The production on the special was similar to that of the other episodes, with the hospital scenes being shot in the usual locations (the
Northwick Park Hospital in
Middlesex and the
North Hampshire Hospital in
Basingstoke). The script was written by the usual eight-person team led by
Victoria Pile, and produced and directed by the same people who recorded all the previous episodes. The special was recorded at the same time as the second series. The exterior scenes were harder to shoot. In the beginning funeral scene, one of the mourners is
Alan Yentob, who had been filming an episode of the
BBC One documentary series
Imagine. Stephen Mangan said that Martin's mime during the funeral was one of his favourite moments in
Green Wing. The opening titles of the episode differ from the others as it does not use the normal theme tune, "Last Week", (as it is named in the
original television soundtrack) and instead uses the track, "Camel". There were some improvised scenes. These included a scene in the beginning of the episode where Alan and Joanna are in a middle of a field and the scene begins with a
low-angle shot. Later, when Alan is "
humping" Joanna, the scene suddenly becomes a
crane shot. This is because the crew at the time had a crane camera after they had finished filming the final scenes in series 2 where Alan, Joanna and Martin are teetering over the edge of a cliff in the stolen camper van. The camper van scenes were the hardest to shoot, especially the scene where the van explodes, as this had to be done in one take. Another problem was the smell of the van, which Pippa Haywood said, "smelt of old dogs." The van also suffered other problems such as bits of the steering wheel and gear stick coming off.
Julian Rhind-Tutt commented that the scene where Alan and Boyce talk together for the last time was one of the most moving scenes in the whole of
Green Wing. The wedding was shot at Hall of
Bayham Abbey in
Kent, where the crew had difficulty filming due to bad weather. The show also features a guest appearance from
Jeremy Sheffield near the end of the episode as Sue's new boyfriend.
Alternative ending An
alternative ending was made for the special, which was never broadcast, but was put as an extra on the DVD. In this version of the ending, when Mac sees Caroline floating away, he runs down the stairs and out of the castle to save her. Caroline begins to descend, and both Mac and Guy grab hold of one her legs to bring her down, but instead they are lifted into the air with her. While the three fly away, Caroline exclaims "We're all going to die!", to which Mac quite sternly says "Caroline, there's something I've been meaning to tell you," opening the possibility that Mac is not going to die. Meanwhile, Alan and Joanna, after walking into the sea, are last seen hanging onto a
buoy waiting to drown. They are still talking while waiting for the ocean to drown them. This ending was the favourite amongst the actors. Mangan said that the alternative ending was the best moment in the whole of
Green Wing. However, the alternative ending was rejected and the writers favoured the ending that was eventually broadcast. It is believed that the alternative ending would have been broadcast if a third series was being made, as that ending was much more ambiguous, since Alan and Joanna are still seen alive and Mac tells Caroline that he still has something to say. In fact, for the recording of the DVD commentary, they were watching the special with the alternative ending, indicating that the decision to switch endings was made sometime between recording of the commentary and broadcast. Speaking on the commentary, Rhind-Tutt says that he was glad that after much discussion they chose the ending "they all wanted", with "the three of them flying off together", however, this was not the version that was eventually broadcast. ==Reception==