Doc Martin fans were devastated as the ITV show began its final ever series.
The hit medical drama - starring Martin Clunes - has begun to air its final ever series, filmed in the beautiful Port Isaac in Cornwall. Martin plays the lead character, a local village doctor with a phobia of blood.
His bedside manner leaves much to be desired, but he is a great hit with fans of the show, who are devastated it is ending. Heartbroken fans took to social media to lament over this being the ITV drama's final ever series. The show will air for several weeks every Wednesday, before a Christmas special airs later in the year to mark the festive period.
Taking to Twitter, gutted fans mourned the beginning of the end for the show.
"Sad that this is the final of Doc Martin on @ITV. Martin Clunes is so funny as Doc Martin. #DocMartin #MartinClunes," one fan wrote, as another shared: "Loving #Docmartin, sad its the last series."
A third penned: "With humour like this, such a shame it’s the last series of #DocMartin #ITV."
Martin Clunes had previously teased what fans can expect from the upcoming series.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain last week, he said: "I’m not a doctor at the beginning as you saw and Louisa's taken over my practice, but I don't think it's a spoiler to say that I will see patients again later in the series.
"It really builds to a terribly dramatic conclusion, really dramatic. Then the series finishes and then a few weeks later we have our Christmas episode which is an addendum."
He says he will miss everything about filming, particularly the beautiful scenery down in Cornwall.
"I’m going to miss hanging around. I’ve stood outside that surgery, there’s a lot of waiting around when you’re filming and I’ve been gazing out to sea. I don’t think I’ve stood in any place, in any garden I’ve owned for that long," he added.
However, Martin insists the show - which is written by his wife Philippa Braithwaite - has to end now as he's "too old".
"I’m too old. We’ve done it now. It’s been great, a dreamy amount of success and people love it all around the world but it’s just time to complete it," he added, "It's just a good time to end. Poor Philippa [Braithwaite; his wife], she's worked on every single script, 84 of them and none of them are easy because you've got a main protagonist who doesn't like anybody and nobody likes him and go from there. It hasn't been easy, it's been tough. We don't want to repeat ourselves."
