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 comes back to Cornwall

ITV REPORT  15 May 2015 at 4:32pm



Martin Clunes is back in Cornwall filming the seventh series of his hit ITV comedy drama Doc Martin.

The actor from Dorset took a break from filming to speak exclusively to ITV West Country about his love of the county.

It feels like a second holiday in a way, even though it's hard work. It's a five month slog of very long hours but it's such a nice place to be. There's a lot of hanging around in our game but look where we get to hang around. The amount of hours I've spent gazing out to sea here.

– MARTIN CLUNES, "DOC MARTIN"

Port Isaac has become Port Wenn for the popular series Credit: ITV News
The entire cast and crew stays in the Cornish village of Port Isaac for five months during the busy filming schedule.

The new series, which airs in the autumn, will feature four local babies who have been picked from 150 hopefuls to share the role of the doctor's son.

Around 800 local people also auditioned to be extras.

While we were on set we bumped into a pair of "Clunatics" as Martin Clunes' fans are known as. These two women have travelled all the way from the States to see behind the scenes.



READ MORE HERE (nice video clip too): http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2015-05-15/doc-martin-comes-back-to-cornwall/

Martin Clunes’ guide to Doc Martin's Port Isaac

RADIO TIMES
Jade Bremner
12:09 PM, 29 August 2013

Next week the grumpy doctor returns for more cosy drama in the quaint Cornish village of Port Isaac. Last season, an average of 10 million of us tuned into each week to see Doc Martin's misadventures on the west country coastline. In anticipation of another bout of beautiful scenes, we catch up with the doctor himself – Martin Clunes – to discover his five best spots to visit in the area...

1. Port Quin

The small cove and hamlet on the north Cornish coast is where Clunes likes to walk his dog, along the cliff overlooking the bay. Clunes says: “It’s an old fishing village along the coast from Port Isaac. There’s a beautiful crenelated folly there called Doyden Castle, built about 1830 by Samuel Symons, which we used as Pentire Castle at the end of season five."

2. The Edge

This little eatery overlooking the Port Isacc Bay and Port Gavern serves hearty English grub, including free-range produce from the neighboring farms and freshly caught fish from the ocean. “It's the restaurant at the top of the village where we have our wrap party at the end of each season,” explains Clunes. “They buy the food locally, in season, and support ethical farming. The views are amazing.”

3. Fern Cottage

Although you can’t actually go in, many people seek out the Doctor’s house on Roscarrock Hill in order to snap a picture outside. Clunes is particularly fond of its garden. “Doctor Martin’s house actually has two gardens,” says Clunes, “one that we use and one just up the cliff a little. When filming gets hectic and I need a bit of peace I can go up to the secret garden, look out to sea and get some space.”

READ MORE HERE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-08-29/martin-clunes-guide-to-doc-martins-port-isaac

Martin Clunes: 'Doc Martin is the last good job in television! - Also confirms a Season 7!

WHATS ON TV
9:56am, Wednesday, 28 August 2013

Doc Martin star Martin Clunes talks to TV Times magazine about Louisa and Martin finally getting married, and his worries about viewers turning off the hit ITV series when it returns on Monday...

How does it feel now that Doc Martin and Louisa have finally reached this moment?
"We knew that from the word go, people latched onto the romantic intent with these two, so every time we sit down to think of a new series and where things will go, that’s the thing that gets put in place first – how are Martin and Louisa going to get through the next series? And then the rest just bolts on. It seems to be the central thing that people tune in for."

These two have been off and on since the very first series! Are you worried about what fans will think now that they're actually getting married?
"Viewers might just switch off! 'We don’t need to watch any more!' I don’t know – we’ve never gone in for happy resolutions. It’s always dysfunctional. But it is an unusual first episode, because it’s the wedding and honeymoon and it’s just the two of us. I think people will like it."

We hear the wedding pretty much goes to plan… What happens next?
"We try and disappear from our own wedding reception because the villagers have all just come for the free cider!"

What else happens for Doc Martin this series, aside from the marriage?
"His blood phobia returns, and his mum comes back. That’s worse than any phobia!"


Read more at http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/doc-martin/news/martin-clunes-doc-martin-is-the-last-good-job-in-television#MKir9THLrkEWyvfS.99

Martin Clunes: 'It doesn’t sound promising, a show about a cranky doctor’ Martin Clunes talks about his surprise at Doc Martin’s success

TELEGRAPH
By Daphne Lockyer7:00AM BST 25 Aug 2013

Martin Clunes is turning a blind eye to the Doc Martin “stalker” who lurks in the choir stalls of St Nonna’s, a pretty Norman church in the Cornish village of Altarnun. While he poses for pictures with his co-star, Caroline Catz, the matronly gatecrasher – who has flown in from Texas to loiter around the set – is trying to merge into the background.

“Don’t say anything,” Clunes whispers. “She’s not doing any harm.”

Later, as we sit in the pews together, he explains his tolerance of rubber-neckers. “As long as they don’t get in the way of filming, it’s not a problem. And without the fans, where would we be?”

Doc Martin appears to attract an extreme kind of fan, and the fishing village of Port Isaac (doubling for the fictitious Portwenn) where the show is mostly filmed, is running alive with them. They applaud when Clunes arrives, and shop for syringe-shaped pens and mugs decorated with a shot of the grumpy medic at a Doc Martin store.

“People come from all over the place – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America. I think it’s wonderful that they have such a strong reaction to the show.”



If you’re not one of the eight million British viewers who have tuned in to the five series that have run since 2003, Doc Martin features an unlikely hero, Dr Martin Ellingham, a curmudgeonly medic with a blood phobia and zero bedside manner. With its Cornish backdrop, gently ironic English humour, and a stellar cast of thesps that includes Dame Eileen Atkins, it represents a British idyll that, like Downton Abbey, the rest of the world embraces: 208 countries – including, most recently, Iran – have either bought rights to the original show or are making their own versions.

“Presumably none of the female characters in the Iranian Doc Martin will be allowed to speak, or drive, or go to school or work,” chuckles Clunes, 51.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10263552/Martin-Clunes-It-doesnt-sound-promising-a-show-about-a-cranky-doctor.html

Martin Clunes back as Doc Martin after two year break

After a two-year break, Martin Clunes is back in a brand new series of Doc Martin.

Set against the stunning backdrop of Cornwall and the picture postcard village of Portwenn, Martin reprises his role of the curmudgeonly Doctor Martin Ellingham whose truculent and tactless manner upsets just about everyone.

When we last saw him he had packed his bags ready to take on a consultant's position in London. That was until estranged girlfriend Luisa gave birth to their son - who still doesn't have a name...
Can the Doc cope with being a new dad while trying to resume his high-flying career as a surgeon?
Martin introduces the second series in the video above and shares his funniest moments as the Doc below. Plus take a closer look at the stunning location of Port Isaac as we go behind the scenes.
If you miss an episode, catch up on ITV Player.
Buy Doc Martin merchandise by clicking on the Buffalo Pictures logo on the right.

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