Doc Martin may have had its final curtain on Christmas Day following 10 hit seasons but fans still have a parting gift to enjoy.
In a documentary, the team behind the hit – including lead actor Martin Clunes and wife Philippa Braithwaite, the producer – reveal its secrets.
Here’s a taster...
Beginnings
In the documentary star Martin, 61, reveals how the show came about in 2004 on the back of 2000 film Saving Grace, in which he played Doctor Martin Bamford. The character had tested the best among audiences but ITV wanted the role of Doctor Martin Ellingham to be different.
Soon enough, they came up with the grumpy surgeon who moves to Cornwall to be a GP after developing a fear of blood.
“We just struck with the thing of being wrong at every point. It’s wrong to wear a suit in the sea. It’s wrong to drive a car that big in Cornwall,” explains Martin.
They even went so far as to make sure the sets were designed at the wrong height for 6ft 2in Martin, so as to ensure he would constantly be bumping his head. “There was a slanty thing in the hallway going up to the kitchen. I can hit that angle at any speed and it’s all been sort of designed so that I’m wrong,” he says.
Real medical emergency
Martin took to the character so much producer Philippa reveals her hubby often dishes out medical advice as if he really is a qualified medic.
“If someone is on antibiotics, Martin will ask what they have been given, and we have to say, ’You are not a doctor!’” the 58-year-old laughs.
Once, the couple were in Paris when a group of women were on Segways and one of them crashed into a wall. “We just heard this scream and she went flying into a wall, covered in blood, and Martin turned into Action Man and went over to see if she was OK. She was semi-conscious, looked up at him and said, ‘It’s Doc Martin’.”
As for the medical plots that anchor each episode, Dr Martin Scurr has been a consultant on the show and says some were based on real appointments from his GP days. “One that springs to mind was the story of the man who had grown little breasts,” he says. “This was a real event in my practice where a man had been exposed to his wife’s oestrogen.”
The stars
Over the years, Doc Martin attracted big-name actors to take guest roles, including Claire Bloom, Tom Conti, Caroline Quentin, Julie Graham, Ben Miller, Hermione Norris, Fay Ripley and Anne Reid
Selina Cadell, 69, who plays pharmacist Mrs Tishell, explains how Hollywood star Sigourney Weaver, 73, came to appear in the series as American tourist Beth Traywick.
She reveals: “Sigourney and I have known each other 40 years and we’re very, very close friends. She loves Doc Martin and was keen to be in it.”
But she says when she asked Philippa if Sigourney could be in, she kind of laughed and walked away.
Selina goes on: “And then Martin rang and said, ‘Does Sigourney still want to be in it? Do you think she meant it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, you should make it work’.
“So we wrote a part. Then she wanted to come back and do it again, and she was just delightful.”
The legion of fans
With a show as popular as Doc Martin, there is no doubt that fans will ensure it lives on – and there are millions of them worldwide.
Online clubs include the Bert Large Lovers Group started by Gloria Grier, from Ohio, Cincinnati, which pays homage to plumber Bert Large – played by Ian McNeice, 72. The group meets twice weekly and has 5,000 members.
There is also rival group The Clunatics and they both organise events during filming for fans who travel from all over the world to see the stars.
The show has been dubbed in many languages and remade in German, Spanish and French. And its global popularity has certainly boosted the local economy. Visit Cornwall CEO Malcolm Bell explains: “Two percent of people come to Cornwall just because of Doc Martin. That’s been worth way in excess of £100million. But another 7% say it is a great influence on them coming. So you see over decades it has been worth hundreds of millions.”
The sets and stunts
Port Isaac, a village on the Cornish coast where white houses huddle around a sandy harbour, became the fictional town of Port Wenn and for 18 years the village has played host to the cast and crew of the ITV1 hit.
The village has even become home to some cast and crew in real life and feels like a second home to many others. As Martin and Philippa walk around the empty sets which have been the doc’s home for so long, she says, “It feels like demolishing your house – it’s all over.”
The documentary is narrated by Caroline Catz, who plays Doc Martin’s wife Louisa Ellingham, and showcases some of the production tricks used to create the final series. The set designers turn a holiday cottage into a police station, a fudge shop into a chemist and restore a restaurant to its former status as a school.
It also reveals how various stunts are performed – including how a car that is tilted on the edge of a cliff is actually attached to a cable.
Farewell Doc Martin, Thursday, 8.30pm, ITV1
