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Saint Joseph Hospital-Martin, Martin, KY saintjosephhealthcare.org | Australia Obesity Surgery - Dr. Ian Martin, Dr. David Martin, Bariatric... obesitysurgeons.com.au |
For the footwear and clothing brand, see Dr. Martens.
Doc Martin is a British television comedy drama starring Martin Clunes. Created by Dominic Minghella, it is filmed on location in and around the fishing village of Port Isaac, Cornwall, United Kingdom, with filming of most interior scenes and production carried out in a converted barn at a local farm. There have been four completed series of the show, and a feature-length special that first aired on Christmas Day 2006. A long-awaited fourth series began production in September 2008[1] and the filming started late April 2009.[2] The fourth series was broadcast from 20 September to 8 November 2009 in the United Kingdom on ITV1.
[edit] SynopsisClunes plays (fictional) Portwenn's local GP, Martin Ellingham, who was once a brilliant and highly successful London surgeon until he developed a phobia of blood that prevented him conducting operations. After retraining as a GP, he applied for a post in the sleepy Cornish hamlet of Portwenn, where he had spent childhood holidays. Much of the show's humour revolves around Ellingham's interactions with the local Cornish villagers. Despite his surgical brilliance, Ellingham lacks vital personal skills and any semblance of a bedside manner, and often fails to understand other people. Dr Ellingham (referred to as "Doc Martin" by the friendly locals), much to his disgust, finds the surgery is in disarray, the medical equipment is beyond repair, and the patients’ records are a mess. He also inherits an incompetent receptionist, Elaine Denham, who resents Doc Martin's moving in. The community is united in horror at their "misery guts" of a new GP. Martin is joined by a cast which includes Stephanie Cole as his aunt, Joan Norton, who provides him with emotional support in the face of the disquiet among the villagers. Caroline Catz plays opinionated primary school teacher (later headmistress) Louisa Glasson. Doc Martin is attracted to her, but finds himself unable to express this. Louisa appears to share this mutual attraction, but finds their personalities often too different, while she is caring and nurturing (particularly occupationally), Martin is emotionally detached and at times neurotic. [edit] BackgroundClunes' character was originated as Dr Martin Bamford in the 2000 film Saving Grace. He then appears in two "prequel" television films made by BSkyB, Doc Martin and Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie, in which viewers learn that Bamford, a successful obstetrician, finds that his wife has been carrying on extramarital affairs behind his back with his three best friends. After confronting her with the news, he decides to leave London and heads for Cornwall, which he remembers fondly from his youth. Shortly after he arrives, he gets involved in the mystery of the "Jellymaker" and, following the departure of the village's resident GP, decides to stay in Port Isaac and fill the gap himself. Although the original deal was to produce two television films per year for three years, Sky Pictures folded after the first two were made, so Clunes' company tried selling the franchise to ITV who generally liked it, but felt the character of Martin Bamford needed a little something more to him than just being a "townie" who is a little out of his depth in the country. ITV wanted something a little more edgy, so Clunes came up with the idea of the doctor being unusually grumpy. In the process, the doctor's last name was changed from Bamford to Ellingham, an anagram of the last name of new writer Dominic Minghella who was brought in to re-work the Doc's backstory and create a new village of supporting characters. Quite often during the series there are references to people being "a bit Bodmin". This is a reference to the fact that Bodmin was once the centre of mental health care for the South West, and was based at the former St Lawrence's Hospital site and now at Bodmin Hospital. Although Clunes' character is the only one to carry over (with significant back-story changes) from the telefilms, Tristan Sturrock joins Clunes as the only other actor (thus far) to appear in both versions of Doc Martin. [edit] Series FourWhen interviewed on both television and radio in order to promote the release of the Series 3 DVD, Martin Clunes stated several times that he was taking a break from acting in 2008. This was due to the fact that his daughter, Emily, had not had a proper summer holiday with her parents since they started filming Doc Martin (Clunes's wife is Philippa Braithwaite, the producer of the programme). Consequently, no new series was shown before 2009. In February 2009, ITV confirmed the commissioning of a fourth series of Doc Martin, which would have eight episodes.