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Doc Martin
Doc Martin is a British television medical comedy drama series starring Martin Clunes in the title
role. It was created
by Dominic Minghella after the character of Dr Martin Bamford in the 2000 comedy film Saving Grace.
The show is set in the fictional seaside village of Portwenn
and filmed on location in the village of Port Isaac, Cornwall, England,
with most interior scenes shot in a converted local barn. Seven series aired between 2004-2015,
together with a feature-length special that aired on Christmas Day 2006. The eighth
and most recent series began airing on ITV on 20 September 2017
and will stream in the United States and Canada on Acorn TV,
and an American TV remake of the series is also being planned. On 11 January 2017,
Martin Clunes confirmed that Doc Martin will end in 2018 with its ninth and final series.
Synopsis
Dr Martin Ellingham, a brilliant and successful vascular surgeon at Imperial College London,
develops haemophobia, forcing him to stop practising surgery.
He obtains a post as the sole general practitioner in the sleepy Cornish village of Portwenn,
where he had spent childhood holidays with his Aunt Joan, who owns a local farm.
Upon arriving in Portwenn – where, to his frustration, the locals address him as "Doc Martin"
– he finds the surgery in chaos and inherits an incompetent receptionist, Elaine Denham.
In Series 2–4, she is replaced by Pauline Lamb, a new receptionist, and later also a phlebotomist.
In Series 5, Morwenna Newcross takes up the post.
The show revolves around Ellingham's interactions with the local Cornish villagers.
Despite his medical excellence, Ellingham is grouchy, pugnacious, and lacks social skills. His direct,
emotionless manner offends many of the villagers, made worse by his invariably unpleasant responses
to their ignorant, often foolish, comments. They perceive him to be hot-tempered
and lacking in a bedside manner, whereas he feels he is performing his duties in a professional
and by-the-book manner, not wasting time chatting. Ellingham is very deadpan
and dresses formally in a business suit and tie, regardless of the weather or the occasion,
and he never takes off his jacket, even when delivering babies. He does not smoke
and has no hesitation in pointing out the risks of unhealthy behaviours, both in private
and in public gatherings.  [^]  The villagers eventually discover his fear of blood, and the frequent
and debilitating bouts of nausea and vomiting it causes. In spite of this handicap,
Ellingham proves to be an expert diagnostician and responds effectively
to various emergencies in his medical practice; thus, he gradually gains grudging respect
from his neighbours. Ellingham's aunt, Joan Norton,
provides emotional support in the face of the controversy his impatient manner causes among the
villagers. When she dies after a heart attack, her sister Ruth, a retired psychiatrist, comes
to Portwenn to take care of her affairs, and eventually decides
to use the village as a permanent retreat, offering Martin the support Joan had provided.
Ellingham finds it difficult
to express his developing romantic feelings towards primary school teacher Louisa Glasson.
He often spoils rare tender moments with, for example,
a comment about an unpleasant medical condition or by requesting a stool sample.
Martin eventually proposes to Louisa,
but on the day of their wedding they suddenly break their engagement. Louisa leaves
for a job in London; returning after six months, visibly pregnant with Martin's child.
When the child is born, the couple renew their relationship. Following much indecision,
Martin resolves to remain in Portwenn and marries Louisa, but continued arguments relating
to his insensitive nature lead to their becoming estranged again. In Series 7,
Louisa lives in Martin's surgery with their baby James Henry, while Martin boards in the village
and sees a therapist for his inability to form and maintain relationships.
 Original character 
Martin Clunes originally played a character called "Dr Martin Bamford"
in the 2000 film Saving Grace and its two made-for-TV prequels, Doc Martin and Doc Martin
and the Legend of the Cloutie, which were made by British Sky Broadcasting.
The prequels show Bamford as a successful obstetrician, rather than a surgeon,
who finds out that his wife has been carrying on extramarital affairs behind his back.
After confronting her with his discovery, he escapes London and heads for Port Isaac,
a small coastal town in Cornwall which he remembers fondly from his youth.
Shortly after he arrives, he is involved in the mystery of the "Jellymaker" and,
following the departure of the village's resident GP, decides to stay and fill the vacancy.
In these three films the village is not known as Portwenn.
The Martin Bamford character is friendly and laid-back, seeming to enjoy his retreat
from the career pressures and conflicts he left behind in London. He drinks and smokes carelessly,
including a mild illegal drug, and has no problem getting his hands and clothes dirty
by temporarily working as a lobster and crab fisherman aboard a local boat.
