Doc Martin season 9 sees Clunes slapped with ‘very serious threat’ from medical watchdog – as he faces losing licence
DOCTOR Martin could find his very namesake on the line in the latest series of the show.
The long-running drama has had Martin Clunes at the helm alongside Caroline Catz for a whopping eight seasons, with the ninth kicking off this week.
While the Devon-based show is best know for its comedy, pastoral charm and signature grumpiness courtesy of Clunes, the latest instalment sees him face a threat like never before.
Clunes ends up getting investigated by the General Medical Council after a series of complaints from patients, with many also bringing up his unfortunate phobia of blood.
“It is a very serious threat and he is very annoyed by everything they [the GMC] throw at him because as far as he’s concerned, he’s fit to practise, and a little bit of vomiting here and there shouldn’t necessarily get in the way of that,” Clunes explained.
Meanwhile Catz is dealing with her fair share of changing, after leaving her job as headmistress of her local school to pursue child counselling.
Alas, drama is afoot, as she struggles to let go and ends up grilling the new headmistress, who has very different ideas for the school.
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Plot lines aside, Clunes admitted that working alongside wife Phillipa Braithwaite, who is the show’s producer, can be challenging, albeit rewarding.
“It’s an immense pressure getting eight scripts of the quality that we like together, that serve everybody’s story arcs, all of our regular characters,” he said.
“But it is worth it. I think once again, down to my wife and Mark [Crowdy, executive producer] and the various writers and everyone, they’ve really got it right."
Doc Martin airs Wednesdays at 9pm on ITV.