SHROPSHIRE STAR
September 3, 2013
There can’t be many bridegrooms who head for church for their wedding straight after conducting a gynaecological examination, but then I guess regular viewers have come to expect the unexpected of this ITV drama series.
Yes, the big day had come round – again – for Doctor Martin Ellingham and his bride-to-be Louisa.
Lazier writers could easily have devoted this first in a new run to an hour of ‘will they, won’t they’ wed.
Instead, following a typically stilted performance during the ceremony from Martin Clunes as the oh-so-awkward doc, the show cleverly transformed itself from something akin to Four Weddings and a Funeral to a proper good bloodbath via various genres en route.
Wonderfully wobbly-necked Bert Large, played by Ian McNeice, is catalyst to all manner of calamity in the opening episode.
Bert is perhaps the show’s greatest asset, with his wooly hat making him look like a character from 1970s children’s favourite The Flumps.
His plan to whisk away the happy couple to a remote lodge goes to plan – except for driving away with doc and Louisa’s belongings, languishing in a suitcase still in the boot of his vintage car.
So, left to their own devices in the isolated setting, the doc and Louisa – or should that be Frank and Betty Spencer?– crack open a bottle of champagne and settle in for the evening with a romantic open fire.
Yes, it all starts to go a bit ‘Some Mothers do ‘ave ‘em’ when the dreamy setting becomes a little less enticing as the room fills with smoke and the fire belches a soot cloud at the happy couple.
READ MORE HERE: http://www.shropshirestar.com/entertainment/2013/09/03/tv-review-doc-martin/
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