The original deal had been to produce two television films per year for three years,
but Sky Pictures folded after the first two episodes were made, so Clunes' company tried
to sell the franchise to ITV.
The new network felt that the doctor character should be portrayed as a "townie",
a fish out of water who is uncomfortable in the countryside. They also wanted something darker,
so Clunes suggested that the doctor be curmudgeonly, socially inept, and formal.
The new doctor's surname was changed to Ellingham, an anagram of the last name of the new writer,
Dominic Minghella, who was brought in to rework the doctor's background
and create a new cast of supporting characters. Along with Clunes, the only actors
to appear in both versions of Doc Martin are Tristan Sturrock and Tony Maudsley.
Episodes
Seven series totalling 54 episodes aired on ITV in the UK between 2004 and 2015.
Episodes are just under 50 minutes long, except for the 2006 TV film which is 92 minutes. In the US,
American Public Television provided the 2006 TV film as a two-part episode,
with the second episode airing the week after the first. The first three series were broadcast
from 2004 until 2007; subsequent series have initially aired only in odd-numbered years.
Ratings
In the UK, Doc Martin has been a ratings success for ITV
with the third series achieving ITV's best midweek drama performance in the 9pm Monday slot
since December 2004. 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. In 2009,
Doc Martin was moved to a 9pm Sunday time slot for the broadcast of Series 4.
That change meant that it followed-on from ITV's The X Factor programme.
Series 4 ratings were adversely affected
by STV not screening the majority of ITV drama productions in Scotland.
The final episode of Series 4 had ratings of 10.29 million viewers.
STV went back on its decision not to screen ITV drama in Scotland.
Series 4 of Doc Martin was broadcast on Sunday afternoons in August 2011.
 Foreign adaptations 
Notro Films produced a Spanish version under the title Doctor Mateo for Antena 3 Televisión.
It aired in 2009 and was shot in Lastres, Asturias,
called the fictional village of San Martín del Sella. French television producers Ego Productions,
in cooperation with TF1,
have produced a French version of the series starring Thierry Lhermitte as Dr Martin Le Foll,
with the series based in the fictional Breton town of Port-Garrec. In Germany, Doktor Martin,
an adaptation of the original series, airs on ZDF with Axel Milberg as [ Doktor Martin Helling],
a surgeon from Berlin.
The counterpart of Portwenn was the real village of Neuharlingersiel in East Frisia. In Greece,
Kliniki Periptosi, an adaptation of the original series, was aired in November 2011 on Mega Channel
with Yannis Bezos as Markos Staikos, a surgeon from New York.
In the Netherlands Dokter Tinus based on the original series began airing in late August 2012 on
SBS6, with the main role being played by actor Thom Hoffman. The series was shot in Woudrichem.
A Russian version is mentioned in the Series 5 DVD bonus material. In 2014,
Czech Television began filming their own TV series starring Miroslav Donutil,
which is heavily inspired by the original British series. The series started to air
from 4 September 2015. The Czech version is set in the Beskydy mountains,
which is a picturesque area in the east of the Czech Republic, like Portwenn, a long way
from the capital, Prague, and dependent on the tourist industry.
an American remake of the show is being planned, led by Marta Kauffman,
co-creator of the successful TV show Friends.
DVD releases
Series 1, 2 and 3 and "On the Edge" were released separately in Region 1 and 2 and in the
"complete Series 1 to 3" box set. Series 3 was released on 2 February 2010
and Series 4 was released in Region 1 and 2 on 6 July 2010.
Series 5 was released in Region 1 on 5 June 2012 and Region 2 on 5 March 2012.
A complete boxset of Series 1-5 is also available in Region 2.
Series 6 of Doc Martin was released in Region 1 in December 2013 and in the UK on 24 March 2014.
Series 7 of Doc Martin was released on DVD/Blu-ray in Region 1 on December 8, 2015
and in the UK on 16 November 2015. In Region 4, Series 1, 2, 4, and "On the Edge"
were released separately and in a nine-disc boxset entitled "Doc Martin: Comedy Cure",
as well as an earlier seven-disc boxset not including Series 4.
The two Sky Pictures telefilms were individually released in Region 4 on the Magna Pacific label,
but are now out-of-print. Series 1-7 are streaming on Acorn TV in the U.S. and Canada.
The show is available on Netflix. Series 1-6 are currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
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