Gary: Tank Commander is a BAFTA award-winning Scottish sitcom, written and created by Greg McHugh, and produced by the Comedy Unit. The show originated in 2008 as a one-off pilot for More4, under the title Gary's War. A full series was subsequently commissioned and broadcast on BBC Two Scotland in December 2009, with the programme moving to BBC One Scotland for the second series in January 2011. Originally broadcast in Scotland only, in the summer of 2011 the series received a UK-wide screening on BBC Three.
McHugh, who is also the screenwriter, plays the eponymous character, Gary McLintoch (the tank commander), a corporal in the fictional 104th Royal Tank Regiment of the British Army. He based the character on an old pal of his who was in the RAF from Lochgilphead, Big Stu Hutch. Filming for the third series began in April 2012.
Plot
Each episode is about the lives of Gary and his three British Army friends after they have returned home to Callander, Scotland, from military deployments abroad. The first series follows the quartet's service in Iraq, while the second takes place after their time in Afghanistan.
Production
Locations
Filming locations have included East Kilbride's Territorial Army (TA) Centre, Walcheren Barracks in Maryhill, Garelochhead Training Camp and the drill hall of the Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities Officer Training Corps. Clydebank has also featured as the "town centre" (episodes 1 and 3) and a location in Kirkintilloch was used for the Iraq army camp scenes (apparently, a section of land and a human-made hole were employed), both appearing in the first season.
The second series was again filmed at East Kilbride TA Centre and Maryhill, with Cambuslang's Dechmont ranges included. Locations also included the small village of Milton of Campsie, most notably the old railway line, used in the storyline that features the scattering of Gary's mother's ashes. For the second season's Afghanistan scenes, Hughes revealed in 2011 that filming was undertaken in Scotland.
Language
Most of the main characters, especially Gary, occasionally use Scots when speaking, giving rise to some humorous situations throughout the show. A notable example occurs in series 1, episode 3 ("The General"), when a visiting American general struggles to appropriately use the term "ken" ("know" or "understand"). The use of Scots has not hindered the accessibility of the show to a broader English-speaking audience.
Format
The original pilot was filmed as a mockumentary, with interviews, archive news material, YouTube-style videos and "fly-on-the-wall" footage following Gary's return home from Iraq. For the series, the show moved towards a traditional sitcom format, although it retained the use of interspersed interviews and video clips.
Interviews
Each episode contains several scenes where Gary is interacting with an unseen interviewer regarding a topic from the respective episode. The interviews are usually composed of Gary's idle thoughts and they help viewers to understand Gary. Occasionally, words or phrases (but rarely complete sentences) are subtitled in these interviews for emphasis. These subtitles are often presented with the use of subtle kinetic typography.
Video clips
Each episode commences with a YouTube-style video clip (with an accompanying time meter) showing the soldiers and their antics whilst in Iraq (series one) or Afghanistan (series two) and further segments are spread throughout the episode. The clips are usually independent of the episode's plot but display the soldiers' sense of humour, creativity with equipment and their boredom during deployment.
Running gags
Gary's insistence on pretending to be a company's representative when answering the phone. The Officer Commanding (OC)'s inability to finish a sentence or remember names. Sergeant Thomson's sycophancy with the Officer Commanding. Charlie stating trivial information, only to be told how boring he is. Gary's occasional inability to understand jokes involving certain swear words. Julie's incompetent driving. Gary refusing to address the chef in the barracks by his real name (Jeff), preferring to refer to him as "Chef".
Main cast
List of episodes
Pilot (2008) Gary's War: A 24-minute short film originally shown on More4. Fresh back from a tour of duty in Iraq, Corporal Gary McLintoch returns to the Bannockburn housing estate he grew up in, as he recollects events from Iraq and gives his own unique take on the build-up to and aftermath of the Iraq War.