Popular ITV series Doc Martin is set for a shot across the pond as The Fox network gears up to make their own version – but will Martin Clunes be asked to return?
Brit hit drama Doc Martin will be rebooted as an American version – but executives are staying tight-lipped if Martin Clunes could appear.
The Fox network will remake the hit ITV drama, which starred Clunes, centering the show on the east coast of the USA. Emmy nominated actor Josh Charles, famous for TV series The Handmaid’s Tale and The Good Wife and movie Dead Poet’s Society, will take over as the physician.
Clunes, who featured in 10 seasons of the prime time hit, is popular Stateside because the UK show is a huge hit on the PBS Network. The show’s name will be changed to Best Medicine. A PR release confirmed Charles, but US media reps didn’t respond to questions on whether Clunes could appear or make a cameo.
The plot centres on Doctor Martin Best, played by Charles, who is , “a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child”.
“Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, and he quickly alienates the town, even though he’s all they’ve got,” the tagline reads.
As fans of the original show will know, what the locals don’t know is that the doctor’s demeanor masks a “debilitating new phobia and deep-seated psychological issues that prevent him from experiencing true intimacy with anyone”.
“The story of Doc Martin has resonated worldwide with its humanity, originality, and humor, and with Best Medicine coming to Fox, that eccentricity gets a small-town America spin, complete with idyllic charm and absurdity,” said Michael Thorn, President of Fox Television Network.
Best Medicine marks the seventh international adaptation of the British series. Doc Martin ran on ITV for 10 seasons between 2004 and 2022, and became a primetime fixture in the UK.
It ended with Dr. Martin Ellingham choosing to stay in Portwenn with wife Louisa and their children, after a dramatic build-up to a planned move to London.
He was last seen letting paper lanterns fly into the night sky, keeping the door open for a return.
Clunes described Doc Martin as ”The best job I’ll ever have, I guess. To shoot in a holiday location, with my wife, from my own company, it just doesn’t happen like that, does it? We’ve been through four different managements, and we don’t even get script notes or notes on edits or anything. We’re completely left alone.
“We don’t take up anybody’s desk time, and it still seems to outperform most of the competition. That’s never gonna happen again. So yeah, it’s been an amazing job. And it bought us this farm (home in Dorset).”
Clunes had no feelings of regret of leaving the role. “Nope, not a bit, no. Which isn’t to say, ‘Goddamned it, I hated that job, I’m glad to be out of it.’ It’s not that at all. It just feels quite organically right to stop, and I think everybody felt that in a way. But I’ve had quite a bit of street grief from people saying how disappointed they are it’s finished.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
