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** To say nothing of Mrs. Tichell's [[SanitySlippage cocktail of self-prescribed drugs...]]
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** Although Aunt Ruth, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. (Martin's father was hardly present, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case.) He's a mess.
to:
** Although Aunt Ruth, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. (Martin's Martin's father ([[IdenticalGrandson also played by Clunes]]) was hardly present, an ogre, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case.) He's case. What a mess.
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A mix of medical drama and BritCom, brought to you by {{Creator/ITV}}. The character originally appeared as Doctor Martin Bamford in two [=BSkyB=] TV movies, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the moniker and scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
to:
A mix of medical drama and BritCom, brought to you by {{Creator/ITV}}. The character originally appeared as Doctor Martin Bamford in two [=BSkyB=] TV movies, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the moniker and scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
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* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Dr Dibbs is stunningly incompetent in treating herself, on a massive amount of self-prescribed medication and having missed an almost fatal diagnosis. She's barely any better with her patients.
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* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Ruth diagnoses herself as having Lupus. Martin has to practically wrestle her into surgery, and once he does, he can tell at a glance that she's suffering from a simple autoimmune disease.
** Dr Dibbs is stunningly incompetent in treating herself, on a massive amount of self-prescribed medication and having missed an almost fatal diagnosis. She's barely any better with her patients.
** Dr Dibbs is stunningly incompetent in treating herself, on a massive amount of self-prescribed medication and having missed an almost fatal diagnosis. She's barely any better with her patients.
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* BotheringByTheBook: You might say that he's a Martin-''et''. (rim shot)
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* PoliceAreUseless: PC Penhale is hopelessly bad at his job. (He was kicked in the head by a horse in childhood.) Lampshaded by Ruth;
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* PoliceAreUseless: PC Penhale is hopelessly bad at his job. (He was kicked in the head by a horse in childhood.) Lampshaded by Ruth;
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* PoliceAreUseless: PC Penhale is hopelessly bad at his job. Lampshaded by Ruth;
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* PoliceAreUseless: PC Penhale is hopelessly bad at his job. (He was kicked in the head by a horse in childhood.) Lampshaded by Ruth;
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* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin. He does not grasp the social niceties, is very literal-minded, and lacks a filter between his brain and his mouth. Naturally, it only becomes apparent once he's free of the chilly confines of London and can no longer bark at people with total impunity.
to:
* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin. He does not grasp the social niceties, is very literal-minded, and lacks a filter between his brain and his mouth. Naturally, it only becomes apparent once he's free of the chilly confines of London and can no longer bark at people with total impunity. impunity.
-->'''Chris:''' Mr. Walton complains that you called him a "mentally deficient parasite."
-->'''Martin:''' ''(earnestly)'' He ''is'' a mentally deficient parasite.
-->'''Chris:''' Right. [[DeadpanSnarker That man, he's always complaining about everything.]]
-->'''Chris:''' Mr. Walton complains that you called him a "mentally deficient parasite."
-->'''Martin:''' ''(earnestly)'' He ''is'' a mentally deficient parasite.
-->'''Chris:''' Right. [[DeadpanSnarker That man, he's always complaining about everything.]]
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* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin. Naturally, it only becomes apparent once he's free of the chilly confines of London and can no longer bark at people with total impunity. Although Aunt Ruth, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. (Martin's father was hardly present, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case.)
to:
* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin. He does not grasp the social niceties, is very literal-minded, and lacks a filter between his brain and his mouth. Naturally, it only becomes apparent once he's free of the chilly confines of London and can no longer bark at people with total impunity.
** Although Aunt Ruth, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. (Martin's father was hardly present, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case.)) He's a mess.
** Although Aunt Ruth, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. (Martin's father was hardly present, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case.
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* VomitIndiscreationShot: Martin. Nobody in Britian spews more than this man.
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* VomitIndiscreationShot: VomitIndiscretionShot: Martin. Nobody in Britian spews more than this man.
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* TheFreelanceShameSquad: British TV has seen some terrifying portrayals of teens in its time, but none as vile as the wild pack of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Nelson Muntzes]] endlessly prowling the village. They are the Furies of Portwenn: heartless, unfazed by everything (even [[NightmareFetishist gory nailgun accidents]]), communicating only in derisive giggles and shouts of "Tosser!", and always on hand to point and laugh at Martin's misfortune.
to:
* TheFreelanceShameSquad: British TV has seen some terrifying portrayals of teens youth culture in its time, but none as vile as the wild pack of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Nelson Muntzes]] endlessly prowling the village. They are the Furies of Portwenn: heartless, unfazed by everything (even [[NightmareFetishist gory nailgun accidents]]), communicating only in derisive giggles and shouts of "Tosser!", and always on hand to point and laugh at Martin's misfortune.
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* NeverBareheaded: Bert's never without his ratty watch cap.
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* VomitIndiscreationShot: Martin. Nobody in Britian spews more than this man.
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* RecycledTheSeries: Kind of an odd example. A character, played by Clunes appeared in a film ''Saving Grace'' and later two
prequel miniseries. In making this series, the character was given a ReTool with DoctorJerk added to the character (who was originally just a FishOutOfWater), and his last name was changed to Ellingham (an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of the last name of the show's writer Dominic Minghella).
** AscendedExtra
prequel miniseries. In making this series, the character was given a ReTool with DoctorJerk added to the character (who was originally just a FishOutOfWater), and his last name was changed to Ellingham (an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of the last name of the show's writer Dominic Minghella).
