Region 2 DVDs before importing any via Amazon. For those that don't know - you have to be careful as European DVDs are a different format so you might not be able to play them unless you have a multi-region player (more info about region codes). American fans: If you're holding out for a R1 release we're afraid to say that, according to 4DVD, there are still "currently no plans to release a boxset in the States". As a result of this we suggest now is probably the time to end the waiting game and import the definitive boxset from the UK (if you can play R2 DVDs) - you see it now looks unlikely America will ever get a comprehensive release, or even any release at all. Sorry. If you can play R2 DVDs then you can import this boxset from Amazon UK - they ship worldwide. Australian and NZ fans: its only an un-confirmed rumour so don't get too excited, however we hear there may be plans to release a Region 4 DVD. Stay tuned for more details as we get them.
Because we love you so much we've got hold of three copies of this new boxset to giveaway! If that wasn't enough we've got the prizes signed by the cast! We've also got three copies of the series one script book to giveaway so make sure you get your entry in via the link below...
As you may have heard via the blogs, to promote the new boxset a signing session has also been organised. It's going to be at the Piccadilly Virgin Megastore on the launch date - Monday 15th October. More info from the Virgin Megastore website If it is anything like the last couple of signings you will want to get there a bit before the official start time of 6pm. The line-up is Oli Chris, Stephen Mangan, Karl Theobald and Mark Heap. Julian Rhind-Tutt and Tamsin Greig are also going to try and make it but they're not definite attendees at the time of writing (we'll put the final line up on our website as soon as it is confirmed).
This CD contains 23 original tracks from the show, all of which you'll instantly recognise. From the rousing opening overture that is played over last week's highlights right through to that memorable little twang that is played during many a GW scene - all the classic Green Wing sounds are on this disc. Thanks to this CD we can now all finally dance along in our rooms pretending we're in East Hampton Hospital with the gang! (or is that just us?) The tracks are: Last Week, Car Park, Vibrobedhead, Jolly Scarface, MoonAway, Acoustica, No Tune, Camel, Ouch, Sniff, Kinslide, Wig: a Wig, King Jelly, Fibre Troll, Kingston, Rhodespierre, Grammercy, Crab, Twang (original), Fibreoptik, Dark Kingston, No Hope and Logust. If these obscure names make no sense to you then take a look at this post on the C4 message board. The CD will be in most shops from Monday or you can purchase it online now from one of the following websites: Silvascreen.co.uk - £12 Play.com - £11 HMV - £9 (search for 'Jonathan Whitehead') International fans: SilvaScreen are happy to ship the CD to you for just £3 postage and packing. We've got three copies of this new CD to giveaway - enter our competition here.
As you may have gathered, the second series scripts have been delayed. Publisher Titan Books have told us they still plan to release the book but "there isn't a firm release date yet". Amazon are currently estimating February 2008. Here's a little exclusive: Don't get your hopes up too high but we've heard a rumour that Titan are going to try and arrange a signing session. If it does get off the ground it'll be the final chance for you to get GW stuff signed. Watch this space for any developments. If you think it's worthwhile we'll suggest to them that a northern signing session might be a good idea, somewhere like Birmingham or Manchester? - email us if you'd attend such an event so we can get an idea of the support.
To finish this email here's various snippets of news relating to the world of Green Wing: Love Soup, which stars Tamsin Greig, is returning for another series. However, there will be some changes. Michael Landers who played Gil Raymond has left the show, and there will now be 12 half-hour episodes rather than 6 hour-long episodes. Incidentally the first series is now available on DVD and actually looks like it is going to be re-released on DVD this winter too. Steven Mangan's wife Louise Delamere is pregnant with their first child, according to this Guardian interview with Steve. Staying with the Steven Mangan news: the actor will be starring in a new sitcom next year alongside Kate Ashfield (Shaun of the Dead) and Tom Goodman-Hill (Ideal). In Never Better Mangan will play an Alcoholics Anonymous attendee called Tom whose new teetotalism 'brings crisis and destruction to those around him'. At his AA group he creates chaos endangering the recovery of his fellow twelve-steppers. At home, his wife and two children have to cope with his new extreme attentiveness and misfiring determination to be a good dad and husband. Meanwhile this Christmas, Julian Rhind-Tutt will be appearing as the mysterious Mr Monks in a BBC adaption of Oliver Twist. Full details. The various Green Wing articles on Wikipedia have now achieved the rank of 'Good Article' (or, in a couple of cases, are current nominees for that rank). It's pretty impressive considering only 1 in 700 articles manage to reach that status so congratulations to everyone who's contributed to them so far! Mark Heap is currently appearing in Self-Storage, a six-part radio comedy. It's about a man called Dave (Reece Shearsmith) who moves into a storage depot after the breakup of his marriage. Mark is playing the part of mysterious neighbour Geoff. You can listen to the latest episode online. GW writer Stuart Kenworthy's latest show It's Adam and Shelley is currently on BBC Three on Monday nights. If you live in the UK you can watch episodes online. Watch out for Stuart's award-winning new sketch show Spacehopper coming to TV soon. Paterson Joseph (aka Lyndon) is currently starring in The Emperor Jones at the Olivier Theatre. More details, video and tickets You may remember we mentioned that Victoria Pile was developing a comedy cop show for American TV which was based on the same style as Green Wing. Well, according to the latest reports we're hearing, the pilot has not been picked up by ABC and so it is now on the back burner (and more than likely dead). A fan of the show has seen the pilot episode that was made for ABC and posted this less-than-positive report on LiveJournal. Please email us your five favourite GW YouTube videos. As we're about to start winding down our GW coverage and want to update our videos page to leave just the very best GW compilations and clips on there. If you download the free 4 on Demand application from Channel 4 you can currently see all the episodes of Green Wing for free! C4 have also temporarily made Smack the Pony a free download on 4oD too. Make sure you download some of those episodes as Smack the Pony is the sketch show that all the GW writers worked on before they created this show - and very funny it is too! The Smack the Pony highlights are now on DVD by the way - we really recommend this one. So much has been going on recently that we're bound to have forgotten some of the news items that we were supposed to put in this section. As a result we've setup a thread on our forum to post to after this email has gone out - please do check out that to see if we've missed anything of interest. Feel free to append any GW-related news we've missed yourself. OK, phew, that's it for the time being. We will no doubt be back again someday with another update but that's probably your lot GW wise for a couple of months at least (it'll take you almost that long to watch everything on the boxset though!) In the meantime if you're a fan of British comedy do head over to our website - not everyone realises it but we cover a lot more than just Green Wing. For example we've got guides to all the latest sitcoms (Vivienne Vyle, After You've Gone, Not Going Out, Other People etc) and also have a busy forum where you can chat about all things comedy related. We're also currently working on a new website called comedy.org.uk - the aim of that site it to cover every British comedy ever made! Thanks for reading and see you on our website, Mark IMPORTANT: No not copy this whole email into any forum of blog posts! Please. It breaks the website links and we can only keep doing this if the exclusives we reveal are for our newsletter subscribers only. You can quote sections of this email elsewhere though - but, if you do, you must credit us as the source with a link to sitcom.co.uk! Cheers. Better still why not just link to this web page? |
|||||||||||||
|
© The British Sitcom Guide 2007. No reproduction without permission. |
