Martin Clunes on final Doc Martin season

Want an idea of just how popular Doc Martin is? When the British drama about a curmudgeonly doctor in a Cornish fishing village advertised for extras in the local Port Isaac press, more than 800 people showed up.

In the giant queue, which snaked around the local church hall, there were no fewer than 150 babies in prams and pushchairs eager to be chosen for the role of the doctor's 11-month-old son, James Henry. That is one well-loved show!

Over six series, Doc Martin s has averaged nine million viewers a week in the UK and star Clunes Clunes, who plays the lovable yet grumpy medic, has won himself an army of die-hard fans. Calling themselves "Clunatics", they lavish gifts on the cast and crew to underline just how much they love the drama. "They are a group of Doc Martin fans who keep thanking us for helping them to make great friendships with other fans around the world. They Skype each other," explains Clunes, 53, who has played the role for 11 years. "When episodes go out, they have discussions on it, and when there are no episodes going out, they have more discussions. There is one woman logging all the ties I wear in the show. She says, 'I don't think I have seen this tie since season two. Mind you, I haven't logged all the season six ties yet'," says the actor, who is married to the show's producer, Philippa Braithwaite. The couple live in rural bliss in Dorset, with their teenage daughter, Emily.

We've had so many presents; paintings of myself and cast members, a fridge magnet of Jimmy, my Jack Russell, paintings of my horses. A lady from Iceland hand-knitted a sweater for me, one for Emily and one for Philippa – and one for Brian the props man because he was nice to her in the pub one night," continues Clunes.

"We were given a big jar of M&Ms with 'DM' printed on each one of them for us all. Some of the Clunatics even found us when we were filming on the moors."

Clunes, who has just spent a very contented four months shooting the latest series in Port Isaac, is touched, and a little taken aback, by the show's global popularity. "When we started making Doc Martin, we could never have imagined it would have this reaction," he says. "We never anticipated this. You can't predict how successful something will be."

As the seventh series kicks off this week, Doc Martin looks set to remain as popular as ever. Dr Martin Ellingham, the GP with the disastrous bedside manner and a morbid fear of blood, has his work cut out in the new series, set in the fictional bucolic seaside hamlet of Portwenn. Louisa (played by Caroline Catz from DCI Banks), the woman he recently married, has had enough of his grouchiness and has walked out. She has taken young James Henry and gone off to stay with her mother in Spain.

Keep reading HERE.

A Conversation with Ian McNeice – “Doc Martin’s Beloved “Bert Large”

By Karen Gilleland © 2015

 I had a short telephone interview with Ian McNeice when he attended the American Public Television Fall Marketplace in Atlanta in November. He’s the type of person you wish you could sit down with and talk to for hours. I’d describe him as an interesting, gracious, humorous, lovely man.

At the 2013 Fall Marketplace in Boston, you described Season 6 as “quite dark.” How would you characterize Season 7?
What’s come out of Season 7 is how much everyone enjoyed making it. Philippa [producer] regards it as one of the best series we’ve ever done. I hope they don’t rest on their laurels and say, “We’ve done it now; we don’t need to do any more.” I think they should take it as a springboard and say, “Let’s do it even better next time.” That’s what we’re all hoping for — the chance to do it again.

Given that the show has become an international phenomenon, and you an international celebrity, what do you find most surprising?
What’s been surprising over the years, in going to Port Isaac, is the interaction with the fans. I am really touched by their interest and love. They adore the show and the characters. You have to keep your feet on the ground. It’s a terrific honor to appear in a show that has touched so many people. When we go to the village, we see people from all over Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, America, everywhere.

They want to come and see where the show is made. And they can’t believe we’re there filming. You hear them saying: “Oh my goodness, they’re here. This is fantastic.” It’s a real joy and honor to appear in such a show.

Where do you live during filming?
All the main actors are given a choice. We can have a cottage in the village itself or stay at a hotel. Some people opt for a cottage, some for a hotel. I’ve been fortunate. Every summer, I’ve managed to stay in the same house. It’s in the village, has an incredible view of the harbor below and is beautifully equipped inside.

You might say I run a bed & breakfast. The entire period we’re down there we have friends who come and stay. There’s a cushion in the house that says: “You never know how many friends you have until you have a house in Cornwall.” It’s true. Again, it’s like running a bed & breakfast. You wake up in the morning and come upstairs and say, “Do you want two eggs with that or one?”
It’s a joy to be in the village. We are now part of the culture. I know the locals. In fact, I’m going down in December for a wedding of friends I’ve made there.

Keep reading HERE at Karen's blog.

Cheery Clunes couldn't be more different to his Doc Martin character

Martin Clunes is the star and co-steward of Doc Martin, the popular and personally beloved British import about a big-city doctor whose life becomes enmeshed, to his ongoing discomfort, with the people of Portwenn, a Cornish fishing village (He retreats there when a suddenly acquired fear of blood interrupts his surgical career).