** AscendedExtra
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* [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim BreakHerHeartToSaveHer]]: An old flame of Joan's tries to do this by claiming he's married since Martin has predicted he has between six and twelve months to live, and he doesn't want to make her suffer when he dies.
* CoolOldLady: Martin's aunts Joan Norton and Ruth Ellingham.
** Also Morwenna to an extent, particularly in the Series 6 finale when Bert's MacGyvering causes a woman to suffer a heart-stopping electric shock. On phone advice from Martin (who's dealing with his own serious problem at the time[[note]]Louisa has a brain malformation that only Martin has spotted and is about to fly to Spain, which would cause a potentially fatal bleed.[[/note]]) she performs CPR on the patient while Al fetches a defibrillator.
* DeadpanSnarker: Martin on occasion but bluntness and LackOfEmpathy are a more common way of him dealing with people.
** Lampshaded in Series 6 when Martin asks if Louisa has seen his blue tie, to which she replies that all his ties are blue. He counters with the fact that he has a few red ones.
* MacGyvering: If the situation calls for it, Martin will use anything suitable around him to treat a patient, such as during [[spoiler: his honeymoon]] when he scrubs up with a bottle of whiskey and temporarily repairs a farmer's carotid artery with a razorblade and fishing line before putting him in a wheelbarrow and pushing him part of the way to the hospital until there's an opportunity to hitchhike.
** When other characters try this, it almost never goes right. Examples include Penhale treating a self-inflicted gunshot wound on his foot with moss (as per his survival guide) but [[TooDumbToLive without drying it or cleaning it first]], and Bert trying to temporarily fix a fused switch with a random piece of metal; leading to a woman suffering a shock serious enough to stop her heart.
** When other characters try this, it almost never goes right. Examples include Penhale treating a self-inflicted gunshot wound on his foot with moss (as per his survival guide) but [[TooDumbToLive without drying it or cleaning it first]], and Bert trying to temporarily fix a fused switch with a random piece of metal; leading to a woman suffering a shock serious enough to stop her heart.
** Lampshaded in Martin's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove at the end of Series 5 when he mentions that one of the things he hates about Portwenn is how the locals have an "unerring knack of catching any virus that comes within a five-mile radius" and their tendency to "spread contagion like a bush fire".
** Local ranger Stewart James appears to be this at first, having a perfectly pleasant conversation with Martin and appearing to be far more on the ball than most of the villagers, prompting Martin to question why he wants prescription tranquilisers. It's when he starts talking to a six foot tall invisible red squirrel called Anthony that things become clear.
*** Though in his more lucid moments when his PTSD isn't affecting him too much, he reverts to this.
* OpenHeartDentistry: Martin is a qualified surgeon and never does anything outside of his field but has occasionally had to perform surgery on the fly such as removing [[spoiler: Eleanor's]] hernia in the consulting room with Morwenna as his assistant because the ambulance wouldn't arrive in time, hijacking the operation to fix a malformation in [[spoiler: Louisa's]] brain by locking a nervous surgeon he didn't trust in a cupboard, and repairing damage to a farmer's carotid artery (that he and Louisa caused), [[MacGyvering using items on hand]] in the farmer's shack in the middle of woods including fishing line and whiskey.
*** Though in his more lucid moments when his PTSD isn't affecting him too much, he reverts to this.
* OpenHeartDentistry: Martin is a qualified surgeon and never does anything outside of his field but has occasionally had to perform surgery on the fly such as removing [[spoiler: Eleanor's]] hernia in the consulting room with Morwenna as his assistant because the ambulance wouldn't arrive in time, hijacking the operation to fix a malformation in [[spoiler: Louisa's]] brain by locking a nervous surgeon he didn't trust in a cupboard, and repairing damage to a farmer's carotid artery (that he and Louisa caused), [[MacGyvering using items on hand]] in the farmer's shack in the middle of woods including fishing line and whiskey.
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* RecycledTheSeries: Kind of an odd example. A character, played by Clunes appeared in a film ''Saving Grace'' and later two prequel miniseries. In making this series, the character was given a ReTool with DoctorJerk added to the character (who was originally just a FishOutOfWater), and his last name was changed to Ellingham (an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of the last name of the show's writer Dominic Minghella).
to:
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Joan and Ruth are this to Martin in a sense, having both known him since childhood and therefore being fully understanding of his personality and the [[FreudianExcuse reasons for it]]. They're also the people he's most likely to listen to.
* RecklessGunUsage: During [[spoiler: their honeymoon]], Martin and Louisa are held at gunpoint by a farmer who wants them to fix the chicken coop they damaged. Louisa seizes the gun at the first opportunity and threatens the farmer with it, to Martin's dismay.
* RecycledTheSeries: Kind of an odd example. A character, played by Clunes appeared in a film ''Saving Grace'' and latertwo two
prequel miniseries. In making this series, the character was given a ReTool with DoctorJerk added to the character (who was originally just a FishOutOfWater), and his last name was changed to Ellingham (an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of the last name of the show's writer Dominic Minghella).
* RecklessGunUsage: During [[spoiler: their honeymoon]], Martin and Louisa are held at gunpoint by a farmer who wants them to fix the chicken coop they damaged. Louisa seizes the gun at the first opportunity and threatens the farmer with it, to Martin's dismay.
