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!

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

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.

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.

LOVE that show

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.

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

This post was last modified: 07-19-2012 09:46 PM by cynara.

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.

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"

This post was last modified: 07-20-2012 12:47 AM by cynara.

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.

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.

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.

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.?

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.

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.