It is a comedy of extreme frustration, in which Clunes' Dr. Ellingham, highly competent at his job and self-defeating in life, nevertheless manages to fall in love, with Caroline Catz's schoolteacher Louisa, have a child and marry, in that order (There are many other characters, each frustrated and frustrating in his or her own way). This has happened at a glacial pace and with many excruciating detours – a pace slowed further by the fact that, though the events of one season lead more or less straight into the events of the next, the show now appears only every other year. Martin and Louisa's son, James, born in a 2011 episode, is still a baby.

That on-off, schedule, which involves both Clunes and his producer wife, Philippa Braithwaite, has been adopted in order to not unduly disturb either the life of their daughter or that of Port Isaac (Port Wenn in the series), where the show films; its global success, which has also generated native adaptations in several other countries, has turned the town into something of a tourist destination. It's also because, Clunes says, "We'd never get the scripts in shape in any less time. It's not an easy show to write. However much time is never enough".

Though the character he plays on television is serious to a fault, Clunes himself is a cheery sort who finds amusement everywhere; indeed, he can barely speak for laughing.

It's your show, you're somewhat in charge of the character. But to what degree is he in charge of you?

That's a good question. I can tell off the page just reading it to myself when scripts come in and somebody's just gauged it wrong. Like if he apologizes, or uses the F-word – we don't go there. It sounds so wanky to say he lives, but I'm also very aware that I'm motivated by a huge desire to fall over and walk into things to make people laugh. You do get into a groove, which is great, when you get to act with the same people a lot. Like with, Caroline Catz – it's like a duet, you're like a duo jamming together.

Keep reading HERE at stuff.co.nz

3 Reasons Why We Love Doc Martin

What is it about Dr. Martin Ellingham’s abrasive bedside manner and particular ways that keeps up coming back to watch his jaw dropping antics? For over a decade, Doc Martin has been a favorite not only of our viewers here at GPB but all over the world.

The reasons why we love him are countless and we’ll get to reminisce in the must see behind the scenes special “Doc Martin: Seven Grumpy Seasons” which premieres on GPB on Thursday, November 26 at 8:30 pm. In honor of this occassion, special guest Ian McNeice who plays Bert Large, will be in studio taking part in the roast of the good doctor. An appropriate exercise for Turkey Day we think!

We also thought of the answer to the first question posed in this post. There are many responses but here are 3 reasons why we love Doc Martin:

1. He’s socially awkward. In the rural English town of Portwenn, everyone is friendly and pleasant. Doc Martin on the other hand seems to have trouble assimilating with the locals...or he doesn’t want to. His sour attitude throws the townspeople off, an attitude particularly strange for a doctor; he simply cannot grasp the concept of “small talk” and his humor has a lot to be desired. In season one episode two, “Gentlemen Prefer”, Martin cracks a joke about needing 1,000 loyalty points for a free coffin - not the best way to approach a patient!

2. Despite his lack of warmth, he’s always honest. Martin might not be the most pleasant person in Portwenn, but he’ll tell it like it is for your own good. In season two episode 14, “Erotomania” for example, Martin gives Mark some bad news about his fiancee. While Mark refuses to believe that Julie is a fake, he later realizes Martin was telling the truth. Speaking of truth…

3. The good doctor does have a soft-spot. In the same episode, Martin lets his true feelings for Louise slip. Martin isn’t much of a drinker but Louise convinces him to have wine at his place. After several sips Martin proclaims, “ All I think about every day is just catching a glimpse of you.” Pretty smooth doc, until he takes it back and accuses Louise of having erotomania, the delusion that a stranger is in love with you. Ouch!

Found HERE at GPB.

Calling All Clunatics: Send Your Doc Martin Fan Video Messages for Martin Clunes NOW

Doc Martin fans: NOW is the time for you to record your special fan video messages for Martin Clunes, because they could be shown on live TV on ITV!

One of the producers of Lorraine, the ITV morning show, just let me know that host Lorraine Kelly will be chatting with Doc Martin star Martin Clunes this Thursday, 19 November 2015.

Even better, the show’s producers are inviting fans of Martin Clunes and Doc Martin to send in video messages about your love for the ever-popular ITV series and its star.

So if you’ve ever wanted to tell Martin about how big a Clunatic you are, here’s your chance!
(And if you’re desperate for Series 8 of Doc Martin, you can also make your pleas, I mean desires, known to the man who can make it happen.)

Both individual and group fan videos are welcome.

The producers will be selecting the best videos to show to Martin and Lorraine viewers during his segment, so make yours brilliant!

Videos should:

• Focus on why you love Doc Martin and Martin Clunes.

• Be kept to 10-20 seconds max in length.

• Emailed to MMA@ITV.COM — NO LATER THAN 3 PM UK time (10 AM Eastern/7 AM Pacific) tomorrow, Wednesday, 18 November 2015. (Videos larger than 10MB should be sent using WeTransfer.)

• Note: Begging and pleading for Doc Martin: Series 8 is optional.

Here’s to your fan videos being shown to Martin Clunes on the Lorraine show!