* RecycledTheSeries: Kind of an odd example. A character, played by Clunes appeared in a film ''Saving Grace'' and later
prequel miniseries. In making this series, the character was given a ReTool with DoctorJerk added to the character (who was originally just a FishOutOfWater), and his last name was changed to Ellingham (an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of the last name of the show's writer Dominic Minghella).
* SickeninglySweethearts: A couple honeymooning in Portwenn in the Series 5 finale.
* UnusualEuphemism: The locals use "Bodmin" (as in Bodmin Moor) as a catch all term for "crazy".
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* YourHeadAsplode: Ellingham diagnoses one patient with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome Exploding Head Syndrome]], the patient assumes it is a literal description fearing this trope.
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* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: What is the reaction to a man holding a baby, giving a testicular exam to a policeman, in a public lavatory?
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* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: What is the reaction to a man holding a baby, giving a testicular exam to a policeman, policeman holding a baby, in a public lavatory?
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* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: Martin's stock response (along with calling the patient an idiot) to the people of Portwenn's often ridiculous attempts at self-medication or other antics.
** A specific example comes when Martin successfully removes [[spoiler: Eleanor's]] hernia in the consulting room and Morwenna (acting as his assistant) suggests she could close up the incision if he shows her how.
* YourHeadAsplode: Ellingham diagnoses one patient with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome Exploding Head Syndrome]], the patient assumes it is a literal description fearing this trope.
** A specific example comes when Martin successfully removes [[spoiler: Eleanor's]] hernia in the consulting room and Morwenna (acting as his assistant) suggests she could close up the incision if he shows her how.
* YourHeadAsplode: Ellingham diagnoses one patient with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome Exploding Head Syndrome]], the patient assumes it is a literal description fearing this trope.
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A mix of medical drama and [[FawltyTowersPlot old-timey British farce]], brought to you by {{Creator/ITV}}. The character originally appeared as Doctor Martin Bamford in two [=BSkyB=] TV movies, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the moniker and scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
to:
A mix of medical drama and [[FawltyTowersPlot old-timey British farce]], BritCom, brought to you by {{Creator/ITV}}. The character originally appeared as Doctor Martin Bamford in two [=BSkyB=] TV movies, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the moniker and scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
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Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (s)]], and most terrifyingly, attempting to woo the local schoolmistress. The series is currently in its seventh series (2004--present).
to:
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (s)]], and most terrifyingly, attempting to woo the local schoolmistress. The series show is currently in its seventh series (2004--present).
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Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (s)]], and most terrifyingly, attempting to woo the local schoolmistress. The series is currently in its seventh year (2004--present).
to:
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (s)]], and most terrifyingly, attempting to woo the local schoolmistress. The series is currently in its seventh year series (2004--present).
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* AlwaysOnDuty: When we are first introduced to Martin, he is seen intrusively peering into a fellow passenger's face (Louisa) on a plane, checking for an eye disorder. He continues to offer unsolicited diagnoses, no matter how inappropriate the situation is, even if he faces stiff punishment for doing so. (Commenting on Louisa's breath in the middle of a cab ride gets him [[GettingTheBoot dumped on the outskirts of town]].)
to:
* AlwaysOnDuty: When we are first introduced to Martin, he is seen intrusively peering into a fellow passenger's face (Louisa) on a plane, checking for an eye disorder. He continues to offer unsolicited diagnoses, no matter how inappropriate the situation is, even if he faces stiff punishment for doing so. (Commenting on Louisa's breath in the middle of a cab ride gets him [[GettingTheBoot [[GetOut dumped on the outskirts of town]].)
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* AlwaysOnDuty: When we are first introduced to Martin, he is seen intrusively peering into a fellow passenger's face (Louisa) on a plane, checking for an eye disorder. He continues to offer unsolicited diagnoses, no matter how inappropriate the situation is, even if he faces stiff punishment for doing so. (Commenting on Louisa's breath in the middle of a cab ride gets him [[GettingTheBoot dumped on the outskirts of town]].)
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* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin. Naturally, it only becomes apparent once he's free of the chilly confines of London and can no longer bark at people with total impunity. Although Aunt Joan, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. (Martin's father was hardly present, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case.)
to:
* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin. Naturally, it only becomes apparent once he's free of the chilly confines of London and can no longer bark at people with total impunity. Although Aunt Joan, Ruth, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. (Martin's father was hardly present, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case.)
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* BrokenAesop: In the final episode of season 1, a nine-year old boy who's kind of a loner is told by Louisa that, if you allow people to make fun of you and don't react, then [[BlatantLies they'll accept you because "they'll see you're okay"]]. Even worse, this {{Aesop}} is repeated by the boy to Martin... who in the same episode had been the victim of a practical joke that wasn't strictly a DeadlyPrank, but was still pretty cruel and quickly made him [[AcceptableTargets a laughing stock]] by pretty much everybody in the village, to the point where he was being discussed on local radio.
*** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Deconstructed}} in the same episode, as Louisa's advice ends up getting said boy a ruptured spleen for his trouble and rushed into emergency surgery. In the end, she amends her advice to "Some people won't ever fit in, but we should appreciate their uniqueness".
*** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Deconstructed}} in the same episode, as Louisa's advice ends up getting said boy a ruptured spleen for his trouble and rushed into emergency surgery. In the end, she amends her advice to "Some people won't ever fit in, but we should appreciate their uniqueness".
to:
* BrokenAesop: In the final episode of season 1, a nine-year old boy who's kind of a loner is told by Louisa that, if you allow people to make fun of you and don't react, then [[BlatantLies [[TrainingFromHell they'll accept you because "they'll see you're okay"]]. Even worse, this {{Aesop}} is repeated by the boy to Martin... who in the same episode had been the victim of a practical joke that wasn't strictly a DeadlyPrank, but was still pretty cruel and quickly made him [[AcceptableTargets a laughing stock]] by pretty much everybody in the village, to the point where he was being discussed on local radio.
***radio. The hard truth is that bullies rarely care about your reactions one way or another; the dynamics of human pack mentality are clear.
** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Deconstructed}} in the same episode, as Louisa's advice ends up getting said boy a ruptured spleen for his trouble and rushed into emergency surgery. In the end, she amends her advice to "Some people won't ever fit in, but we should appreciate their uniqueness".
***
** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Deconstructed}} in the same episode, as Louisa's advice ends up getting said boy a ruptured spleen for his trouble and rushed into emergency surgery. In the end, she amends her advice to "Some people won't ever fit in, but we should appreciate their uniqueness".
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Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt, and most terrifyingly, attempting to woo the local schoolmistress. The series is currently in its seventh year (2004--present).
to:
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt, aunt[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (s)]], and most terrifyingly, attempting to woo the local schoolmistress. The series is currently in its seventh year (2004--present).
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* AfraidOfBlood: Martin. Sets up the whole series, as his aversion to blood halts his high-flying medical career in its tracks and causes him to become a GP in a small rural village.
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* AfraidOfBlood: Martin. Sets up the whole series, as his aversion to blood halts his high-flying medical career in its tracks and causes him to become a GP in a small rural village. Despite early efforts to keep a lid on his secret, an upstart doctor from his old hospital blabs about it all over Portwenn.
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* TheFreelanceShameSquad: British TV has seen some terrifying portrayals of teens in its time, but none as vile as the wild pack of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Nelson Muntzes]] endlessly prowling the village. They are the Furies of Portwenn: heartless, unfazed by everything (even [[NightmareFetishist gory nailgun accidents]]), communicating only in derisive giggles and shouts of "Tosser!", and always on hand to point and laugh at Martin's misfortune.
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Changed line(s) 6,9 (click to see context) from:
A mix of medical drama and [[FawltyTowersPlot old-timey British farce]], brought to you by reator/{{ITV}}. The character originally appeared as Doctor Martin Bamford in two [=BSkyB=] TV movies, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the moniker and scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a Doctor with two fairly glaring problems. Firstly, he's got the bedside manner of Hannibal Lecter with none of the charm. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[AfraidOfBlood fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a renowned surgeon in London and heading for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornish village]] of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a Doctor with two fairly glaring problems. Firstly, he's got the bedside manner of Hannibal Lecter with none of the charm. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[AfraidOfBlood fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a renowned surgeon in London and heading for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornish village]] of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
to:
A mix of medical drama and [[FawltyTowersPlot old-timey British farce]], brought to you by reator/{{ITV}}.{{Creator/ITV}}. The character originally appeared as Doctor Martin Bamford in two [=BSkyB=] TV movies, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the moniker and scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a Doctor with two fairly glaring problems. Firstly, he's got the bedside manner of Hannibal Lecter with none of the charm. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a[[AfraidOfBlood [[IronicFear fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a renowned surgeon in London and heading for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornish village]] of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a Doctor with two fairly glaring problems. Firstly, he's got the bedside manner of Hannibal Lecter with none of the charm. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a
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** In Series Three, he very briefly tries on a newer, jocular attitude to impress Louisa. Of course this only manages to [[TheUnsmile creep people out even further]], and the patients continue to disregard his advice anyway. He can't win.
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Creator/{{ITV}} series, 2004-present. The character originally appeared as Doctor Martin Bamford in two [=BSkyB=] TV movies, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram).
Dr. Martin ''Ellingham'' is a Doctor with two fairly glaring problems. Firstly, he's got the bedside manner of Hannibal Lecter with none of the charm. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[AfraidOfBlood fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a renowned surgeon in London and heading for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornish village]] of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt, and his ex-fiancée who he got pregnant.
Dr. Martin ''Ellingham'' is a Doctor with two fairly glaring problems. Firstly, he's got the bedside manner of Hannibal Lecter with none of the charm. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[AfraidOfBlood fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a renowned surgeon in London and heading for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornish village]] of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt, and his ex-fiancée who he got pregnant.
to:
Dr. Martin
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt, and
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** [[spoiler:He sought therapy to correct it in season 4 and seemed to be over it by season 5, however in season six he started to have problems with blood again.]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin.
* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin.
to:
** [[spoiler:He He sought therapy to correct it in season 4 and seemed to be over it by season 5, however in season six he started to have problems with blood again.]]
again.
* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin. Naturally, it only becomes apparent once he's free of the chilly confines of London and can no longer bark at people with total impunity. Although Aunt Joan, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. (Martin's father was hardly present, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case.)
* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin. Naturally, it only becomes apparent once he's free of the chilly confines of London and can no longer bark at people with total impunity. Although Aunt Joan, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. (Martin's father was hardly present, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case.)
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* TheWestCountry: The show is set in a small [[QuirkyTown fishing village]] somewhere Cornwall-ish.
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* TheWestCountry: UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry: The show is set in a small [[QuirkyTown fishing village]] somewhere Cornwall-ish.
