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Mac (Green Wing)
Encyclopedia
Dr Macartney or Dr Mac is a character in the British
sitcom Green Wing
, played by Julian Rhind-Tutt
.
and John Lennon
). His relationship with Holly lasted for six years, but they split up four years prior to the beginning of the series when she told Mac that she was going to abort their baby as it would be a "spanner in the works". She has since got married and is expecting a child. However, Holly has now left her husband and has returned to the hospital as a paediatrics registrar
. She also tried to get back into a relationship with Mac by lying about her abortion, claiming that she never had it. She also tells Mac that that they now have a son, Mackenzie, who is four years old and has the same kind of hair as Mac. This was later discovered to be false, as Mackenzie was not Mac's son, and Holly had bleached Mackenzie's naturally dark hair.
Mac is noted for his kindness - he is always willing to help anyone out of a tight spot. If there is a fight, he will always be the one to break it up. If someone is upset, he will try to cheer them up. If someone is being victimised, he will stand up for them. He often has to stand up for junior doctor Martin Dear
, who is often bullied by his half-brother Guy Secretan
. He is also very professional, and does not like his team - Guy and the new surgical registrar Caroline Todd - being disturbed.
He has shoulder-length, strawberry blonde hair that one member of staff, Sue White
calls the "Lion's mane". Guy often mocks it, saying that the reason he has it long is to "hide his large ears." Sue is just one of the many female members of staff who are attracted to him. Others include Caroline and Emmy, a physiotherapist working in the hospital.
Fluent in French, Mac enjoys intimidating Guy by explaining the history of specific terms including cassoulet and sabot
.
In series one, Mac is offered a position as a consultant
in Sheffield
and was intending to move up there with Emmy; however Caroline manages to win him over. Later that same night however, Mac tries to stop an intoxicated Guy who joyrides an ambulance and eventually crashes it over a cliff, putting Mac into a coma
that lasts over two months. When he finally awakens he has completely forgotten the 24 hours before the incident and has no memory of the feelings he had for Caroline.
During the coma, Sue White lies to the hospital in Sheffield and tells them that Mac has died, taking away Mac's precious job opportunity. She also "experiments" and takes some of Mac's semen during his coma and impregnates herself with it through injection, later claiming to be pregnant with Mac's child (she announces this by sawing her way through a table in an Indian restaurant where some of the hospital staff are having dinner). However, the baby turns out to be a lion, probably due to the Lion's mane.
In his spare time, Mac likes to ride his Ducati SuperSport
1000DS motorbike (which he apparently keeps in a hospital lift after placing an "Out of Order" sign on the Call button), but he does have the odd habit of riding it around naked. He also collects Evel Knievel
memorabilia. He is a big fan of The Kinks
. Another habit he has is making bets with Guy, and constantly proving that he is better than him. He is also known to like Goth
s, saying what he likes about them is the fact that "they try to pretend to be ugly on purpose." He is also against plastic surgery
for reasons of vanity, but not for those people who have had accidents. Mac has also been best man at seven weddings.
His parking space is A3, right next to the hospital, but he does not use it. This angers Alan who only has a reserve parking space away from the hospital, despite his rank as consultant, but nothing he says or does can change this. Mac is apparently entitled to the parking space because he is a surgeon, even though he does not use it. He fills it with sand and has a beach barbecue there with Guy and two bikini-clad women, much to Alan's chagrin.
He was told at the end of the second series he was dying (the name of the cause was later revealed to have an A and an E in it). He was given a month's leave, and when he returned he learned of Caroline and Guy's engagement. However, Guy then allowed Mac to marry Caroline before he died. At the wedding, everyone coughed when Mac's real name was mentioned during the vows, much to Martin's disappointment.
One of the few facts known about his childhood, according to Green Wing - The Complete First Series Scripts was that he watched Fraggle Rock
. His favourite character was called Red, because both characters had similar coloured hair.
After her afternoon out with Guy, Caroline decides that it is Mac that she truly loves. However, by the time she asks him out, Mac is already going out with Emmy the physiotherapist, and he is planning to move to Sheffield. When Caroline tells Mac of the supposed crimes Emmy had committed, Mac knew that Emmy had already told him about the other Emily Lewis Westbrook. Luckily though, Mac’s attitude to the false accusation leads Emmy to leave him and for him to embrace Caroline.