Found HERE at The British TV Place.

Series 8??

The seventh series of Doc Martin is about to complete its national premiere in the US, and fans already want to know if there will be an eighth. So I asked Ian McNeice.

Ian McNeice, aka Doc Martin‘s Bert Large, is in the US right now, at American Public Television’s Fall Marketplace, where public TV programming execs are gathered to meet him and enthuse about Doc Martin, while screening others of APT’s programs for their upcoming schedules.

We all know Ian as a fine actor, and now I can say from personal experience that he is a genuinely nice guy, too, as he was happy to chat with me by phone this morning, despite my cracking, croaky, under-the-weather voice.

Before we spoke about Doc Martin, we spent a couple minutes on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, which I recently re-watched and in which Ian played several roles. Here’s a bit of trivia he shared with me: As a result of the reciprocity agreement for the RSC’s troupe of 38 British actors appearing on Broadway, London’s West End got… Elizabeth Taylor in the play Little Foxes.

Then we moved straight into Doc Martin, one of the most popular British TV imports ever. With Acorn TV about to stream the finale of Doc Martin: Series 7, and public TV stations set for the broadcast premiere of the series in 2016, what I and the rest of Doc Martin fandom want to know is this: Will there be a Series 8?

According to Ian:

“Every year that we make the series, we come to the end of the filming, and the last two weeks are all spent with the same question. All the actors ask each other, ‘Do you think we’re going to come back?’ Nobody knows… We all want to come back, but we have no idea, and it all hinges on two or three things.

“It hinges on the ratings, whether the ratings are good for ITV, and the next one is whether everyone wants to do it or not. So that really relies on whether Martin Clunes wants to do it again, whether Philippa Braithwaite and Mark Crowdy, the producers, come up with enough good script ideas. There’s a limit to how many ‘will they or won’t they get together again,’ which is a mainstay of the show.

“The good news is that, this past series has been one of the best that they’ve ever done. Everybody’s very happy with it. ITV are over the moon with it. The ratings have been terrific… And ITV is going to give us a dinner to celebrate the viewing figures.”

Keep reading HERE at The British TV Place.

The week in TV: Doc Martin

Doc Martin represents one of my guiltier pleasures, in that I watch it in what I think of as my time “off”, freed from doing the serious important note-taking shtick or being asked to struggle professionally to fathom the enduring appeal of Downton. The Big Bang Theory, The Wright Stuff, reruns of Jonathan Creek or Endeavour – all are just-for-me equivalents of warm mismatched socks, a hot-water bottle and burnt bubbling cheap cheese on toast. Bliss.

So I dread the day Martin Ellingham – his surname an anagram of showrunner Dominic Minghella, is this interesting? (No, Ed.) – gets all worthy or political or even relevant, and I have to review it seriously. And, the saints be blessed, that still looks roundly unlikely from this sofa. We’re still freely invited, 11 years on and at the close of the latest series, to giggle smugly at Cornwall, and what immense fun that is. Those who have been there know that the inhabitants live in perhaps the most glorious corner of God’s green earth, and there should be payback, so we’re probably entitled to regard the Cornubian batholith as the Land That Education Forgot. Almost everyone be a moron.

Bert Large is a cunning 20-chinned moron. Son Al is a misunderstood moron. Mrs Tishell is a comedy escapee from The Archers, and a moron in italics. Sexy Morwenna is a trainee moron (yet there’s hope, and, left to her own devices, she correctly divines that 100% of those waiting for the absent doctor’s curt ministrations are slouchy malingerers or alcoholics). King Captain Moron is, of course, PC Joe, who in this final series episode managed to louse up in every way imaginable short of snagging his own pancreas in a bear-trap. Actor John Marquez deserves great credit: not since Father Dougal has there been on our screens a more credible, human, moron.

 In the end, after some relatively serious business involving the Doc’s kidnapping, serious mainly because one doesn’t ever dick about with Gemma Jones possessed of the “nice” end of a shotgun and a righteous wrath, Louisa and Martin were gently reunited. “I think I’ve been a little bit obsessed with people having to be normal. But they’re not, are they?” You said it, girl from Cornwall. Sweeter, more seriously, “I know you weren’t going to let me down,” which is very much all a girl wants. But… only sometimes. Hence the clever personal tension underwriting the relationship at the heart of this series, and which, apart from the sweet morons and Martin Clunes’s deadpan perfections, lends it its entirely fathomable appeal. More, more.

Found HERE at the Guardian.

Knock knock...

Found HERE at STV's Twitter page.

Much the same thing....Spain? Are you sure?!

Doc Martin – ITV, 9pm

DOC Martin has been held hostage so many times, the surprise is PC Penhale hasn't engaged himself as his personal bodyguard.

Tonight he's back in the clutches of yet another crazed villager. Although, handily for the last episode of the series, having time to himself, albeit unwanted, does give him an opportunity to reflect on his and Louisa's future. A moment of realisation he undergoes at the end of every season, before the next one starts, amidst thudding inevitability, with the couple right back at the beginning.

