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Junior doctor reunites Green Wing cast to support strike action

BMJ 2016; 353 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i2020 (Published 07 April 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;353:i2020
  1. Abi Rimmer
  1. BMJ Careers
  1. arimmer{at}bmj.com

The cast of Green Wing have supported the fourth round of junior doctors’ industrial action from a picket line after they were contacted by a junior doctor.

Five of the cast of the Channel 4 comedy attended the picket line at Northwick Park Hospital, London, on Wednesday 6 April to show their support for the action.

Janis Burns, an anaesthetic trainee who works at the hospital, where the series was filmed, told BMJ Careers that she emailed the agents of 10 members of the cast, asking if the actors would get involved.

“At the last strike I felt that there was a little bit of apathy and people were quite demoralised and I thought about what we could do to try and improve things,” Burns said. “Working at Northwick Park I knew that Green Wing was filmed there so I decided to contact the actors and see whether they would be interested in reuniting on the picket line with junior doctors, over ten years after Green Wing was filmed. And they agreed.”

Burns said that after emailing the agents of the cast members she sent a second email a week later. She was then contacted directly by actors Pippa Haywood and Stephen Mangan. “Their emails basically said to leave it to them and they’d be in touch.”

Burns said that less than 24 hours before the strike started Haywood and Mangan confirmed that five of the cast would be arriving at Northwick Park.

Burns then wrote a press release and contacted all the major newspapers and TV news desks. At 11 am on the first day of industrial action five of the cast—Stephen Mangan, Pippa Haywood, Tamsin Greig, Julian Rhind-Tutt, and Oliver Chris—arrived at the picket line.

Despite having concerns the night before, Burns said that the media coverage of the event was excellent and far in excess of what she had hoped for. “On the day we had camera crews from the Press Association, BBC, Sky, and London Live at Northwick Park all ready and waiting for Green Wing to arrive,” she said. “Photos from Northwick Park were all over social media and it genuinely seems to have lifted morale.”

Burns said that if the government were to press on with imposition, it was important to raise as much support for junior doctors as possible.

“The Green Wing actors all have high profiles, so I think it helps raise awareness of our cause,” she said. “Also it goes to prove that it’s not just doctors who realise it is bad, our message is getting out there and other people are listening to it.”

Commenting on why she agreed to attend the picket line, Tamsin Greig, who played surgical registrar Caroline Todd in Green Wing, said, “I think it’s really important to be part of a group of courageous people who are standing up and saying, ‘Can I just point out that if this goes on something will break. And it will be an institution that is a treasure but it will also be people.’”

She added, “It’s really important to stand alongside something that is unique in the world—this doesn’t happen in any other country in this form. I don’t want to get into my senile years and look back and say, ‘I remember the Dodo that was the NHS.’ I don’t want it to be a picture in a book, I want it to be alive and vibrant.”

Stephen Mangan, who played anaesthetist Guy Secretan in the series, said, “We’ve been watching aghast at what’s been going on: the government’s refusal to listen to the concerns of the medical profession, the government’s demand that the same resources stretch further and further—it’s just not possible. [We’re here] to show our support, hopefully shine a bit of light and bring a bit of publicity, and in a small way boost a bit of morale.”

Pippa Haywood, who played human resources director Joanna Clore, said that the cast really wanted to support the junior doctors that they worked alongside during the filming of Green Wing. “All of us felt very strongly that we wanted to support their cause and to ask Jeremy Hunt to start listening again.”

She added, “We all see it as absolutely fair and right and proper that this imposition should be lifted and negotiations should start again. If we’re going to have a seven day week in the NHS we have to have it properly negotiated and people’s hours and pay should be properly worked out.”

Julian Rhind-Tutt, who played surgeon Dr Macartney in the series, said that the public might think the junior doctors’ dispute was about pay but that, “the real picture is very different, it’s about the systematic devaluation of the health service, and about the notion we have of what a doctor is in society today being eroded. That’s why I thought I would come. These are thoughts that friends and colleagues of mine in the NHS have talked to me about.”

“I would love to have a 24 hour NHS; it’s a brilliant idea. And I would love to have a letter that says my operation is scheduled for 3 am because there’s a fully operational hospital working through the night. But what people don’t seem to bear in mind is that’s not just junior doctors and consultants working through the night, it’s also x-ray technicians, admin staff, and all the people behind the scenes and that costs an enormous amount of money,” Rhind-Tutt said.