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Dr. Martin Ellingham is a man with two fairly large problems. Firstly, he's got all the social skills of [[Series/{{Bones}} Temperance Brennan]] with none of the attract[[RuleThirtyFour iveness]]. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[AfraidOfBlood fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a successful surgeon in London and heading for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornish village]] of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
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Dr. Martin Ellingham ''Ellingham'' is a man Doctor with two fairly large glaring problems. Firstly, he's got all the social skills bedside manner of [[Series/{{Bones}} Temperance Brennan]] Hannibal Lecter with none of the attract[[RuleThirtyFour iveness]].charm. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[AfraidOfBlood fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a successful renowned surgeon in London and heading for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornish village]] of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
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* PutOnABus: Numerous major and minor characters stop appearing and are never mentioned again, including PC Mylow, Elaine, and Pauline.
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Dr. Martin Ellingham is a man with two fairly large problems. Firstly, he's got all the social skills of [[Series/{{Bones}} Temperance Brennan]] with none of the attract[[RuleThirtyFour iveness]]. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[AfraidOfBlood fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a successful surgeon in London and heading for the Cornish village of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
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Dr. Martin Ellingham is a man with two fairly large problems. Firstly, he's got all the social skills of [[Series/{{Bones}} Temperance Brennan]] with none of the attract[[RuleThirtyFour iveness]]. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[AfraidOfBlood fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a successful surgeon in London and heading for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornish village village]] of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
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{{ITV}} series, 2004-present. The character originally appeared as Doctor Martin Bamford in two [=BSkyB=] TV movies, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram).
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[[quoteright:200:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/docmartin1.gif]]
-> '''Mrs. Tishell:''' You are being ''very mean''.
-> '''Doc Martin:''' Quite possibly.
{{ITV}} series, 2004-present. The character originally appeared as Doctor Martin Bamford in two [=BSkyB=] TV movies, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram).
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a man with two fairly large problems. Firstly, he's got all the social skills of [[Series/{{Bones}} Temperance Brennan]] with none of the attract[[RuleThirtyFour iveness]]. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[AfraidOfBlood fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a successful surgeon in London and heading for the Cornish village of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt, and his ex-fiancée who he got pregnant.
----
!!This comedy drama contains examples of the following:
* AfraidOfBlood: Martin. Sets up the whole series, as his aversion to blood halts his high-flying medical career in its tracks and causes him to become a GP in a small rural village.
** [[spoiler:He sought therapy to correct it in season 4 and seemed to be over it by season 5, however in season six he started to have problems with blood again.]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: At the end of season 4, Martin finally breaks down and admits how much Louisa really means to him. Because he's such an emotionally repressed, stuffed shirt normally this becomes both a crowning moment of awesome and a crowning moment of funny as he struggles to put aside his StiffUpperLip tendencies and speak from his heart.
** Parodied earlier, with Pauline, who notes that Doc Martin is so terrible at demonstrating emotions that a simple expression of affection comes across like this trope.
-->Pauline: Thank God! I thought you were going to say that you were in love with me or something. After all that bumbling . . .
* {{Arcadia}}: The show takes place in an idyllic rural fishing village.
* BitterAlmonds: Not actually cyanide, but Martin manages to identify the smell of Copper Arsenite, which is giving a patient of the week Arsenic poisoning via a (unintentional) Napoleon's Wallpaper plot.
* BloodSplatteredWeddingDress: [[spoiler:Louisa]], after a man's carotid artery is cut in the course of her honeymoon from hell.
* BrainBleach: Martin invokes this when he walks in on Joan having sex with a man, 50 years her junior, on the kitchen table.
* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Averted. Britain is London AND Cornwall.
* BritishBrevity: Currently 38 episodes over 7 years.
* BritishStuffiness: Martin, is almost a caricature of the emotionally repressed Brit. From his stiff as a board posture, to his constant inability to handle emotions (well, postive emotions anyway, he has a better handle on the negative ones).
* BrokenAesop: In the final episode of season 1, a nine-year old boy who's kind of a loner is told by Louisa that, if you allow people to make fun of you and don't react, then [[BlatantLies they'll accept you because "they'll see you're okay"]]. Even worse, this {{Aesop}} is repeated by the boy to Martin... who in the same episode had been the victim of a practical joke that wasn't strictly a DeadlyPrank, but was still pretty cruel and quickly made him [[AcceptableTargets a laughing stock]] by pretty much everybody in the village, to the point where he was being discussed on local radio.
*** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Deconstructed}} in the same episode, as Louisa's advice ends up getting said boy a ruptured spleen for his trouble and rushed into emergency surgery. In the end, she amends her advice to "Some people won't ever fit in, but we should appreciate their uniqueness".
** There's another one played for laughs in an episode where the school's caretaker is kicked out and is sleeping in the school shed. He's delirious from carbon monoxide from a gas heater in a closed area, and has been putting fertilizer on the floors and floor cleaner on the vegetables. One of the teachers is trying to teach the kids the importance of eating fruits and vegetables, when Martin bursts into the room and shouts "Don't eat those! Destroy them immediately!"
* BuffySpeak: Martin tells PC Penhale that his brother is displaying ''some'' of the symptoms of Huntington's disease. Penhale has a panic attack and Martin shuts him up by agreeing to give him a blood test. Penhale says of his blood that "Oh no! It looks Huntington-y!"