As it stands, Louisa is supposed to be leaving for Spain. Soon, however, she is amidst a rescue party of villagers hellbent on setting the, er, much-loved, Doc free.

Found HERE. 

It's strange to think that Martin Clunes is now more well-known for Doc Martin than he would be for, say, Men Behaving Badly. Crazy. Anyway, the finale in the series sees Louisa worrying about Dr Timoney's suggestion that she and Martin aren't meant to be together might have prompted him to leave Portwenn for good. Calling on Ruth, Morwenna and Janice for help, she tries to track the down the missing GP, with no luck. However, what Dr Ellingham's friends and family fail to realise is that he is actually trapped up at the Winton farm, where desperate wife Annie is trying to coerce him into performing a life-saving operation on her terminally ill husband Jim. Meanwhile, Ruth and Bert seek out Al to offer him a proposition regarding the whisky and the B&B

Found HERE.

Caroline Catz: 'Even though Louisa and Doc Martin love each other it may not be sensible to have a relationship'

Caroline Catz reveals it’s make or break time for Doc Martin and Louisa in the final episode of the Cornish comedy-drama on Monday.

Caroline, who plays Louisa, told What's on TV: “Louisa and the Doc (Martin Clunes) have been on big journey in their relationship during this series. Then, true to Doc Martin, there’s a mad, interesting and insane situation that takes them on this other journey!”

What’s on TV can reveal things take an unexpected turn in the Ellingham’s relationship when Mrs Annie Winton, played by Gemma Jones, kidnaps the Doc!

The Doc’s priorities quickly change from his relationship to survival when a house call to Annie Winton (Gemma) turns nasty. Terrified of husband Jim dying from his malignant tumour Annie demands Doc treats Jim at home so he doesn’t have to go to hospital. 

Meanwhile, Louisa is left wondering why her estranged husband hasn’t turned up for their make-or-break dinner…

But while everyone else thinks the Doc has done a runner, Louisa isn’t so sure. She enlists the help of Pc Penhale (John Marquez) and retraces Martin’s steps to the Winton farm, where Annie’s got her gun!

Will it be curtains for the couple, one way or the other?

Caroline explained: ‘Martin has this great integrity. He’s a real anti-hero in a way, and has his own quirky charisma, which Louisa loves.

“She puts up with him because he’s a kind, considerate person who finds it really difficult to express himself. But even though they love each other it may not be sensible for them to have a relationship.”

The final episode of Doc Martin screens on ITV, Monday, November 2 at 9pm.

Found HERE at What's on TV.

Nicholas Lumley in Doc Martin

I had a coffee this morning with charming Hungerford actor Nicholas Lumley to find out what his experience was like acting in the popular Doc Martin series with Martin Clunes.

“The casting call was for an eccentric old farmer with an accent based loosely in the West country. At the audition the director told me just to ‘talk pirate’. I was delighted to get the part, as there is always lots of competition.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the sun always shines in Doc Martin. This is deliberate – any grey skies are edited out in post-production. This creates a holiday destination atmosphere on set even when it is wet and windy filming.

Caroline and I had a lovely stay for four days in The Slipway Hotel in Port Isaac opposite the harbour. The hotel is always in the episodes, besides Mrs Tickle chemist shop – which in real life is a sweety gift shop that sells Doc Martin souvenirs. Most of the filming takes place at a farm near the town.

I was asked if I minded having the caravan on the farm as a dressing room. It wasn’t very big but Sigourney Weaver had used it the week before…(she had met Martin on a chat show and asked to be in the series which is very popular in the States). The doctor surgery and most of the interiors have been constructed in a large barn on this farm.

I have long been a fan of Martin Clunes so it was a delight to meet him. He came and introduced himself when I was in make-up having my prosthetic goitre put on (which took an hour). Despite his on-screen grumpy character, Martin is always charming and funny.

Keep reading HERE.

TV Times Cover

Found HERE. The article pages can be found in a post below!

Doc Martin's Caroline Catz can't control her laughter after dipping her head into bucket of cold water while filming chilly scenes on Brighton beach

She's in the middle of filming a brand new season of much-loved British comedy-drama Doc Martin.

And it looked as though Caroline Catz wasn't going to be forgetting her Tuesday on set in a hurry as the star shot some chilly scenes on Brighton Beach. 

Despite the harrowing temperatures along the British coastline, the 45-year-old star was seen dipping her head into a bucket of cold water as the cameras rolled. 

Attempting to shield herself from the cold, the actress sported a palm print wet suit top, skinny jeans and knee-high black boots.

Though her chilly ordeal clearly called for an extra layer as a female companion was seen helping the British star cover up beneath a long blue puffer jacket, while her wet brunette locks were wrapped into a towel. 

Fortunately, Caroline appeared to see the funny side as she laughed incessantly while walking along the pebbled beach.   

Before her damp tresses were hidden beneath a towel, Caroline was sure to set tongues wagging as she leaned over and ran her fingers through the ends of her hair.

