With this year’s amazing television coming to an end, a poll has been released which names Downton Abbey the best TV programme, not just of this year, but of the entire decade!

The epic ITV period drama, which comes to the end of its third series tonight on ITV1, has captured the hearts of both the UK and US nation, and quickly the most respected, and talked about costume drama of the millennium, and kept us all glued to our TV sets, going into mourning at the end of every series.
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Martin Clunes has revealed to the Radio Times that when hit comedy drama Doc Martin returns to our screens next year with a new series, viewers will need to buy a new hat as the Doc Martin Ellingham is marrying Louisa, who’s played by Caroline Catz!

Of the new series, which Martin has previously said may be the last, he said of returning to Port Isaac in Cornwall where the show is filmed, “I can’t wait to go back there.

“It will be interesting because Louisa and the doctor are finally going to marry, I think.”

However, he added, “But I don’t want to give too much away!”

The origins of the series lie with the film Saving Grace in which Martin played a character called Dr Martin Bamford, and in two made for TV spin-offs, his character was a successful obstetrician who discovered that his wife had had numerous affairs… Read more & comment »

Bert Large’s restaurant business is financial trouble. He can’t even afford the food and drink for a charity event to raise money for Florence Dingle’s (Anne Reid) cat sanctuary. Mrs Dingle is distraught. She desperately needs the money to continue to look after the cats and kittens in her care.

Bert is also being chased by loan sharks Alastair Tonken (Alan Williams) and his son Norman (Marcus Cunningham) for the repayment of £1000 they gave him to clear his debts, warning of repercussions if he doesn’t pay up. Al is furious with his father for losing all their money and bringing them to the verge of bankruptcy. Bert blames Al for spending too much time working for Ruth instead of helping him with the restaurant.

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Martin Clunes, who of course plays eccentric ITV1’s GP Doc Martin, says that the show needs to change if it’s to keep viewers tuning in.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Martin said, “You might not think so from watching it, but we are always at huge pains to re-invent the show…

“And there are only so many times you can do that.”

Martin, who’s played the role of the Doc since 2004, added, “We could have the doc staying put in Portwenn and muddling along with Louisa… Read more & comment »

Former Survivors star, Julie Graham, has been telling What’s On TV all about landing a role on hit ITV comedy, Doc Martin.

Julie is to play the role of PC Joe Penhale’s (John Marquez) ex-wife Maggie, and when asked why her character turns up in the village, Julie said, “Although Maggie is divorced from Joe, she’s had some sort of trauma and is suffering from amnesia…

“So she thinks they’re still married. She thinks it’s April 2008.”

Julie went on to explain that Joe’s pleased to see Maggie, but on the subject of the couple possibly getting back together, Julie said, “I don’t think he ever wanted to split up in the first place so he sort of goes along with it in a sneaky way, pretending they’re still married.

“It’s actually a very moving storyline. Joe is a lovely character and very funny.

“I know John Marquez, who plays him, really well. His daughter is actually my goddaughter… Read more & comment »

Martin Clunes reckons that the reason fans love his character Doc Martin because he’s “a grumpy so and so.”

Speaking to The Sun, Martin said, “I guess we all just love a grumpy old so-and-so.

“Doc Martin is about as grumpy as you can get. He’s got even worse as the years go by.

“I saw some re-runs a few months ago and was thinking, ‘Who’s this cuddly guy?’.”

Now airing in its fifth series, Doc Martin is attracting around nine million viewers per episode. Read more & comment »

It’s been reported today by the Daily Star that Doc Martin actor Martin Clunes was sent to boarding school as a child as his mother feared he could become gay otherwise.

49 year old Martin – who also starred in hit sitcom Men Behaving Badly – told the paper, “I was bundled off a year after my father died.

“She was advised if I stayed at home and grew up with her and my sister, I’d be gay.” Read more & comment »

Martin Clunes has told What’s On TV magazine that he thinks his grumpy character, Doc Martin, isn’t “abrasive enough”, and that he admires his lack of “social grace.”

Martin, who returns to our screens tonight as the Cornwall based medic, also revealed that he’s spoken to real life doctors who say they find his character “endearing.”

He said, “There’s something quite liberated about his lack of social grace.

“It frees him up to say what he wants and get to the point, which few of us do.” Read more & comment »

Comedy actor Martin Clunes – who of course stars in Doc Martin – has revealed that he thinks a remake of ‘90s sitcom Men Behaving Badly would be “seedy.”

Martin – who starred as affable Gary in Men Behaving Badly – made his remarks to The Daily Telegraph while discussing the forthcoming new series of Doc Martin.

When asked if he’d like to see Men remade, Martin replied, “I think it’s probably quite a seedy notion.”

Martin went on to reveal that while he’s filming for Doc Martin, he tends to stay away from the rest of the cast so that he doesn’t end up drinking too much with them after a day’s filming.

He said, “Our house is away from Port Isaac, which is where everyone else is. I’d be lethal… Read more & comment »

Martin Clunes returns to Cornwall this week to begin filming a brand new series of the ratings winning ITV1 drama Doc Martin.

With ratings topping nine million viewers for the series screened in Autumn 2009, Doc Martin is considered one of ITV’s most successful drama series.

After a two year break to allow Martin to pursue other drama and factual projects, he is back to reprise the role of the curmudgeonly GP in the picturesque fictional village of Portwenn.

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I’ve only ever seen about three episodes of Doc Martin, and those occasions have really been by accident rather than intent, but after watching last night’s episode, I have to applaud the formula; it’s the same one that makes shows such as Jam & Jerusalem and Vicar of Dibley work.

It seems to go something like this…

Make quirkiness your main ingredient – in this instance, a people hating GP who’s also haemophobic – and lob in loads of other characters with quirks. Mix them all together in a picturesque village setting, add liberal amounts of one-liners and puns then garnish with a love interest or two.

And it clearly works, for Doc Martin has a viewership more loyal than your average Labrador. Read more & comment »

Headmistress Louisa Glasson has left Portwenn, and Dr Martin Ellingham has begun to question what keeps him in Cornwall. It’s certainly not his relentlessly annoying patients. It’s certainly not the amorous advances of the infatuated local chemist, MRS TISHELL. Martin has realised that if he is ever to escape, he must conquer his worst fear: the blood phobia that ended his surgical career.

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Martin Clunes is back in Cornwall to film a new series of the ratings winning comedy drama Doc Martin for ITV1.

He returns to play the curmudgeonly Dr Martin Ellingham whose truculent and tactless manner upsets the convivial community of the picture postcard village of Portwenn on the North Cornwall coast.

The last series, which won nine million viewers, ended with a wedding day disaster when the doc and his bride, Louisa, both got cold feet just as they were about to take their vows.

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ITV has announced that it’s re-commissioned of some of its most popular dramas, all of which are set for production over the next couple of month.

The much loved Foyle’s War, created by Anthony Horowitz and starring Michael Kitchen, will return with three new style episodes; It’s June 1945 and while VE Day has been celebrated in Britain, the war continues elsewhere in the world.

Like everyone else, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle needs to feel his way in this new world. Keen to retire, but bound to his old job by the shortage of senior men, Foyle is thrust into the dangerous worlds of international conspiracy and execution, military racism and national betrayal… Read more & comment »