Doc Martin: A New Treat for Public TV Watchers

My local public broadcasting station, WETA, held a fundraiser recently. In it, they promoted the new British dramedy, "Doc Martin." They claim to be the only public broadcasting network carrying the show. As expected, they asked for donations to keep that wonderful show on the air.

The thing is, it is a wonderful show. We are getting it a few years after the fact. The first episodes went into production in 2004. We in the Washington, DC metropolitan area only began getting them in 2010. If WETA's claim is accurate, then much of the national audience is being deprived. The rest of you public television watchers should start agitating your local franchise--literally--to get with the program.

Doc Martin is what we would call, in modern TV parlance a dramedy, in that it provides a strong mixture of drama and comedy, though I would say the show's slant is definitely toward the whimsical. For example, in one episode, the doctor treats a teenage girl who suffered from an unfortunate accident. When her friends anxiously asked if she would die, Doc Martin, deadpanned, "Yes, but not today." Had I been introduced to it by the time I wrote the article about My Ten Favorite TV Dramedies , I certainly would have found a place for this show, and very high on the list at that.

The title character is a former London surgeon, Dr. Martin Ellingham, who has relocated to a general practice in the fictitious Cornish town of Port Wenn. We do not learn the reason right away, but it seems the good doctor developed a sudden and pronounced aversion to the sight of blood. A thing like that can be a major inconvenience in an operating room. As the doc learns to his ongoing dismay, it is a sight that pops up all-too-often in his practice down in Cornwall.

The man who plays him is a fellow named Martin Clunes-an actor I had not even remotely heard of before I began following the series. Even so, they could not have picked a better person for the part. Given that Doc Martin is equal parts curmudgeon and genius, Clunes is able to play the role to a "T." His default expression is one of "All right, who ate the beans?" That is not all physiological by any means. There is a great deal of irritability behind that irascible appearance.

Mind, you Dr. Ellingham-or "Doc Martin," as the locals usually call him-is not one who goes out of his way to kick dogs in the street. There is an ongoing bit that surfaces frequently involving a freeloading mutt who keeps imagining he is going to adopt the doctor as his master, but he never actually kicks the creature. On the other hand, Doc Martin is someone who does not suffer fools gracefully. Whether they surface in a comedic or a dramatic context, there are fools a-plenty for him not to suffer in that village.

The good doctor does have an element of romance in his life, sort of. The schoolteacher, Louisa Glasson (played by another excellent actor I have never heard of, Caroline Catz), seems bound and determined to carry on a love-hate relationship with Doc Martin. After a very rocky start in their acquaintance, Louisa somehow manages to see the nobility in this strange fellow. To be sure, there is a considerable reservoir of nobility within him. Still, whenever she tries to act on it, circumstances or the Doc himself manage to gum up the works. One excellent example of this strange dance they do is, after Doc Martin has saved the life of a patient who was almost certainly marked for death, Louisa kisses him passionately. The Doc can only think to ask her if there is some medical condition that is accounting for her unusually bad breath. Yikes!

There is a great deal of variety in every episode, even given the seemingly-sleepy locale of the series. Even so, the viewer can generally count on two things: at some point in the episode, Doc Martin is really going to perturb someone, and probably be completely oblivious to what he did. The other thing is that, when the chips are down, he will come through like a champ.

Seriously, if your local public broadcasting system chooses not to carry this wonderful series, put a bee in their bonnet. And, if the apiary happens to be bare, you can always find the series on Netflix, not only as a rental, but as a streaming video. Maybe you should invest a little of your time to check the show out before you call up your non-participating PBS station and begin raising hail Columbia.

Sources

Imdb.com

WETA.org

Wikipedia

Netflix

The episodes themselves