British actor Martin Clunes revels in the surliness of Dr Martin Ellingham, the GP with no bedside manner. While Martin loves being back in Cornwall filming series three, some of his fans are not so keen.
“Ladies of a certain age who liked me as William in ITV1’s William and Mary don’t like me being the nasty doctor,” he laughs.
“But you are not really meant to like the Doc. Heaven forbid that anyone should warm to him. He comes a cropper all the time, and he doesn’t try to redeem himself in this series.”
Martin shed the cuddly image of William Shawcross to play the slick, sharp-suited surgeon.
“Dr Martin Ellingham is very different to cuddly William Shawcross, which is one reason I wanted to play him.” Indeed Martin was so convincing in the role of Dr Martin Ellingham that he was asked for a medical diagnosis for real.
He recalls “On set the crew called me Doc all the time. I have learned a lot about medicine form making the series, but I’m no expert, “ says Martin whose character was forced to give up his glittering career and become a GP in a sleepy Cornish hamlet after developing a blood phobia.
“One day an extra came to me complaining of tightness in his chest. I told him I wasn’t qualified to suggest what might be the problem, and then proceeded to try to diagnose his symptoms. It is infectious stuff this medicine business. But I think it is best left to the professionals.”
Martin admits he couldn’t wait to return to North Cornwall to make the third series of Doc Martin, especially after the ratings success of the first two.
“It would have been a battle to keep me away from making another series, after the way people took to the first two. It was very gratifying.
“I love working on Doc Martin; being in Cornwall, and being able to work with my wife Philippa, who is the producer. At the end of the day’s filming we were able to go back to a beautiful house along the coast from Port Isaac, which has stunning sea views.
“And it means I was home before my daughter Emily had to go to bed, which doesn’t happen when I am filming in London. We had our two spaniels in Cornwall with us too; Mary and a puppy Tina.
“When we were filming in Cornwall last year we did consider buying a property because we loved the place so much. We are still looking, and if we found the right property we would buy. It would be a perfect holiday retreat. The trouble is we loved the place we rented during filming, but it is not for sale.”
“But the third series is not just about romance, even though a lot of people have asked whether the doctor and the teacher will get together. You have to wait and see.”
Doc Martin is made by Martin’s own production company, Buffalo Pictures. He went solo ten years ago with the intention of optioning a J.P.Dunleavy novel to make into a television series.
He and Philippa, who he met while they were working together on the feature film Staggered, are now directors of Buffalo.
The Doc Martin star takes a wry and witty look at man's love affair with canines