Meanwhile, the mother-of-two previously opened up about her role on the popular TV series, and insisted that it's one of the best projects she's ever done.  

'There is no reason in the world not to do this job. It’s too good and too much fun not to,’ she told You magazine in September.

The show sees Caroline star as headteacher Louisa Martin, the wife of the strangely lovable Doctor Martin Ellingham, played by Martin Clunes.

Continuing to gush about the show, the star said: 'For me, one of the appeals of Doc Martin is that it inhabits an entirely credible make-believe world with its own rules, sense of time, space and even fashion.

‘It’s a bit like Narnia, or even at times The Prisoner! There’s this amazing, expansive landscape, which feels so free and open, yet you’re constantly drawn back to the epicentre of the village, where you can’t even blow your nose without everyone knowing about it. And you can’t get away, no matter how hard you try,’ she continued.

 

 Found HERE at The Daily Mail (with more photos!).

9:00pm, Monday, 2 November 2015, ITV

It's make or break for Portwenn's most meant-to-be couple tonight as they face their future in a tense and gripping episode. Deciding they can't bear another second of couples therapy, Martin and Louisa vow to make a final decision about their relationship over dinner. But a couple of unhinged villagers have other ideas and Martin is held at gunpoint as a worried wife (Gemma Jones) demands a more optimistic prognosis for her terminally ill husband. Clearly Martin is unamused and incredulous. Can he talk some sense into her before Louisa gives up on their marriage? It might be a while till another series of Doc Martin – please give us a happy ending, Mr Clunes!

Found HERE at What's on TV.

The Impossible Dream

From this week's TV Times Magazine. A very big thank you to SR for the scan.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Episode 8 - The Doctor is Out - Trailer

Series 7 - 8. The Doctor is Out (Same SPOILER content, different SPOILER picture)

Louisa worries Dr Timoney's suggestion that she and Martin aren't meant to be together might have prompted him to leave Portwenn for good. Calling on Ruth, Morwenna and Janice for help, she tries to track the down the missing GP, with no luck. However, what Dr Ellingham's friends and family fail to realise is that he is actually trapped up at the Winton farm, where desperate wife Annie is trying to coerce him into performing a life-saving operation on her terminally ill husband Jim. Meanwhile, Ruth and Bert seek out Al to offer him a proposition regarding the whisky and the B&B. Medical drama, starring Martin Clunes. Last in the series.

Found HERE at RadioTimes.

Sigourney Weaver on Doc Martin, ITV, review: 'bizarre'

The cosy and sometimes idyllic world of Doc Martin (ITV) often throws up peculiar scenarios, none more so than a cameo appearance by the star of the Alien film franchise, Sigourney Weaver. Playing an American tourist searching for her family roots in Cornwall, and for a prescription-only medicine from the local chemist, her encounter with Dr Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) in the latest episode wasn’t so much enigmatic as evanescent – and verged on the bizarre.

She appeared from nowhere, announced her name, Beth Traywick, to pharmacist Mrs Tishell (to which Mrs T, somewhat bafflingly in the circumstances, replied: “Yes, I know”) and proceeded to act out the sort of clichés of transatlantic boorishness that we haven’t really associated with American tourists since the Seventies. Sadly, Beth’s medical complaint didn’t involve anything as eye-catchingly dramatic as an evil alien parasite living in her gut. It was mild asthma instead, and after another pointlessly waspish encounter with the Doc she was gone. We can only hope her donation of a book on radical feminism to receptionist Morwenna (Jessica Ransom) might yet prove fruitful. 

Apart from that, the episode wended its whimsical way with typical aplomb. The story was bracketed by Martin and Louisa’s (Caroline Catz) encounters with their marriage counsellor, psychiatrist Dr Timoney (Emily Bevan), who herself went doolally after hurting her head in a car accident.

Keep reading HERE at the Telegraph.

Alien’s Sigourney Weaver turned up in Doc Martin and people couldn’t believe it

As TV cameos go, Sigourney Weaver popping up in ITV’s Doc Martin is up with there with the weirdest.

The Alien star appeared in Martin Clune’s comedy series about a brilliant surgeon who moves to a sleepy Cornish village after he develops a fear of blood.

He’s probably not a fan of Alien then.

Sigourney played an American tourist Beth Traywick who stops by the Doc’s practice to get treatment while on her travels.

Needless to say, Twitter was stupefied.

Check out the Tweets HERE at the Metro site.

Doc Martin meets Sigourney Weaver as Alien star appears in BBC drama - best TV cameo ever?

Just what is Ripley doing in Cornwall?

Monday night's Doc Martin saw Sigourney Weaver make a superb cameo in the British comedy-drama.

The Hollywood A-lister, who is known for her role as Ellen Ripley in the Alien movies, turned up as American tourist Beth Traywick in the ITV programme.

The grumpy doctor, played by Martin Clunes, didn't even crack a smile despite being asked to by Weaver's character.

It seems while travelling the world Beth need to stop in the seaside town to get patched up by Doc Martin.

