Everything to Remember Ahead of 'Doc Martin' Season 9's Debut on PBS Passport
Doc Martin's ten-season run only just concluded in December of 2022, nearly two decades after its 2004 premiere. The series was on the air for so long that it outlasted one of my marriages and four of my cats; the last time it was on PBS (in 2015) was two presidents and one pandemic ago. The last time it streamed on PBS was never; PBS Passport didn't launch until December of that year; in fact, 17 streaming services have launched between the time Doc Martin was last on PBS and Season 9's impending arrival on PBS Passport on July 1, 2023. Viewers cannot expect to remember everything that happened in nearly ten years passed, so here's the Doc Martin recap you need.
Dr. Martin Bamford, played by Martin Clunes, was introduced nearly a quarter century ago in the 2000 film Saving Grace, which starred Brenda Blethyn (Vera), Craig Ferguson (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson), and Tcheky Karyo (Baptiste). That Dr. Martin was friendlier and more open-minded than today's version; two made-for-TV movies, Doc Martin and Doc Martin & the Legend of the Cloutie, in 2001 and 2003, where he finds his wife cheated on him with several of his best friends, turned him sour and moved him to Cornwall. By the time Doc Martin launched in 2004 with six episodes, he had become Dr. Martin Ellingham, a bedside manner-less legend.
The series rewrote Martin's relocation as giving up his career as a surgeon after developing a phobia of blood, becoming the local GP in Portwenn, where his Auntie Joan Norton (Stephanie Cole) lives. He meets teacher Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz), whom he instantly offends, along with the rest of the town. Despite thinking he's made a mistake, Martin opens his practice and deals with a stomach bug epidemic, which helps him befriend Bert Large (Ian McNeice) and his son Al (Joe Absolom). He sacks his receptionist Elaine (Lucy Punch), turns down a date with Louisa, and slowly wins the town over, despite being pranked with a fake injury causing him to freak out over ketchup.