Their relationship takes a bad turn however after the cliff-hanging ambulance accident. Caroline constantly visits Mac while he is in a coma, talking, reading and playing music to him. When Mac wakes up, not only does he headbutt Caroline, but he has amnesia and has totally forgotten their relationship. Caroline tries to make him remember, but is not helped by Guy, who tries to interfere. But when Boyce tells Mac what happened before, they make up.
The relationship between Mac and Caroline is strained when Holly arrives at the hospital. Although Holly makes it clear that she is no longer interested in Mac (although secretly she is - the reason she took the job at the hospital was to win Mac back), she lies to Mac about having a son. The revelation leads to Caroline thinking it would be best for him and Holly to raise Mackenzie on their own, and starts going out with Jake. When it is discovered that Holly has lied, she leaves Jake and tries to get back with Mac again, but then Sue tells everyone that she is pregnant with Mac’s child.
Soon, Mac tries to propose marriage to Caroline, by initially asking her if she could swap shifts, then asking if she could move in with him. Caroline later gets a message, seemingly from him, (by model train) that he wants to meet her at the train station. However, Mac learns that he is going to die and rides off on his motorbike. Mac’s supposed failure to turn up leads Caroline to accept Guy’s proposal of marriage. However, Guy then offers Caroline the chance to marry Mac before he dies. Caroline accepts and the two wed.
and, "The Spoon of Destiny", in which they put a spoon in their mouth and try to fill a bowl of sugar as quickly as they can. Guy even plays Battleships with him when he is in his coma.
Although they get on for most of the time, Mac normally steps in to stop Guy from bullying Martin. When Guy lies to Martin about passing his exams, Mac throws coffee over him and then hits Guy’s head against the lockers, before making the half-brothers hug and make up.
Their most famous bet occurs before Mac is meant to move to Sheffield, when he bets the wages of his first month's consultancy that Guy cannot sleep with Joanna. Guy wins the bet; the incident then leads to the ambulance accident. The tape, which he gives to Martin eventually ends up in the hands of Sue, who uses it a blackmail to make him stop Mac’s relationship with Caroline, which works with only limited success.
When Mac starts to fall in love with Caroline, Guy tries on several occasions to stop him from what he thinks is his attempt at posing, but they never are. When Mac finally seems to set things up to propose at a station Guy arrives to see what he could have if he "was a bit more ginger". When Mac doesn't show Guy tells Caroline that Mac is "a bloody good guy". Later, he decided to allow Mac to marry Caroline before he died. Guy was also the best man at the wedding.
Their main argument arises when Alan buys a new car, and is outraged by the fact that Mac has a parking space closed to the entrance that he never uses, because he rides a motorbike. Alan tries to do everything possible to get the space but fails. He seemingly wins the argument, when Boyce and Mac agreed to get Alan a better parking space, which results in his car being found in his office. He even goes into an operation which Mac is performing. Alan pulls out a gall bladder and swallows it, but regurgitates it.
During Mac’s coma, Sue is technically given the opportunity to do all the things she wished to do with Mac that he would not do if he was awake. She conducts her own wedding and even steals some of his semen so that she can make herself pregnant. She succeeds, but in the end she gives birth to a lion named Simba.
In the second series, Mac gets a restraining order against her, and eventually suggests that she finds someone else, a person that will actually love her back. She apparently does, as she is accompanied by another man at Mac and Caroline's wedding.
Despite this, Mac still has to step in to help Martin. One such incident occurs when Guy had taped him to the toilet walls.
Martin's reaction to Mac's news of his illness is particularly emotional, culminating in him pitifully wailing "I heart you, Mac!". He later attacks Guy for not showing more sadness at the news, which Caroline overhears.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon. However, when Holly became pregnant, and wanted to have an abortion because, "A child is a spanner in the works," Mac tried to stop her. Holly ignored him and had the abortion anyway, causing them to split up.
All the news that Mac now hears about Holly comes from Angela, who is still friends with her. She tells him of her marriage and her pregnancy. Holly then arrives at East Hampton to take over Angela's old job, since she has now split up with her former husband.
During her time at the hospital, Holly lies to Mac about not having an abortion, and tells him that their son is alive. It is later discovered to be part of a plan to make Mac have a relationship with Holly again, and Holly leaves the hospital.
Mac never visits the human resources department. He is friendly with both Boyce and Angela, with the latter also being friends with Holly.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sitcom Green Wing
Green Wing
Green Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt....