It wasn't long before his British manner was lost on her.

Keep reading HERE at the Mirror.

Episode 8 - The Doctor is Out (SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!!)

As we reach the final episode in Series 7, Martin finds himself in a very unusual situation: trapped by Annie Winton, who desperately wants him to try and save her husband, Jim Winton, despite Jim having been recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Annie insists that there must be something that Martin can do to help. Meanwhile, Ruth and Bert have a proposition to put to Al, regarding the whisky and the B&B. Louisa is very worried about Martin, and wonders if the breakdown of their therapy could have led him to decide to leave Portwenn for good. She calls on Morwenna, Janice and Ruth for help, but none of them have seen Martin. Penhale drives Louisa up to the Winton Farm, where despite Annie trying to persuade them otherwise, they discover Martin. Now reunited with Louisa, Martin manages to eventually find Jim and perform a life‐saving operation on him. But is it too late for Martin and Louisa to also save their marriage?

Found HERE.

Catz out of the bag on Doc Martin

CAROLINE Catz is frequently asked why her character tolerates Doc Martin’s grumpy manner. “People say to me ‘why does she put up with him’. She puts up with him because she loves him, and he’s a really kind and considerate person who finds it really difficult to express himself, “ she says.

“You know he is good because you can see the way he is, and he has this great integrity. He is a real anti-hero in a way, in a great way. He has his own quirky charisma which she loves. I think it is interesting watching these two people try and be together. They are obviously attracted to one another. It is not sensible for them to have a relationship, but they love one another and that is a really common story. You see it all over the place. How many people are perfectly matched in every way?”

The Doc has been seeking the help of a psychotherapist to try to solve his problems and make their marriage work. But tonight Louisa is asked to join other couples in therapy sessions.

"This is quite funny because Dr Timoney (Emily Bevan) is a very good therapist and gets underneath what is really going on between the two of them, and I think that will be really satisfying for the audience.”

The production had worked with a real couples therapist, who had studied the characters and the dynamic between them, before writing the scripts.

“What we learn from this series is that they are probably going to drive each other mad for ever more. They do love each other very much. They go on a big journey in their relationship and with what is going to happen to them. Then true to the series there are so many mad, interesting and insane situations that take them on this other journey as well. All the things that Dr Timoney unearths all connect up. It’s not like we find out new information. It is all information we have heard before in previous episodes: a little bit about her dad, a bit about her mum.

Keep reading HERE.

John Marquez: ‘Having Sigourney Weaver on Doc Martin is wonderful!’

Eyebrows were raised when Alien star Sigourney Weaver was rumoured to be appearing in Cornish comedy Doc Martin. But, despite the odds, the rumour turned out to be true and we can watch the Hollywood superstar in a madcap episode tonight (ITV, October 26)!

It’s also a big episode for Pc Penhale, who has a life-changing decision to make when he’s paid an unexpected visit by Inspector Salter (Little Britain’s Steve Furst), who’s come to offer him a new job in Exeter…

Speaking about having both Sigourney Weaver and comedian Steve Furst on the show, John Marquez, who plays Penhale, said: “Having Alien star Sigourney Weaver on the show is wonderful! I also do a few scenes with Steve Furst, who I’ve admired for years.

“I can’t say if Penhale will stay in Portwenn. He asks everyone what he should do - but most people don’t care! Doc Martin and Bert are particularly harsh to him.”

While Penhale runs around Portwenn trying to make up his mind, Sigourney Weaver plays an American tourist determined to get medication without a prescription.”

The episode also stars Gemma Jones (Spooks) and Kelly Adams (Hustle) and airs on ITV on Monday, October 26 at 9pm.

Found HERE at What's on TV.

TV Pick of the Day: Doc Martin, ITV, October 26

As with most picturesque Cornish seaside towns, Portwenn is no stranger to visitors. Over the past few years, the fishing village which Martin Ellingham calls home has welcomed the likes of Ben Miller, Chris O'dowd and most recently Caroline Quentin.

However, even the busy streets of Portwenn real-life alter-ego, Port Isaac, have probably never witnessed such a throng of stars. Not only do British talent Kelly Adams (Mr Selfridge) and Gemma Jones (Bridget Jones' Diary) grace the narrow streets tonight, there is also a cameo role from Hollywood A-lister Sigourney Weaver (Aliens). Doc Martin star Martin Clunes revealed that Weaver was a big fan of the comedy drama and jumped at the chance of featuring in some small way. Tonight she briefly plays an American tourist who bumps into the grumpy medic. It's no wonder he's in that mood either.

The doctor and Louisa (Caroline Catz) receive an intriguing invitation from Dr Timoney (Emily Bevan) to attend additional therapy sessions. This aspect of the current series has provided laughs and insightful moment in abundance, and it is pleasing to realise the cast have enjoyed those scenes as much as we have.