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Doctor Martin Ellingham in is abrasive and arrogant, and generally unsociable. He had also developed a [[AfraidOfBlood blood phobia]], which caused him to have to give up his prestigious surgical practice and become the best damned GP (general practitioner) the village of Portwenn ever had.
** Also Stewart (the forest ranger).
* CantHoldHisLiquor: Martin.
* ChekhovsGun: If someone coughs, scratches an itch, or sneezes in the beginning, they're probably the victim of this week's medical mystery. It happens at ''least'' OnceAnEpisode.
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: Morwena manages to revive her grandfather with a good minute and a half worth of this.
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Dr Dibbs is stunningly incompetent in treating herself, on a massive amount of self-prescribed medication and having missed an almost fatal diagnosis. She's barely any better with her patients.
** Given that she spent over 20 years working as a nurse without any problem, it's ''heavily'' implied the only reason Dr Dibbs is such a nervous wreck is because her [[CoattailRidingRelative husband]] pushed her to become a Doctor and she cracked under the pressure.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Penhale, heavier on the moron than the badass admittedly, but he came across as a very professional and scary copper when he dealt with the evil loan sharks threatening Bert. And when his estranged wife shows up apparently unaware that they've been divorced for four years, he's clearly still desperately in love with her, but the first thing he does is ask her the date, confirming that she's not well.
* CuteKitten: Even the AllDevouringBlackHoleLoanSharks love cute kittens, they keep one in their van.
* DeadlyPrank: Averted (see BrokenAesop above), but as Martin pointed out, it ''did'' keep him from attending to patients that actually needed his help
* DerailingLoveInterests: Louisa reunites with her ex-boyfriend, who accepts a job in London after asking her to marry him. So she dumps him because he's disingenuous about living a life together in their beloved village, and not so much because he's [[TheFundamentalist an insufferable Jesus freak]].
* DoctorsOrders: Doc Martin is routinely frustrated by patients ignoring his advice and doing what they want. One woman nearly killed herself trying to function with a herniated vertebra.
* DramaBomb: When [[spoiler:Joan]] is KilledOffForReal at the start of season 5.
* DroppedABridgeOnHer: [[spoiler:Aunt Joan.]] Killed off offscreen with a heart attack in her jeep, which was found crashed into a gorse thicket.
* {{Dr Jerk}}: Dr. Martin Ellingham, a top Harley Street surgeon who, after developing a fear of blood, retrains as a local G.P and moves to Cornwall. He's a brilliant doctor, but he's also a sour, pompous and miserable git almost entirely lacking in charm and bedside manner.
-->"It was easy to find you, I just followed the trail of outraged people".
** There's a minor RunningGag that Martin will accurately treat/diagnose people on the fly, but repeatedly fails to remember what their name was, even when he actually ''bothered'' to ask for it!
** The DrJerk is played straight in the 4th series with the character of Dr. Edith Montgomery, who not only shares Martin's lack of bedside manner but has even less care or empathy for her patients.
* EmotionallyTongueTied: Martin.
* ExpressLaneLimit: Martin's secretary is late to work on her first day because she stopped by the supermarket to get supplies, and got into an argument about whether she was entitled to use the "six items or less" lane (she had 20 items, but claimed the important thing was she had fewer than six types of item).
* EverybodyLives: More or less - the Doc has never lost a patient. At least not when anything could possibly be done about it. He walked into a bedroom to find a woman in the midst of a stroke and she died before he'd even finished phoning an ambulance.
* FatAndSkinny: Bert and Al. Bert being the short FatIdiot and his son Al is the sensible StraightMan.
* FollowTheLeader: ''Distant Shores'', staring Creator/PeterDavison as a fish-out-of-water city doctor on the Northumbrian island Hildasay.
** Less specifically, it also owes something to ''Series/NorthernExposure''.
* FishOutOfWater: Not so much these days, [[CharacterDevelopment since he's been living there a while by now]].
* TheFunInFuneral: Season Five, Ep2, plays this to the hilt with Joan's funeral. The hearse is late, the guests are weird[[note]]weirder than normal[[/note]], the pall-bearers drop the coffin, Martin turns Joan's eulogy into a medical case history presentation-cum-public health lecture, the local police constable bemoans dealing with simple heart attacks and not something exciting, someone's mobile phone goes off playing "things can only get better" as a ring-tone. The usual for Portwenn really.
* GameBreakingInjury: It's implied that PC Penhale used to be a city cop (and/or a better cop) before being kicked in the head by a horse on a call. It messed him up quite badly, resulting in [[spoiler:narcolepsy, agoraphobia, and mood swings that ruined his marriage]].
* HostageSituation:
** Martin, Louisa, and Pauline are taken hostage by a criminal who is suffering from untreated bipolar disorder. [[spoiler:It ends after about half a dozen others get roped into it, a medical emergency occurs, and Martin completely loses patience with the situation.]]
** Again in the final episode of Series 5. [[spoiler: Mrs Tishell has a psychotic break and essentially holds James Henry -- Martin and Louisa's son -- hostage. Martin talks her down.]]
** Another episode has a delusional woman take Martin, Penhale, Ruth and her son hostage, believing the latter was poisoning her with weedkiller. Turns out she ''[[RightForTheWrongReasons was]]'' being poisoned, but by the old wallpaper in her bedroom coated in arsenic, which her son had begun to strip but never bothered to finish.
* ImaginaryFriend: Anthony, an invisible 6-foot squirrel.
** In the Spanish version, Migue, an alien from Saturn.
* InformedSelfDiagnosis: The "gets it wrong" variant of this trope is done twice.
