Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Mackenzie Crook, Steve Pemberton, Rosie Cavaliero, India Brown, Thierry Wickens, Zoe Wanamaker, Michael Palin, Francesca Mills, Lucy Montgomery, Colin Michael Carmichael, Gus Brown, Kiran Shah, Malik Ibheis.
The ways of the countryside, the laws that govern nature have become so bound up in a myth like status that for anyone who doesn’t step outside their concrete bubble from time to time and into the hands of The Green Man that shapes our lands, can be seen as missing out on an education in which surely improves the soul.
After decades of mismanagement and endangering the equilibrium between humanity and the natural world, it is refreshing to see the young generation coming through with such a zealous approach to good housekeeping of the countryside, wanting to live in balance with nature rather than tearing it apart. Such action has to come from somewhere and whilst activism is a noble pasture in which to serve under, it is by understanding, even if it comes from television and media, of just what the countryside can mean to all.
Whilst primarily set out for a particular generation, Mackenzie Crook’s retelling of Worzel Gummidge is a particular joy that all the family can gain appreciation from, the story built up from the ground, an earthy quality of mischief rolled up in a tale of thought and openness, but one that captures the heart of Jon Pertwee’s time as Barbara Euphan Todd’s wry sense of humour induced scarecrow.
The times may have changed but the message deeply engrained in Mackenzie Crooks’ script for The Green Man is one based in innocence and the sentiment of nurturing a connection once more, not only with children but with their adult parents, with all ages.
It is in this innocence that The Green Man episode works beautifully, the bringing down of the local scarecrow bike gang by reminding of their responsibility to their own kind, the abuse of the countryside as so much of our plastic and waste finds its way into the eco system; it may be considered by some to be a waste of time to care, but it is our time we are killing.
A character once thought of being written for children, brought into the 21st Century for all who seek a different message other than rampant consumerism.
Ian D. Hall