Telly fans have a special appointment with the doctor for the next seven weeks at 9pm on Wednesdays. The GP, a tad grumpy it has to be said, will also see them one last time at Christmas.
Then that’s it. After 18 years, Doc Martin – an absolute tonic for viewers – will pack away his stethoscope and bag for good. Actor Martin Clunes has called time on the show so that it goes out on a high.
A sneak preview of upcoming episodes suggest that his mission is accomplished.
And don’t be alarmed by our snap of the Doc clambering out of a grave – Clunes assures us the show does not end in tragedy. But that’s not to say it wasn’t without real tears as the cast brought the much-loved drama to a close.
Clunes, 60, says: “Filming the final scenes was very much a bitter-sweet experience for me. On set, we were all in tears towards the end.
“When we started shooting back in February, we were so busy I didn’t have time to dwell on this series being the last. I think I was in a kind of numb denial. I’ve spent so much of my life down here – we all have.
“Doc Martin aside, we’ve had real-life marriages here, babies being born, our kids going to local nurseries and spending their school holidays here.
“My daughter Emily, who’s now 23, came down for a visit and when she was driving away, she said she was in tears because she was thinking it was the last time she’d do that. I hadn’t realised the impact it would have on her and I felt quite guilty about it.”
Dr Martin Ellingham has captured viewers’ imagination since first appearing in 2004. He has a phobia of blood, a brusk bedside manner and a long-suffering wife Louisa, played by Caroline Catz, 51.
The final series kicked off last Wednesday and revealed they have had baby daughter Mary – a sister for James. As the eight-part drama progresses, the Doc ends up in yet more scrapes – but Clunes is quick to calm fans’ fears of a sad ending.
He says: “I’m not saying how it all finishes, But rest assured there isn’t a death.”
For almost two decades the actor has spent five months every other year staying in Port Isaac, the setting for the fictional TV village of Portwenn. The show has been a monster hit and has been sold to 138 countries.
So why end it now? Clunes explains: “It feels like the right time. It would be very tempting to keep going but we want to go out on a high rather than have the show cancelled at some point.
“It’s been very important to us to keep the quality of the scripts and the characters very high. At the end of series nine, we reckoned that we could do one more season and keep the standard as high as it’s always been. Series 10 seemed the right time to end it – plus, we’ve done a Christmas special, which rounds things off very nicely.”
The show is produced by Martin’s real-life wife Philippa Braithwaite, who he married in 1997. The TV doc’s famous hillside house and surgery was recently put up for sale. So were Martin and Philippa tempted to put in an offer?
“Er, no,” he laughs. “It’s a perfectly charming house but how surreal would it be if I actually lived there? Imagine people staring through the window and seeing me! Good luck to whoever’s bought it.
“I wonder how long the new residents will be able to put up with people knocking at the front door and asking if the Doc is in!”
Clunes – who found fame alongside Caroline Quentin, Neil Morrisey and Leslie Ash in the smash-hit 1990s sitcom Men Behaving Badly – takes away some great memories from Cornwall. Not least his stunts.
He recalls: “Abseiling down a cliff wearing a suit, normal shoes and carrying a medical bag. I had to do an emergency trepanning (perforating a person’s skull) with a drill into the guy’s head.
“I did actually do the abseiling, I did that walking out over the edge of the cliff, which was quite alarming. I had the drill in one hand and the medical bag in the other. I think it’s better if you can do your own stunts.
“Another highlight has been being allowed to pretend to fall in love with Caroline Catz every other year. That’s been a big joy. And, of course, the fact I got to go to work with my real-life wife Philippa.”
Doc Martin has attracted an array of A-list stars over the years. The first episode of Series 10 featured Cold Feet’s Fay Ripley, 56. Lesley Nicol, 69 – Downton Abbey’s Mrs Patmore – will star, while Ben Miller and Joe Absolom return.
Clunes was hoping Caroline Quentin, 62, might reprise her role as a homeopathic vet. But it wasn’t to be. “We were gutted we couldn’t find another storyline for Quenty in this one,” the actor says.
“Her daughter Rose is in an episode of this series, though. We’ve had some great stars. Sigourney Weaver, Roger Lloyd Pack – and Claire Bloom played my mother. Ben Miller was a crazy park ranger, Kenneth Cranham was Louisa’s father, Richard Johnson was a curmudgeonly colonel, Julie Graham was PC Penhale’s estranged wife, Anne Reid ran a cat sanctuary.
“Tom Conti asked for a role! I’d never met him but I remember my mum taking me to see him in Whose Life Is It Anyway? at The Savoy years ago.
“He came up to me at a Dame Edna Everage event and said, ‘I really like your show – the only witty thing on TV’. We went on to offer him the role of a surgeon who was scrutinising the Doc in the ninth series.”
Clunes won’t be off screen for long. “I am going back to the Pacific for a second series of Islands of the Pacific for ITV,” he explains.
“I’ve also been asked to be president of the World Clydesdale Show in Aberdeen in October and I am going to take my two Clydesdale horses up with my carriage.”
Sounds like a great journey. Particularly after an 18-year trip down memory lane.
Doc Martin is on ITV, Wednesdays, at 9pm