, played by Julian Rhind-Tutt
Julian Rhind-Tutt
Julian Alistair Rhind-Tutt is an English actor. He is best known for his starring role as "Mac" McCartney in the comedy television series Green Wing, the second series of which finished on Channel 4 in May 2006...
.
History
Often simply referred to as "Mac", Dr Macartney is a surgeon working in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. His early life is not well known - quite a lot about it is a total mystery, and even his first name is unknown (though in series 2, episode 4, his former girlfriend Holly reveals that her nickname for him was once "Paul", while Mac's nickname for Holly was "John", as in Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
). His relationship with Holly lasted for six years, but they split up four years prior to the beginning of the series when she told Mac that she was going to abort their baby as it would be a "spanner in the works". She has since got married and is expecting a child. However, Holly has now left her husband and has returned to the hospital as a paediatrics registrar
Specialist registrar
A Specialist Registrar or SpR is a doctor in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland who is receiving advanced training in a specialist field of medicine in order eventually to become a consultant...
. She also tried to get back into a relationship with Mac by lying about her abortion, claiming that she never had it. She also tells Mac that that they now have a son, Mackenzie, who is four years old and has the same kind of hair as Mac. This was later discovered to be false, as Mackenzie was not Mac's son, and Holly had bleached Mackenzie's naturally dark hair.
Mac is noted for his kindness - he is always willing to help anyone out of a tight spot. If there is a fight, he will always be the one to break it up. If someone is upset, he will try to cheer them up. If someone is being victimised, he will stand up for them. He often has to stand up for junior doctor Martin Dear
Martin Dear
Martin Dear is a character in the British sitcom Green Wing, played by Karl Theobald.- History :Martin is a house officer at East Hampton Hospital. His mother is human resources director Joanna Clore and his half-brother is Dr. Guy Secretan....
, who is often bullied by his half-brother Guy Secretan
Guy Secretan
Guy Secretan is a character in the British sitcom Green Wing, played by Stephen Mangan. In Channel 4's The World's Greatest Comedy Characters, Guy was voted 34th.- History :...
. He is also very professional, and does not like his team - Guy and the new surgical registrar Caroline Todd - being disturbed.
He has shoulder-length, strawberry blonde hair that one member of staff, Sue White
Sue White
Susan 'Sue' White is a character in the British sitcom Green Wing, played by Michelle Gomez.-Overview:Sue White is the hospital's staff liaison officer, who describes her role as being "to soothe, to bathe, to listen to the worker's woes"...
calls the "Lion's mane". Guy often mocks it, saying that the reason he has it long is to "hide his large ears." Sue is just one of the many female members of staff who are attracted to him. Others include Caroline and Emmy, a physiotherapist working in the hospital.
Fluent in French, Mac enjoys intimidating Guy by explaining the history of specific terms including cassoulet and sabot
Sabot
A sabot is a device used in a firearm or cannon to fire a projectile, such as a bullet, that is smaller than the bore diameter, or which must be held in a precise position. The term is also applied to a battery stub case, a device used similarly to make a small electrical battery usable in a...
.
In series one, Mac is offered a position as a consultant
Consultant (medicine)
In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth, consultant is the title of a senior doctor who has completed all of his or her specialist training and been placed on the specialist register in their chosen specialty...
in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
and was intending to move up there with Emmy; however Caroline manages to win him over. Later that same night however, Mac tries to stop an intoxicated Guy who joyrides an ambulance and eventually crashes it over a cliff, putting Mac into a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
that lasts over two months. When he finally awakens he has completely forgotten the 24 hours before the incident and has no memory of the feelings he had for Caroline.
During the coma, Sue White lies to the hospital in Sheffield and tells them that Mac has died, taking away Mac's precious job opportunity. She also "experiments" and takes some of Mac's semen during his coma and impregnates herself with it through injection, later claiming to be pregnant with Mac's child (she announces this by sawing her way through a table in an Indian restaurant where some of the hospital staff are having dinner). However, the baby turns out to be a lion, probably due to the Lion's mane.
In his spare time, Mac likes to ride his Ducati SuperSport
Ducati SuperSport
The Ducati SuperSport and SS are names applied to a series of Pantah based air-cooled four stroke desmodromic 2-valve 90-degree V-Twin motorcycles manufactured from 1988 onwards. A limited edition SuperSport called the SuperLight was sold in 1992. The name harked back to the round case 1973 Ducati...
