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Doc Martin character - VulcanTourist - 07-19-2012 11:43 AM
Last week the local PBS (Public Broadcasting) station quietly introduced me to the UK's Doc Martin program for the first time. Shortly I found myself watching the ENTIRE five "series" back-to-back nonstop over 48 hours. I also watched the movie that started it all and the first few minutes of one of the prequel movies, but as I had read the character was radically different. I identify strongly with the character in the series, as reinvented by Martin Clunes, and am just as smitten with Louisa as is the character.
I have read that Martin Clunes himself reinvented the character to make him more "edgy" in order to win approval for a series production contract, which had initially been refused. I didn't see any mention of Asperger's Syndrome or quotes that he had intended the character to have those traits, but regardless the outcome is essentially the same. I think it was a series 3 episode that alluded directly to the coincidence by having a psychologist mention it to Doc Martin. In that or another episode there was also mention of vaccines and autism, etc.
I'm saving my money now so I can buy a plane ticket and become Caroline Catz' first intercontinental (ballistic?) stalker. I'm the same age as Martin Clunes but more handsome, so perhaps they'll kill him off and I can replace him. I'm coming, Louisa!
RE: Doc Martin character - cynara - 07-19-2012 12:36 PM
Martin Clunes is the same in real life pretty much, get him talking about his dogs and he'll not shut up! The next series is the last so maybe they'll confirm it/or not.
My husband and daughter are extras in it, Hubby is his "double" for the driving scenes and has "hand-doubled" for him
RE: Doc Martin character - 142857 - 07-19-2012 02:08 PM
Not that there are any bragging rights involved, but I also noticed that Doc Martin was autistic pretty much the first time I started watching an episode.
I assume that they cannot "out" him as autistic for the same reasons that the Big Bang Theory cannot "out" Sheldon Cooper - it is more difficult to make fun out of an autistic person's traits and stay politically correct at the same time.
RE: Doc Martin character - cynara - 07-19-2012 02:47 PM
It'll be a shame when it's finished, it's a part of life now where I live.
His character (Originally Dr Bamford/Bamfort) was too nice. There are loads of "nice" rural shows, it's fun to have one where the main character doesn't have a smile glued to their face and it's also a nice change to not see us Cornish shown in the usual "thickasabrickandtwiceasugly" vein.
RE: Doc Martin character - windy - 07-19-2012 06:39 PM
LOVE that show
RE: Doc Martin character - VulcanTourist - 07-19-2012 09:28 PM
An Aspie that likes dogs? Now that's out of character! Impossible!
So which part of the Cornish coastline is supposed to contain Portwenn? I was looking at the Wikipedia article about Cornwall, and the only towns shown on one map that sounded familiar from watching the series were Truro and Bodmin. Were they deliberately careful in the series not to mention other coastal towns and thus pigeonhole Portwenn? Also, I was surprised that the Culture section of that Wikipedia article makes no mention at all of the Doc Martin series being based and filmed in Cornwall.
BTW, I've also fallen in love with the soundtrack from the series and have been listening to it for hours on end. I have no idea how to categorize its musical "genre", but it seems to feature all acoustic and no electronic instruments, including accordions and banjos! I love the sound of Spanish style guitar playing, and the piano play is awesome, too.
RE: Doc Martin character - cynara - 07-19-2012 09:45 PM
It's filmed in Port Isaac mostly, a tiny little fishing village in North Cornwall not far from Tintagel on the North Coast, but the "local" church in one episode was actually 80 miles away in The Lizard!
The soundtrack is lovely, quite eclectic
RE: Doc Martin character - VulcanTourist - 07-19-2012 10:59 PM
Oh, okay, so the Tintagel area was at least was featured if not mentioned by name, because the Castle Hotel and a Medieval castle (Tintagel) appear in the last episode of series 5.
That final episode of series 5 almost felt like a finale for the entire series, as if they weren't sure if there would be a series 6 or not. It was certainly left on a happy-endings note (well, except for a certain pharmacist). I hope series 6 continues and finalizes the happy ending, just wrapping up loose ends, and doesn't muddy it. I need to have some shred of hope that one day I will finally find my own Louisa and place I feel at home and respected.
I grew up in southern California, in the same USDA Zone 10, in weather slightly comparable to some parts of Cornwall. I live in the northern interior right now, which doesn't enjoy that ocean moderation. Perth in Australia is apparently also very comparable in terms of climate ('Mediterranean'). I imagine I would feel quite at home in Cornwall, perhaps moreso than the overpopulated metropolis of my birth. I've always longed to live in a small-town environment. I got the opportunity once for a year, and I squandered it and was forced to retreat once again to a metropolis. Now I live in an upscale ghetto where I am universally misunderstood and hated. I was never accused of being a racist until I lived here, and unlike Doc Martin's experience 6 years of living here has not seen the hatred replaced with any respect. I'm not a doctor who can so overtly save lives and create feelings of indebtedness.
RE: Doc Martin character - cynara - 07-20-2012 12:46 AM
Cornwall is beautiful. I love it. It is a funny place, lots of cliches are true (standoffish, charge you more in shops if we know you come from the "wrong" side of the Tamar, and cliquey) BUT, if you stick around and stand your ground, you'll find it was all an initiation to check you were genuine and you've passed! We dont take to "Incomers" straight away.
