By Lacy Baugher for Drama on October 24th, 2011

New William & Mary Tonight! Martin Clunes Sure Looks Different, Huh?

Starting at 10pm tonight on WETA, we've go two more back-to-back episodes of romantic drama William & Mary. (For those of you keeping track at home, these are episodes three and four of the series’ first season.)  In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll admit that despite my vast personal knowledge of all sorts of British TV, I’m a relative newcomer to Doc Martin and the acting of Martin Clunes.  In the interest of really full disclosure, I’ll even admit that I’m only on the first season! But, all that said, I can already tell why so many people love it, and I’m looking forward to catching up to the rest of you.

Anyway, despite my relative ignorance of Clunes’ acting resume, I still have to say that his performance in William & Mary is really charming, displaying a sort of quiet (even adorable) everyman appeal that’s almost a complete 180 degree shift from his role as the prickly, grumpy Doc Martin. He even plays the guitar in a band! I mean, just compare the two pictures after the jump, and that should kind of tell you all you need to know about just how far apart these performances are. (Plus, I had to come up with SOME way to share that - I just get a tremendous kick out of that William & Mary episode photo. It’s just so unlike every other image I’ve ever seen of Clunes. It’s awesome.)

doc martin grumpy.jpg

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It’s well worth watching, if you’ve not tried it yet. (I’m kind of addicted already.)

By Lacy Baugher for Drama on October 24th, 2011
Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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  • William and Mary: Watch the Full Series in Order Starting Sunday, January 15

    Time for a quick programming update that's sure to make a lot of you smile!

    Charming romantic drama William and Mary, starring Doc Martin’s Martin Clunes and Survivors' Julie Graham, is moving to Sundays at 4pm on WETA starting this weekend on January 15th. The series will be part of a new block of British programming on Sunday afternoons, which will also feature Sherlock Holmes and Prime Suspect.

    WETA will be starting William & Mary over from the very first episode this Sunday, so now’s the perfect time to jump in if you’ve been thinking about trying it out. In additional great news, the entirety of the series will now air in order during this Sunday timeslot! We’ve got all three seasons - 18 episodes - so you won’t have to worry about missing out on anything!

     

    By Lacy Baugher for Drama on 1/10/2012

  • Tune-In Tonight: William & Mary at 10:30pm!

    Heads-up for all our fans of William & Mary - tonight's episode will be starting a little later than the past few weeks, so make sure you've updated your calendars accordingly.

    Due to the slightly extended run time of the special Mark Twain Prize ceremony broadcast, there'll only be one episode of William & Mary tonight, and it'll be starting at 10:30pm on TV 26 and WETA HD. Wanted to make sure that everyone was aware of this slight shift and didn't miss anything - and don't worry, we'll be back to showing two episodes of the series on Monday nights next week!

    By Lacy Baugher for Drama on 10/31/2011

  • Tune-In Tonight: William & Mary at 10pm on WETA!

    Don't miss Doc Martin star Martin Clunes in a very different kind of role, starting tonight at 10pm on TV 26 and WETA HD. William & Mary features Clunes alongside Survivors' Julie Graham; the duo plays a pair of lonely hearts looking for love.

    You’ll probably be shocked at just how different a role this is for Clunes! His character, undertaker William Shawcross, is a virtual 180 from his role as Portwenn’s Doctor, both in attitude (William is actually quite charming and nice and dare we say cuddly?) and appearance (Clunes gained something like 25 pounds for this role and as you can see in our photo, his hairstyle is quite a bit different!)

     

    By Lacy Baugher for Drama on 10/17/2011