** Dr Dibbs self-diagnosis almost kills her before Martin manages to correct it.
** Martin's Aunt Ruth diagnoses herself with a terminal illness, listing all the symptoms, but thankfully Martin is on hand to point a couple of symptoms she's missed which means he has to break the [[SarcasmMode bad news that she is going to live]] as she has something totally different.
* InstantBirthJustAddWater with ScreamingBirth: Louisa, less than half an hour had passed between waters breaking and delivery.
* InsufferableGenius: The Doc
* InVinoVeritas: [[DoubleSubversion Double-subverted]]. Louisa tries this on Martin, but he says that alcohol just makes him sleepy. But then he [[spoiler:admits that he loves Louisa]]. And then he falls asleep.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While the Doc has a habit of being extraordinarily rude to people, it's clear that he ''does'' care about their well-being, but is frustrated by the fact that they never follow directions. He also clearly loves his Aunt, Louisa, and even Pauline. This is most obviously expressed in the episode where he and Louisa become engaged, as he tells off Pauline's mum for accusing Pauline of being a criminal when really she just has a gambling addiction, and where he tells Louisa that he can't bear to live without her.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Auntie Joan]] dies of a heart attack offscreen during the hiatus between seasons 4 and 5.
* KissingUnderTheInfluence: [[spoiler:Martin and Louisa.]]
* LackOfEmpathy: Doc Martin has ''no bedside manner'' and is probably a candidate for schizoid personality disorder. He routinely tells people about their illness in the most abrasive way possible.
* LickedByTheDog: Martin in basically every episode. Some episodes almost use the dog as a link.
* LikesOlderWomen: In one episode, a painter has the hots for Auntie Joan. Martin suspects an OedipusComplex, and it's later revealed that he's grieving for his dead mother...
* LimitedWardrobe: Martin and his suits would make [[Series/HowIMetYourMother Barney Stinson]] proud. He changes into a new suit for his wedding (with the classic "wardrobe full of copies of the same outfit" gag), but nobody can tell the difference.
* LoanShark: It turns out that Bert has had to go to some loan sharks to keep his restaurant afloat.
* [[{{MyLocal}} The Local]]: The Crab and Lobster.
* [[CaliforniaDoubling Location Doubling]]: The fictional Portwenn is played by Cornish village Port Isaac.
** This gets a ShoutOut in the Spanish version, "Doctor Mateo". The fictional town in which the Spanish version is played, San Martín del Sella (actually Lastres), is said to be a sister town to Portwenn.
* LongList:
** In the first episode Bert mentions that there's a few people Martin needs to see, and then proceeds to list practically everyone in the village.
** The list of medications Dr Dibbs prescribed for herself is insanely long.
* MaliciousMisnaming: Martin's mother insists on calling Louisa "Louise" despite being corrected multiple times.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Martin was brought up by emotionally distant and borderline [[AbusiveParents abusive]] parents who resented having a child at all.
--> '''Martin:''' I was locked in the cupboard under the stairs as a child, and it never did me any harm.
* MomentKiller: Martin manages to muck up the moment with Louisa repeatedly.
* MoodWhiplash: Done deliberately as part of the format, every episode will contain one dark, serious and weighty storyline, and one light Quirky Town style story. They will then interleave throughout the episode, often with both story lines crossing through the same scene, and leaving the viewer pretty wrung out emotionally by the end.
* MotorMouth: Morwena after taking some "energy pills", see MushroomSamba below.
* MushroomSamba: In Series 5, after noticing bouts of hyperactive behaviour, Martin fires his new receptionist for taking drugs. It later finds out that the "energy pills" her grandfather had given her were actually 70-year-old metamphetamines from his WWII ration kit. Both assumed they were safe because [[GovernmentDrugEnforcement it had the Government stamp on]], after all... the Government wouldn't give out something that was ''[[InsaneTrollLogic bad]]'' for you.
* MyBelovedSmother: After being left virtually penniless Martin's mother, in series six, moves to Portwenn intent on [[InvokedTrope invoking this trope]].
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Either a single patient with a strange illness or a town epidemic.
* NotSoStoic: [[spoiler: Martin after hearing the news about Joan's death. Despite outwardly remaining his typical aloof self, as he walks around her empty house, his eyes betray how utterly heartbroken he is.]]
* OnlySaneMan: Martin likes to paint himself as one of these, however Joan and her replacement Ruth have far better claims on this (albeit in different ways).
* OppositesAttract: Martin and Louisa basically cover every trope in this section at some point.
* PapaWolf: Subverted in the fourth episode, when Martin expects a confrontation with a father angry that Martin's seduced the man's daughter (he fixed her dislocated shoulder and she developed a crush, baked him a cake, showed up naked in his bed). A huge Tae Kwan Do instructor walks into Martin's surgery and ... the father turns out to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure and apologizes for the inconvenience.
* ParentalAbandonment: The Ellinghams took every opportunity to not have to raise Martin, sending him to boarding school at age six and having him spend summers with Aunt Joan (until his father decided that Joan was too immoral). Louisa's mother walked out on the family when she was ten and she became estranged from her gambling-addict father when she was an adult. [[spoiler:Her father eventually becomes a criminal, causing a second estrangement. Her mother returned to become a cast member in season 5.]]
* PastimesProvePersonality: Martin is frequently seen repairing clocks, showing that even his hobby is similar to his job, requiring slow care and attention to detail.