Haha, in the village I'm from, even up until the late 50's it was frowned upon for an "Uphiller" to get married to a "Downhiller"
RE: Doc Martin character - VulcanTourist - 07-20-2012 12:53 AM
Haha, in the village I'm from, even up until the late 50's it was frowned upon for an "Uphiller" to get married to a "Downhiller"
Unless I win a lottery or rob a bank I doubt I'll be a Cornwall tourist much less the newbie Downhiller everyone wants to haze. Not for lack of interest.
RE: Doc Martin character - 142857 - 07-20-2012 01:07 AM
Tintagel is beautiful. All of cornwall is beautiful. I made a point of travelling all around Cornwall when I lived in England, as some of my ancestors were from there.
The climate is very temperate, very pleasant. I don't know if you would compare it to Perth in Western Australia. I will look up the stats, but I imagine that the average annual temperature in Perth would be 7 or 8 degrees higher. Cornwall definitely has the nicer climate unless you like strong sunshine and heat.
RE: Doc Martin character - cynara - 07-20-2012 04:04 PM
I lived near the castle some years ago, in footage of the castle you can often see a lonely white farmhouse on the cliffs above, that was my house!!!
It was between two cliff headlands, the Castle hotel (now owned by Scientologists) was on one and an old old church on the other. While I lived there archeologists found the skeletons of plague victims in the foundations. On stormy nights the bell would toll on its own and I used to get the heebiejeebies all alone out there.
RE: Doc Martin character - VulcanTourist - 07-24-2012 01:41 AM
I'm curious about a trivial aspect of this program: how does/would Doc Martin get paid? If I recall correctly from Michael Moore's Sicko, in the U.K. healthcare is state subsidized and medical practitioners are not paid directly by patients; is that correct? So then would Doc Martin be a salaried employee of the state, or a sole practitioner who is entirely compensated through some sort of state-run and tax-funded insurance program, similar to Medicare and Medicaid here in the U.S.?
RE: Doc Martin character - cynara - 07-24-2012 09:30 AM
He's basically paid by the state, a Public Sector worker.
Us patients turn up and get made better (hopefully) having already paid by virtue of our taxes, the Doctor then receives his wages from the State.
RE: Doc Martin character - VulcanTourist - 07-24-2012 09:38 AM
Thanks. That's what I thought I recalled from Sicko; there was a segment where he interviewed a doctor about his work, pay, and personal life. I wish our healthcare system worked the same... less profiteering and more healing.
RE: Doc Martin character - cynara - 07-24-2012 09:46 AM
We have what is known as The Postcode Lottery. Someone in one county may be refused a certain cancer treatment because it is too expensive, but a patient 1 mile away over the border will receive the treatment as their county has more money. It's crazy when you consider we give a gastirc bands to those who ate too much but if you have cancer it's an "Ooooh, not sure if we have the money to treat that."
It's better than the States but not brilliant.
RE: Doc Martin character - VulcanTourist - 07-24-2012 10:11 AM
Well, I almost added a concession that it might not be a perfect system, but what is? The basic premise at least doesn't play into the worst human motives so easily. Sounds like what you described could be fixed by per-capita distribution of funds per district and better prioritization of treatment criteria. Someone who wants/needs a lap band is likely at lower risk of mortality than a cancer patient. There's also cost to consider, though; not every insanely expensive treatment should be fully covered by the state, especially if it can be established that the illness was self-inflicted through carelessness or negligence. For instance, a heavy smoker with lung cancer should be expected to "cough up" the money for treatment himself: he knew the heavily advertised risk and consciously chose to ignore it, so his fellow citizens shouldn't be expected to carry the burden for his overtly reckless behavior. There is some wise truth to the old cliche "god helps those who help themselves" if you substitute "we the people" for "god". Is it heartless to expect such a person to be accountable for the consequences of such obviously reckless decisions? I don't think so.
RE: Doc Martin character - cynara - 07-24-2012 10:20 AM
Smokers kind of already pay, they pretty much hold up the NHS with the Tax on tobacco. If all smokers gave up we would likely have NO NHS. In 2009/10 smokers added £10.9 billion to the coffers and took back £5 billion in treatment.
RE: Doc Martin character - VulcanTourist - 07-24-2012 10:28 AM
Smoking is hardly the only obviously reckless health-endangering behavior, though, is it? If the inequities you describe are still taking place, maybe it's time to hold some of the other reckless people accountable? If reckless self-endangerment is more widely accepted as unacceptable, then the money that is available can be better and more widely spent.
RE: Doc Martin character - cynara - 07-24-2012 10:43 AM
Tobacco is the one that pays most taxes though, booze and food just dont compare.
But, we're scared of denying folks their "rights" in this country.
If a patient comes in and says "I'm fat, I ate too much and cant be doing with dieting" they'll get a gastric band and dietary aftercare but someone comes in with suspected cancer and they could be dead before they are offered the necessary treatment due to it's cost.
RE: Doc Martin character - VulcanTourist - 07-24-2012 10:53 AM
Yeah, see, that sounds like bad priorities to me, but I already know I'd make a lousy politician. The kid brother of "rights", the one kept gagged in the locked basement, is "responsibility". Maybe we should let him out.
RE: Doc Martin character - cynara - 07-24-2012 07:06 PM
Well, he's got his work cut out if he escapes. Rights has run riot in the UK and Responsibility needs to come smack his backside and send him to bed with no supper!