1000DS motorbike (which he apparently keeps in a hospital lift after placing an "Out of Order" sign on the Call button), but he does have the odd habit of riding it around naked. He also collects Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel , born Robert Craig Knievel, was an American daredevil and entertainer. In his career he attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps between 1965 and 1980, and in 1974, a failed jump across Snake River Canyon in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket...
memorabilia. He is a big fan of The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
. Another habit he has is making bets with Guy, and constantly proving that he is better than him. He is also known to like Goth
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
s, saying what he likes about them is the fact that "they try to pretend to be ugly on purpose." He is also against plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
for reasons of vanity, but not for those people who have had accidents. Mac has also been best man at seven weddings.
His parking space is A3, right next to the hospital, but he does not use it. This angers Alan who only has a reserve parking space away from the hospital, despite his rank as consultant, but nothing he says or does can change this. Mac is apparently entitled to the parking space because he is a surgeon, even though he does not use it. He fills it with sand and has a beach barbecue there with Guy and two bikini-clad women, much to Alan's chagrin.
He was told at the end of the second series he was dying (the name of the cause was later revealed to have an A and an E in it). He was given a month's leave, and when he returned he learned of Caroline and Guy's engagement. However, Guy then allowed Mac to marry Caroline before he died. At the wedding, everyone coughed when Mac's real name was mentioned during the vows, much to Martin's disappointment.
One of the few facts known about his childhood, according to Green Wing - The Complete First Series Scripts was that he watched Fraggle Rock
Fraggle Rock
Fraggle Rock is a children's live action puppet television program series created by Jim Henson. The central characters were a set of "Muppet" creatures called Fraggles. The show ran from January 10, 1983, to March 30, 1987, on CBC Television in Canada, ITV in the UK, HBO in the United States,...
. His favourite character was called Red, because both characters had similar coloured hair.
Caroline
When Mac first met Caroline, they fail to get on. Mac thinks of her a neurotic and Caroline thinks of him as rude. However, the more they work together, the more they start to like each other. When Caroline is sick at her housewarming party, Mac helps her, and eventually kisses her, after she has been sick.After her afternoon out with Guy, Caroline decides that it is Mac that she truly loves. However, by the time she asks him out, Mac is already going out with Emmy the physiotherapist, and he is planning to move to Sheffield. When Caroline tells Mac of the supposed crimes Emmy had committed, Mac knew that Emmy had already told him about the other Emily Lewis Westbrook. Luckily though, Mac’s attitude to the false accusation leads Emmy to leave him and for him to embrace Caroline.
Their relationship takes a bad turn however after the cliff-hanging ambulance accident. Caroline constantly visits Mac while he is in a coma, talking, reading and playing music to him. When Mac wakes up, not only does he headbutt Caroline, but he has amnesia and has totally forgotten their relationship. Caroline tries to make him remember, but is not helped by Guy, who tries to interfere. But when Boyce tells Mac what happened before, they make up.
The relationship between Mac and Caroline is strained when Holly arrives at the hospital. Although Holly makes it clear that she is no longer interested in Mac (although secretly she is - the reason she took the job at the hospital was to win Mac back), she lies to Mac about having a son. The revelation leads to Caroline thinking it would be best for him and Holly to raise Mackenzie on their own, and starts going out with Jake. When it is discovered that Holly has lied, she leaves Jake and tries to get back with Mac again, but then Sue tells everyone that she is pregnant with Mac’s child.
Soon, Mac tries to propose marriage to Caroline, by initially asking her if she could swap shifts, then asking if she could move in with him. Caroline later gets a message, seemingly from him, (by model train) that he wants to meet her at the train station. However, Mac learns that he is going to die and rides off on his motorbike. Mac’s supposed failure to turn up leads Caroline to accept Guy’s proposal of marriage. However, Guy then offers Caroline the chance to marry Mac before he dies. Caroline accepts and the two wed.
Guy
Guy and Mac have a strong love/hate relationship. They often argue about who is the most important person during the operation. Guy often claims his job of keeping the patient asleep is the most important, whereas Mac takes the view that the actual operation, and his work is more central to the operation. They often play silly games together to prove who is the greatest, such as running through a swimming pool, GuyballGuyball
Guyball is a fictional game featured in the British sitcom Green Wing. The rules of Guyball are never fully explained, and are designed to be as confusing and as difficult to understand as possible. However, Green Wing fans have attempted to create their own rules and Guyball societies...
and, "The Spoon of Destiny", in which they put a spoon in their mouth and try to fill a bowl of sugar as quickly as they can. Guy even plays Battleships with him when he is in his coma.
