Doc Martin: How the Cornwall-set series became a TV phenomenon

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “I need something to act, someone to act, or something to pin someone on, rather than just open a script and a nice guy says some kind of nice things.” Doc Martin, the lovable weirdo into whom Clunes has breathed such glorious crotchetiness, was introduced flying from London to Cornwall, where he was interviewing for a job as a family doctor. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free open image in gallery Martin Clunes starred as the cantankerous Doc Martin in the long-running ITV series Yet notwithstanding the guest stars and the idiosyncratic line-up of locals, the appeal of the series flows largely from its eponymous character. Because that wasn’t my intention – I just made the guy up.” If the appeal of the drama was straightforward, Doc Martin’s journey to the screen was anything but. We didn’t want to do the Doc Hollywood thing of ‘smart town city doctor being amazed and bemused by his quirky neighbours’; we kind of wanted to turn that on its head, and that was a small community united in horror by this vile GP.” open image in gallery A family man: Clunes and Co in the ‘Doc Martin’ Christmas special This “Vile GP” would win hearts across the UK.