Filming starts on Doc Martin Series 8 (Martin Clunes)

British Comedy Guide
Tuesday 21st March 2017, 9:18am

Filming is underway on Series 8 of hit ITV comedy drama Doc Martin.

ITV has confirmed that filming has just begun on location in Port Isaac, the picturesque Cornish village which doubles as the fictional sleepy Portwenn.

All the regular members of the cast are returning to the popular series, as crews begin filming eight new episodes.

Martin Clunes reprises his role as Dr Martin Ellingham, the GP with a brusque bedside manner and a phobia of blood; with Caroline Catz playing his wife and local school headmistress, Louisa Ellingham.

After having therapy to save their marriage in the last series, they face the challenge of living happily together with their baby James Henry.

Martin Clunes says: "I'm thrilled to be back on the beautiful North Cornish coast to shoot Series 8 of Doc Martin. The Doc is as obstinate as ever, but he is trying his best to be a better husband and father."

Also returning to the series is Dame Eileen Atkins who plays the central character's formidable Aunt Ruth, a woman who is beginning to doubt the wisdom of going into business with Bert Large and his son Al.

Ian McNeice is back to play Bert Large, with Joe Absolom as Al. Bert is desperate to make his home distilled whisky a success, but there's a shortage of customers willing to buy. Meanwhile guests are not exactly flocking to Al's bed and breakfast, and he fears he will have to close the doors for good.

Meanwhile wedding bells are ringing for unlucky-in-love PC Joe Penhale, played by John Marquez. In the last series he popped the question to the Doc's nanny Janice Bone, played by Robyn Addison, and is now looking forward to marital bliss. Will the course of true love run smoothly at last for Portwenn's police officer?


https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/news/2506/doc_martin_series_8/

Doc Martin: ‘Departure’ – Series 6 Episode 8 (SPOILERS)

THE INDEPENDENT
By Lina Talbot
Last updated: Tuesday, 22 October 2013 at 10:42 am



Spoiler alert: This review assumes you have already watched Episode 8 of the current series.


Despite the title to this episode, viewers can be relieved that nothing hints at a real-life departure from the Doc Martin cast. Apart from Claire Bloom as the wicked grandmother, that is… Martin finally summons the strength to have ‘that talk’ his mother has been waiting for, and sees straight through her scheming. She did make a basic medical error in her dishonest account of his father’s passing, after all.

Writer Jack Lothian delivers a gripping finale to the current series, even weaving in new suspense with an unexpected medical condition for Louisa. Something has to stop her flying away, since the exchanges between her and Martin are as futile as ever. But her departure for the airport triggers some sensation in Martin Clunes’ obdurate doctor who, possibly confusing emotion for illness, strides off to seek advice from Ruth. She is apparently now the village go-to person for all manner of problems.

Down at the Large’s, the story continues of Al’s quest for his own source of income and, with it, independence from his ‘know it better’ father. Ian McNeice manages to make Bert endearing even while he rains unreasonable demands on his son. Later he proposes “BAR” (Bert, Al and Ruth) as the name for Al’s business, then claims to be just winding Al up. Not always been the case, eh Bert?

But the awkward Al, played for sympathy by Joe Absolom, must scamper down a grassy bank in scooter helmet, suit and tie, to pitch his business idea to Eileen Atkins’ implacable Ruth. Has Alan Sugar tried that on his protégés? As the camera sweeps along the overgrown lakeside, Al suggests a barbecue with the freshly caught fish – and I’m sold. The lake may not be the largest, but I’m prepared to believe.

Ruth and Al’s two encounters are my favourite of several heartfelt one-on-one scenes this week. I trust there will be more such odd couple moments in the next series.

Comic sketches include a running gag with the New York cops outfit chosen by Penhale (Joe Marquez) as his fancy dress for Bert’s party – of course. This culminates at the airport where, surprise surprise, he cannot convince the official that he actually is a policeman. Best comedy line comes from Martin, objecting to the travel agent down the phone: “No I won’t hold!”

Ruth gives Morwenna (Jessica Ransom) cause to pause, as she lets slip her perception that Morwenna and Al are “involved”. Nope, they’re still getting there… Morwenna then engages in a wonderfully straight exchange with her pal, that Ruth working in psychiatry is not the same as being psychic.

The big climax commences with Martin peering at Louisa’s CT scan, which reveals an arteriovenous malformation. This is an unstable link between blood vessels at different pressures. Yes, these can bleed and do need treatment, but there’s no rush for emergency surgery, especially in early autumn when experienced surgeons may be on holiday and the new intake not yet up to scratch – clearly the case in Truro. And just because you have an AVM doesn’t mean your headache following a row with your husband comes from a bleed.9


READ MORE HERE:http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/10/21/doc-martin-doc-martin-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%98departure%E2%80%99-%E2%80%93-series-6-episode-8/

TV review: Doc Martin - Spoilers

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/

Martin Clunes: ITV Sets Premiere Date For ‘Doc Martin’ Season 6 (& Doc Martin bloopers)

TV WISE

By Patrick Munn

The sixth season of ITV’s drama series Doc Martin will premiere on Monday September 2nd at 9pm, it has been announced.

Created by Dominic Minghella, Doc Martin follows the daily life of a cantankerous GP in the village of Port Wenn, Cornwall. The drama series is produced by Buffalo Pictures and stars Martin Clunes, Caroline Catz, Eileen Atkins, Ian McNeice, John Marquez and Jessica Ransom. In the opening episode of the show’s sixth season Portwenn is buzzing with arrangements for the wedding of the Doc and Louisa. Will they finally tie the knot, or will the villagers have to put the confetti back in the box again?

READ MORE HERE:  http://www.tvwise.co.uk/2013/08/itv-sets-premiere-date-for-doc-martin-season-6/

Doc Martin Arrives In Time For Mother's Day

Submitted by Jason Palmer on Thu, 03/15/2012 - 23:15

Make an appointment with Doc Martin this Mother’s Day, as Momentum Pictures releases the fifth series of ITV’s highest-rating comedy-drama on DVD. Sharply scripted and filled with an array of wonderfully crafted characters, Doc Martin continues to go from strength to strength with each and every series.

Martin Clunes reprises the role of the curmudgeonly Dr Martin Ellingham whose truculent and tactless manner upsets the convivial community of the picture postcard village of Portwenn.

Series 5 sees the doc struggling to cope with being a new dad, whilst trying to resume his highflying career as a surgeon which threatens to take him away from the small Cornish village.

Joining Clunes are regular cast members Caroline Catz (Murder in Suburbia, Vice) as Louisa Glasson, Ian McNeice (Rome, Dr Who) and Joe Absolom (Vincent, Eastenders) as Bert and Al Large, and John Marquez returns to his role as the village policeman, with Selina Cadell as pharmacist Mrs Tishell.

Dame Eileen Atkins (Upstairs Downstairs) joins the regular cast as the doctor’s Aunt Ruth, along with Louise Jameson (EastEnders, Dr Who) as Louisa’s mother Eleanor, Jessica Ransom (Armstrong and Miller Show) as the new surgery receptionist, Morwenna Newcross, and a prestigious line up of guest stars including Julie Graham (Survivors), Peter Vaughan (Lark Rise to Candleford), Joanna Scanlan (Getting On, The Thick of It), Robert Daws, Miriam Margolyes, John Duttine and Anne Reid.


READ MORE:  http://www.entertainment-focus.com/news/doc-martin-arrives-in-time-for-mothers-day