Catz revealed: "You really do feel like you are in the session, and you go to the heart of what Dr Timoney is trying to tease out of both of them and you can see how difficult it is for them to deal with it. It is putting them in extreme and uncomfortable situations which makes it feel fresh."
For once though, it seems Dr Timoney may be on the receiving end of assistance when she is involved in a car accident outside the school. Inside the building there is trouble of a different kind when the new art teacher (guest-star Adams) angers Louisa with her rather unorthodox methods.

Keep reading HERE at Western Morning News.

Martin Clunes on Jonathan Ross

Is Sigourney Weaver in Doc Martin the weirdest TV cameo ever?

It may be odd, but from Prince in New Girl to Boy George on The A-Team, there have been many unusual pairings.

If the thought of Alien’s Ripley storming through the sleepy Cornish village of Portwenn is enough to send the sickly locals running for the hills, then they had better lock their doors because Sigourney Weaver is set to appear in Monday evening’s episode of ITV drama Doc Martin. Weird? Yes. Unusual? No. When it comes to cameos, stranger is better, as these classics prove …

Click through HERE to see some more unusual pairings at The Guardian.

Doc Martin meets Ripley: Alien star Sigourney Weaver rocks up in Cornwall

How did A-list actor Sigourney Weaver end up spending the summer in Cornwall filming with Martin Clunes? 

It’s the quintessential gentle British comedy-drama, filmed on location in Cornwall in the village of Port Isaac and full of local colour and characters, which is why viewers of ITV’s Doc Martin, may be left rubbing their eyes at the sight of A-lister Sigourney Weaver fetching up as an assertive, argumentative tourist for a surprise guest appearance alongside Martin Clunes in tomorrow’s episode.

The key to this unlikely cameo is Selina Cadell, the jobbing English actress who plays the role of Doc Martin’s village pharmacist Sally Tishell – who also happens to be Sigourney’s best friend of 42 years. Instrumental in persuading her world-famous buddy to join the cast she laughs: “You can’t imagine many American stars fitting into Doc Martin; and the great worry at first was, 'Will she need a trailer?’ 

Keep reading HERE at The Telegraph.

Martin Clunes: 'I fell off my chair twice during Sigourney Weaver's Doc Martin cameo'

SIGOURNEY WEAVER'S appearance in Doc Martin was such an extraordinary cameo that even Martin Clunes himself couldn't quite believe it was happening. 

The actress fled Hollywood for a small part in the ITV drama – which is set in Cornwall - earlier this year after a small chance meeting with Martin on The Jonathan Ross Show last year.

Martin, who plays the titular lead in the show, appears on Wossy's show again this weekend where he reveals it was thanks to Jonathan that Sigourney came to him for a part.

“I came on here to plug Arthur and George and Sigourney Weaver was here who I’d never met," recalled the 53-year-old actor. "She said ‘Oh I’ve watched every episode of Doc Martin…’

"It turns out, she is best friends with Selina Cadell - they were students together - who plays Mrs Tishell, our chemist and so that’s why she’d been watching."

By a stoke of luck, Martin was joined by his wife and producer of the series Philippa Braitehwaite, 51, when the Academy Award-winning star came running for a part.  

Martin added: "My wife, was here afterwards and Sigourney said, ‘Oh can I be in it?’ and she said, ‘OK alright’.

"We wrote a part for an American tourist and thought let’s wait and see if she likes it… and everything fell into place and over she came with her husband, Jim, and she was brilliant, she was really nice, the crew were so excited, so excited, I fell off my chair twice!”

Keep reading HERE at Express.

Doc Martin's Selina Cadell: 'Mrs Tishell isn't having any of Sigourney Weaver's Cornish roots!'

Monday's Doc Martin (ITV) features one of the most unusual guest star TV appearances ever, when Sigourney Weaver turns up in Portwenn playing a brash American tourist. Her longtime friend, Selina Cadell (who plays Mrs Tishell), explained to TV Times how it came about and where they first met... 

How did you become friends with Sigourney Weaver?
“I met her in 1974 when she came over to visit an American friend who was living over here, who I also knew. We all hung out together, and she had such a ball that she stayed for three months. We were young actresses and spent a lot of time laughing and going to the theatre. We’re very close – we’ve spent Christmas together with our families and we work together a lot – we coach each other on our acting projects.”

How did her Doc Martin cameo come about?
“She knew I was in Doc Martin, but I never asked her to watch it. Suddenly it caught on in America and Sigourney watched it and adored it and when she came over to promote a film in February, by chance she went on The Jonathan Ross Show with Martin Clunes and asked him if she could be in Doc Martin. Then they were both funny about it – neither could believe the other one meant it – and so I brokered the deal.”

What can you tell us about Sigourney’s character?
“She plays a brash American tourist who walks into Mrs Tishell’s tiny chemist, imagining she’s going to get some kind of big welcome because she says she has Cornish roots, but Mrs Tishell isn’t having any of it.”

Keep reading HERE at What's on TV.

The Doctor is Out

Found HERE.

Facta Non Verba

A few more fine photos can be found HERE.

Series 7 - 8. The Doctor is Out (SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!!)