[3] On 17 April 2009 during an interview on the BBC One television program Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (Series 16, Episode 11), Martin Clunes stated that he "...started filming the following Monday down in Cornwall..." (ie the week beginning 20 April 2009), and that filming would take about 4 months.[4] In an interview on GMTV from Port Gaverne, he stated that the filming was going well and that the series would be released in Autumn (UK). In addition, there has also been a strong push from the fans of the show for a new series and a happy ending between Doc Martin and Louisa. During a radio interview in March 2008, Martin Clunes indicated that, following the events at the end of Series Three, they would 'try and patch up' the relationship between Martin and Louisa.[5] Also, on the UK Channel 4 Richard and Judy television program on 28 February 2008, Martin Clunes responded to the interviewers statement that the end of Series 3 was "..sad.." by saying that it's not over yet and that we should "...watch this space...".[6] According to a posting from a tourist on ThisIsDevon.co.uk (below an article about the show returning to Port Isaac for Series 4), filming for the fourth series wrapped on 31 August, 2009. Series four aired on ITV1 from Sunday, 20th September (source: RadioTimes.com listings) to Sunday, 8th November. STV decided not to broadcast the show this year due to financial issues.[7] Series 4 will be released on DVD on 1 March 2010[8][9] [edit] Series FiveNo official announcement has been made regarding the commissioning or production of a fifth series of Doc Martin. In an interview published in the Manchester Evening News on September 15 2009[10], Martin Clunes is quoted as saying that "It looks like ITV will give the go-ahead to a fifth series but that won’t be filmed until 2011." [edit] RatingsIn the UK, Doc Martin has been a ratings success for ITV1 with the third series achieving ITV1's best midweek drama performance in the 9pm Monday slot since December 2004.[11] The final episode of the third series was watched by 10.37 million viewers, which is the programme's highest-ever viewing figure for a single episode.[12] In 2009 Doc Martin was moved to a new 9pm Sunday time slot for the broadcast of Series 4. That change meant that it followed-on from ITV1's successful The X Factor (UK) programme, which might have had some flow-through effect on the ratings for Doc Martin. However, there is also no doubt that the ratings for Series 4 were adversely impacted by the recent decision of STV not to screen the majority of ITV drama productions in Scotland. Whatever the actual influence of those factors, the final episode of Series 4 achieved official ratings of 10.29 million[13] viewers. [edit] EpisodesMain article: List of Doc Martin episodes A total of twenty-nine episodes across four series and one Christmas special have aired on ITV1 in the UK in the period 2004 to 2009. All episodes are 50-minutes except the 2006 Christmas special which is 92 minutes. [edit] Regular cast
[edit] Guest starsThe programme has featured a number of guest stars, including Celia Imrie, John Alderton, Hugh Lloyd, Jeff Rawle, Doreen Mantle, Christian Rodska, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Mary Woodvine, John Woodvine, Stephanie Leonidas, Ben Miller, Chris O'Dowd, Kenneth Cranham, David Bamber, Claire Bloom, Gwen Taylor, Sylvestra la Touzel, Richard Johnson, David Haig, Phyllida Law, Benjamin Whitrow and Sophie Thompson. [edit] International broadcasters
[edit] DVD releasesSeries 1, 2 and 3 and "On the Edge" have been released separately on region 2 and in the "complete Series 1 to 3" box set. In region 4, Series 1, 2, 3 and "On the Edge" were all released separately and in a seven-disc boxset. The two Sky Pictures telefilms were also individually released in Region 4 (as 'Doc Martin: volume 1' and 'Doc Martin: volume 2, the Legend of the Cloutie') on the Magna Pacific label, but have since gone out-of-print. Series 1 and Series 2 (including "On the Edge" as a bonus feature) have been released in Region 1. [edit] AwardsIn 2004 Doc Martin won the British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Drama, having also been nominated as Best New TV Comedy. In the same year, Martin Clunes won the Best TV Comedy Actor award, primarily for his portrayal of Doc Martin. (He had also starred in 'Beauty', part of the Trapped trilogy on ITV.) Doc Martin, in the form of 'Doc Martin's path to love', has been nominated as one of ITV's Clips of the Year for 2007 at itv.com (external link). The winner is determined by public vote. [edit] References
[edit] External links
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