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| DOC MARTIN'S SURGERY (Photo credit: gazzat) |
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| Martin Clunes as "Doc Martin" reflecting (standing in is Port Isaac), Cornwall, United Kingdom (Photo credit: Wonderlane) |
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| Caroline Catz on the set of Doc Martin 4 in Port Isaac (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Doc Martin is a British TV program now it's in his fifth season in the US. It is shown on Public Television Stations. See the website for all the cast information and such.
Doctor Martin Ellingham summered on the Cornwall coast as a child. After becoming a top vascular surgeon he develops a phobia to blood he returns to Cornwall to be the General Practitioner for a small coastal village, Portwenn. He is socially stilted and inept, but he's a brilliant diagnostician. Except for his extreme propriety and for the fact he does not drink or do drugs he reminds me of Greg House. Of course he also is not working with a team, nor is he working in a medical center.
While he is brilliant the people of Portwenn are a close knit, country community and he is an up tight, anti-social genius accustomed to having things his way. All of a sudden he is the local doctor for this community and while his medical skills are recognized he rubs people the wrong way. He falls in love with the local teacher and they end up not marrying. She leaves the area and when she returns she is six months pregnant with his child but says she wants nothing to do with him. At the beginning of season five Louisa has had the baby and she and the doctor are living together. But, he's still an ass, but he is an ass who has become part of the community. The British medical system, if accurately portrayed, is fascinating; the doctor seems to have actual authority to command public health situations.
Production value is high, the acting is generally excellent with low cast turnover. There aren't many surprises in the programming, it's the acting and scenery; the sense of a way of life not much infiltrated by the hustle and insanity of the modern world but with all the mod cons (conveniences). For me that sense of a village is really the best thing in the show. I think it is the sense of village we all grew up idealizing. I doubt it is that way in the same way that expectations and hypothetical portrayals are usually well outside reality. But it is a lovely dream of a way of life rapidly disappearing from the world as technology and government take over societal functions.
We're watching season five as we've caught up on the previous four seasons via Amazon streaming videos. I highly recommend the program.
Have you watched this? Do you feel like this about television programs?
Have you watched this? Do you feel like this about television programs?