Although they get on for most of the time, Mac normally steps in to stop Guy from bullying Martin. When Guy lies to Martin about passing his exams, Mac throws coffee over him and then hits Guy’s head against the lockers, before making the half-brothers hug and make up.
Their most famous bet occurs before Mac is meant to move to Sheffield, when he bets the wages of his first month's consultancy that Guy cannot sleep with Joanna. Guy wins the bet; the incident then leads to the ambulance accident. The tape, which he gives to Martin eventually ends up in the hands of Sue, who uses it a blackmail to make him stop Mac’s relationship with Caroline, which works with only limited success.
When Mac starts to fall in love with Caroline, Guy tries on several occasions to stop him from what he thinks is his attempt at posing, but they never are. When Mac finally seems to set things up to propose at a station Guy arrives to see what he could have if he "was a bit more ginger". When Mac doesn't show Guy tells Caroline that Mac is "a bloody good guy". Later, he decided to allow Mac to marry Caroline before he died. Guy was also the best man at the wedding.
Alan
Mac does not get on well with Alan. Like many of the doctors, Mac often attacks his pomposity and superiority. They often attack each other's hairstyles, Alan mocking Mac’s rather feminine haircut, and Mac making remarks about Alan’s moustache.Their main argument arises when Alan buys a new car, and is outraged by the fact that Mac has a parking space closed to the entrance that he never uses, because he rides a motorbike. Alan tries to do everything possible to get the space but fails. He seemingly wins the argument, when Boyce and Mac agreed to get Alan a better parking space, which results in his car being found in his office. He even goes into an operation which Mac is performing. Alan pulls out a gall bladder and swallows it, but regurgitates it.
Sue
Mac knows that Sue is crazy about him, but he shows no such affections towards her. He will do anything to try and avoid her. Sue never tries to stop her plans to marry him however, with her many attempts to murder Caroline and her sexual advances. On one occasion, she takes off all her clothes and waits for Mac to arrive at the office: instead, Alan enters. When Mac does eventually enter, he insists Sue put her clothes back on.During Mac’s coma, Sue is technically given the opportunity to do all the things she wished to do with Mac that he would not do if he was awake. She conducts her own wedding and even steals some of his semen so that she can make herself pregnant. She succeeds, but in the end she gives birth to a lion named Simba.
In the second series, Mac gets a restraining order against her, and eventually suggests that she finds someone else, a person that will actually love her back. She apparently does, as she is accompanied by another man at Mac and Caroline's wedding.
Martin
Mac often ends up helping Martin when he is in trouble, or is being bullied by Guy. When Guy lies to Martin about passing his exams, Mac forces Guy to apologise after Mac pours coffee over him and bangs his head against a locker.Despite this, Mac still has to step in to help Martin. One such incident occurs when Guy had taped him to the toilet walls.
Martin's reaction to Mac's news of his illness is particularly emotional, culminating in him pitifully wailing "I heart you, Mac!". He later attacks Guy for not showing more sadness at the news, which Caroline overhears.
Holly
Mac and Holly had a relationship for six years. They did get on well, even having their own nicknames for each other, "Paul" for Mac and "John" for Holly, after The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
Paul McCartney and John Lennon. However, when Holly became pregnant, and wanted to have an abortion because, "A child is a spanner in the works," Mac tried to stop her. Holly ignored him and had the abortion anyway, causing them to split up.
All the news that Mac now hears about Holly comes from Angela, who is still friends with her. She tells him of her marriage and her pregnancy. Holly then arrives at East Hampton to take over Angela's old job, since she has now split up with her former husband.
During her time at the hospital, Holly lies to Mac about not having an abortion, and tells him that their son is alive. It is later discovered to be part of a plan to make Mac have a relationship with Holly again, and Holly leaves the hospital.
Other relationships
Mac’s major relationship was with Emmy in physiotherapy. They date a few times and are intending to live together when Mac takes a consultancy position in Sheffield. Caroline tries to stop him by accusing Emmy of a string of crimes; however it turns out that they have been committed by someone who has stolen her identity. Mac does not take the incident too seriously, which leads Emmy to leave him.Mac never visits the human resources department. He is friendly with both Boyce and Angela, with the latter also being friends with Holly.