8/8. Louisa worries Dr Timoney's suggestion that she and Martin aren't meant to be together might have prompted him to leave Portwenn for good. Calling on Ruth, Morwenna and Janice for help, she tries to track the down the missing GP, with no luck. However, what Dr Ellingham's friends and family fail to realise is that he is actually trapped up at the Wilton farm, where desperate wife Annie is trying to coerce him into performing a life-saving operation on her terminally ill husband Jim. Meanwhile, Ruth and Bert seek out Al to offer him a proposition regarding the whisky and the B&B. Medical drama, starring Martin Clunes. Last in the series.

Found HERE at RadioTimes.

'He's just so wrong': A chat with Martin Clunes, star of 'Doc Martin'

Martin Clunes is the star and co-steward of "Doc Martin," a popular and personally beloved British import (from the commercial network ITV) about a big-city doctor whose life becomes enmeshed, to his ongoing discomfort, with the people of Portwenn, a Cornish fishing village. (He retreats there when a suddenly acquired fear of blood interrupts his surgical career.) The show's seventh season is now streaming domestically via Acorn TV and will come to American public television early next year -- KCET will carry it locally, beginning Jan. 14.

It is a comedy of extreme frustration, in which Clunes' Dr. Ellingham, highly competent at his job and self-defeating in life, nevertheless manages to fall in love, with Caroline Catz's schoolteacher Louisa, have a child and marry, in that order. (There are many other characters, each frustrated and frustrating in his or her own way.) This has happened at a glacial pace and with many excruciating detours -- a pace slowed further by the fact that, though the events of one season lead more or less straight into the events of the next, the show now appears only every other year. Martin and Louisa's son, James, born in a 2011 episode, is still a baby.


That on-off, schedule, which involves both Clunes and his producer wife, Philippa Braithwaite, has been adopted in order to not unduly disturb either the life of their daughter or that of Port Isaac (Port Wenn in the series), where the show films; its global success, which has also generated native adaptations in several other countries, has turned the town into something of a tourist destination. It's also because, Clunes says, "We'd never get the scripts in shape in any less time. It's not an easy show to write. However much time is never enough."

I spoke to the actor recently, transatlantically by telephone. Though the character he plays on television is serious to a fault, Clunes himself is a cheery sort who finds amusement everywhere; indeed, he can barely speak for laughing. (An earlier conversation, from 2012, can be found here.)

It's your show, you're somewhat in charge of the character. But to what degree is he in charge of you?
That's a good question. I can tell off the page just reading it to myself when scripts come in and somebody's just gauged it wrong. Like if he apologizes, or uses the F-word -- we don't go there. It sounds so wanky to say he lives, but I'm also very aware that I'm motivated by a huge desire to fall over and walk into things to make people laugh.

You do get into a groove, which is great, when you get to act with the same people a lot. Like with, Caroline Catz -- it's like a duet, you're like a duo jamming together.

Keep reading HERE at LA Times.

9:00pm, Monday, 26 October 2015, ITV

Portwenn has a visitor – but Martin has other things on his mind…

Hollywood comes to Cornwall as Alien star Sigourney Weaver makes a very special guest appearance in tonight's episode! Fan of the show Sigourney plays an assertive American who doesn't take too kindly to the doc's unique charms. Martin's got more pressing problems than indignant tourists, though. His chatty new neighbour insists on encouraging her daughter's terrible (and loud) violin practice, and therapy reaches a distressing crossroads when it's suggested that Martin and Louisa should accept their separation and move on. Meanwhile, Pc Penhale is flattered when he’s offered a transfer to Exeter, but surely he wouldn't leave Janice and Portwenn? Or would he?

Found HERE at What's on TV.

Episode 7 - Facta Non Verba - Monday 26th October, 9pm ITV

Portwenn gets a little taste of Hollywood this week as Sigourney Weaver makes a cameo appearance alongside the nation’s grumpiest doctor in Facta Non Verba, episode seven of the current series. After Martin (Martin Clunes) and Louisa (Caroline Catz) tell Dr Timoney (Emily Bevan) about their failed date night, she questions their compatibility and asks if it is time for them to recognise that perhaps they are not meant to be together. The arrival of some new neighbours – Erica (Kelly Adams), the new art teacher at Portwenn school, and her daughter Bernie (Beatrice Playfoot-Orme) causes mixed reactions. Louisa’s initial joy at having found a permanent teacher proves short-lived when Erica wants to try out some alternative ideas on the children. Martin discovers that his new neighbour is noisy, accident prone and thinks nothing of calling on the doctor next door. Penhale (John Marquez) is happy to finally see his crime-stopping talents recognised when he manages to protect everyone after a car accident outside the school, but is torn when he is offered a transfer to Exeter - particularly as this will mean leaving Janice (Robin Addison) behind. With his whisky dream lying in tatters, Bert (Ian McNeice) decides to go back to something he knows. He reverts to being a handyman, but is disheartened once again when his first customer, Erica, has an accident.

Found HERE at ITV.