Doc Martin review

It would be easy to pour scorn on Doc Martin, the pastiche of a GP's life and times in a quaint Cornish seaside village. But there's just enough salt in the sugar to make it pleasurable.

Happiness isn't the central attraction of Doc Martin, which has a hero so socially dysfunctional that you can't help but think about the autism spectrum. In fact, if you came to the drama unprepared you would surely be mystified as to why Louisa, who has just had Doc Martin's baby, isn't breathing a sigh of relief at his intention to leave the village for a better job in London. He's not even nice to her when they're in private, when it couldn't possibly ruin his reputation for characterful curmudgeonliness. With the villagers, it's a bit clearer why they wouldn't want him to go, because unlike his new replacement he didn't actually put them in danger by his incompetence. But then as soon as you clock the alliteration cloud hovering over the new doctor (she's called Diana Dibbs and appears to be diabetic, depressive and dermatologically challenged), it's pretty clear that she isn't going to last more than an episode or two, before Doc Martin reluctantly accepts his destiny. And - as escapism goes - it's almost bearable, the sweetness of the essential fantasy about village life cut by the lead character's tart refusal to obey the social niceties. In this episode, Louisa found the exact state of her post-natal perineum being discussed in a crowded grocery and the teaser suggests that next week Doc Martin will take advantage of the eulogy at his aunt's funeral to deliver a testy lecture about the villagers' poor diets. We haven't yet got to have a really good look at the baby, incidentally, but I can provisionally report that it appears to have been spared his father's ears.

Doc Martin pulls more than 8 million viewers to ITV

Martin Clunes returns as ITV's socially inept, yet popular, doctor, but The Queen's Palaces were less than regal.

Martin Clunes returns as the good doctor in the ever-popular drama, and it's all kicking off in this gentle but action-packed series opener. Doc Martin (Clunes) is struck down by fatherhood and a death in the family just as he's getting ready to take a new job in London. Even with a new baby, his will-they-won't-they relationship with local headmistress Louisa (Caroline Catz) rumbles on with lingering looks and grumpy asides. Grey's Anatomy it's not, but if cosy plots, beautiful Cornish scenery, and being left with a warm glow is your thing, get involved.

Cornwall's grumpiest GP moves to a new home on Monday night - but the big question is whether he'll be making good on his threat to move to London.

Of course he won't. The idea of the blood-phobic doctor taking up a post as a surgeon was laughable and now he has a baby with Louisa, (Caroline Catz) there's even more reason to stay.

Not that he sees it that way in the slightest. Oh no. As loyal fans of the show will know, the good doctor must always be gently chivvied into following the script for normal human behaviour - despite himself.

His brain simply hasn't been programmed for complex social ­interactions and the possibility that his grouchiness is in fact down to ­Asperger's syndrome is ­almost ­impossible to ignore tonight.

Just watch the way that he holds his baby son like an unexploded bomb, or hear how he refers to people by their ailments rather than by name and the diagnosis becomes clearly obvious.

But don't expect the new GP to spot it. The incoming Dr Dibbs (Getting On star Joanna Scanlan) has already installed herself in his surgery and she has enough ailments of her own to worry about him.

But as Martin Clunes stays put for series five, two other cast members won't be returning.

Katherine Parkinson (who played dippy ­receptionist Pauline) has moved on and there's some news about auntie Joan that's so shocking, the doctor almost registers a flicker of emotion. But it is almost.

Plans to quit Cornwall and resume his career as a consultant in London are put on hold by curmudgeonly family doctor Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) following the birth of the baby he fathered with his now estranged teacher partner Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz).

In the return of this popular drama for a fifth series, Dr Ellingham moves in with Louisa to help look after his son while Dr Diana Dibbs takes over his role at the surgery.

However it's not long before Dr Ellingham suspects that the nervous Dr Dibbs is not up to the job when she misdiagnoses a patient and prescribes inappropriate drugs.
What will his next step be?

The charmless, socially inept, emotionally disconnected, rude and unpleasant Dr Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) returns as a new dad for a fifth series of this much-loved chunk of escapism.

His dim schoolteacher lover Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz) has just given birth to a baby boy (we pick up exactly where we left off at the end of the previous series in 2009), temporarily halting the Doc's escape to a new job in London. Cradling the mite as if it's a missile that could go off at any moment, Martin finds he can't let go of Portwenn and his old job, particularly as his replacement, Dr Dibbs (The Thick of It's Joanna Scanlan) is nervous and her overbearing husband (Robert Dawes) is insufferable.

I suppose part of Doc Martin's charm is its predictability, so you'll be able to see exactly where all this is heading, as the episode, eschewing all the rules of drama (a plot, an engaging lead character), potters along in the Cornish sunshine.

Doc Martin resumes Portwenn house calls Sept 12 on ITV1

With the new series of the hit comedy drama, Doc Martin, set to return tomorrow (Monday, 12 September) on ITV1 in the UK, it's time to set up yet another support group in the U.S.

Martin Clunes: 'Now I'm not scared babies!'

Martin Clunes explains how Doc Martin's turning dad in series five of the hit ITV1 drama.

The ratings-gobbling Martin Clunes vehicle is back for a fifth run, following a two-year gap, to reclaim its crown from New Tricks as the nation's favourite TV drama. Clunes stars as miserable medic Dr Martin Ellingham (the surname's an anagram of series creator Dominic Minghella's, trivia fans). As the eight-part run begins, he's struggling to come to terms with new fatherhood and poised to leave picturesque Cornwall to resume his career as a high-flying surgeon in London. Only there's two problems: a personal tragedy and the fact that his replacement as village GP, the newly-qualified Dr Di Dibbs (Joanna Scanlan from The Thick of It), is dangerously incompetent.