* PetTheDog: Martin writes a prescription[[note]]vitamin pills[[/note]] to the town's ranger, a traumatized war veteran. Later, he does the same[[note]]with breath mints[[/note]] for a teenage girl who is suffering largely from being a teenager.
* PoliceAreUseless: PC Penhale is hopelessly bad at his job. Lampshaded by Ruth;
--> '''Ruth''': Is he ''really'' a policeman... or just pretending to be one?
* {{Retcon}}: In the first series, Martin says that his haemophobia was caused by high stress as a trauma surgeon in an inner-city hospital, even relating the tale of first getting it after seeing his patient's family before he had to operate. The sixth series' explanation, on the other hand, was that it was caused by Martin's mother being neglectful, dismissing the first's as self-rationalistion.
* RecycledTheSeries: Kind of an odd example. A character, played by Clunes appeared in a film ''Saving Grace'' and later two prequel miniseries. In making this series, the character was given a ReTool with DoctorJerk added to the character (who was originally just a FishOutOfWater), and his last name was changed to Ellingham (an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of the last name of the show's writer Dominic Minghella).
** AscendedExtra
* RunningGag: The dog that follows Martin around.
* SanitySlippage: Mrs Tishell. Her crush on Martin went from "she's an odd one", to "what're those pills she's taking?", to StalkerShrine, and finally a full blown psychotic break, which was a bad interaction between two drugs she was taking.
* SassySecretary: Elaine. Mostly averted with Pauline, though she really "wants" to be one.
* SceneryPorn: From the opening titles, the DOP takes the opinion that any shot with less than three people in it can be improved with moorland or some good Cornish cliffs.
* ShoutOut: Stewart James, who has delusions involving a giant squirrel, is named after the actor Creator/JimmyStewart, who famously played [[Theatre/{{Harvey}} a man who has delusions (or are they?) involving a giant rabbit]].
* SlutShaming: After the surprise pregnancy, both Ellingham and Louisa get some guff. He for not doing the right thing and marrying her, her for having had sex and being DefiledForever. Her pregnancy cost her a job in London, and the town pharmacist is snippy about it due to her own crush on Ellingham.
* SoftGlass: Averted. Never treated as anything but a hazard, particularly when a girl crashes through a glass doorway and ends up unconscious and nearly bleeding to death.
* SpockSpeak: Ellingham, frequently.
* StalkerShrine: After developing an obsession on Martin due to a medication issue Mrs Tishell constructs one of these in season 5 finale.
* StrawFeminist: The midwife who comes into town for one episode during Louisa's pregnancy.
* SupremeChef: Martin himself. He might be uptight, a stick-in-the-mud, and unexpressive in every other aspect of his life, but his gastronomic creations show a singular passion and creativity. Notable that even during his relationship with Louisa he still insisted on doing the cooking for both of them.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute:
** PC Penhale for PC Mylow.
** Originally Pauline for Elaine, though since Pauline has run for three seasons now she has a rather well developed, unique character.
*** Morwena is very much one for Pauline though.
** Averted with the replacement for Aunt Joan, Martin's Aunt Ruth is a very different person.
** When the anonymous black sheepdog disappears, Joan gets a dog that takes just as much an unwelcome liking to Martin.
* TenMinuteRetirement: Martin's replacement at the end of season 4 is so stunningly incompetent he feels he has to take over again.
* TheWestCountry: The show is set in a small [[QuirkyTown fishing village]] somewhere Cornwall-ish.
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Invoked in the show and referenced in the show's title. The villagers endearingly call him "Doc Martin" though he prefers "Doctor Ellingham". Also, his London name was "Mister Ellingham" (British surgeons are doctors, but they traditionally prefer "Mr").
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Blood for Martin.
* YourHeadAsplode: Ellingham diagnoses one patient with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome Exploding Head Syndrome]], the patient assumes it is a literal description fearing this trope.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Ellingham, in spades.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: What is the reaction to a man holding a baby, giving a testicular exam to a policeman, in a public lavatory?
-->'''PC Penhale:''' Give us a minute Nigel.
-->'''Nigel:''' All right.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Almost. Ellingham and Louisa had a difficult on-again-off-again relationship, conceived a baby, almost married, and reconciled in the final episode of season 4.
* WeddingSmashers: Unusually, the wedding itself goes off almost seamlessly (partly due to Martin and Louisa escaping early while they're ahead); the ''honeymoon'', on the other hand, sees [[spoiler:their cottage rendered unusable by a blocked chimney and their luggage lost; they get lost attempting to walk home and held at gunpoint by an irascible farmer insisting they fix a chicken coop they broke, and then have to stitch him up after an unlikely accident severs an artery and carry him back to town in a wheelbarrow.]]
* WeWantOurJerkBack: After Martin resigns to go to London at the end of season 4 he is replaced by the lovely, sweet, and patient Dr Dibbs. She's so bad at the job that it's a relief to get grumpy old Martin back.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Martin and Louisa, and to some extent, Pauline and Al.
----
-> '''Mrs. Tishell:''' You are being ''very mean''.
-> '''Doc Martin:''' Quite possibly.
{{ITV}} series, 2004-present. The character originally appeared as Doctor Martin Bamford in two [=BSkyB=] TV movies, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram).
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a man with two fairly large problems. Firstly, he's got all the social skills of [[Series/{{Bones}} Temperance Brennan]] with none of the attract[[RuleThirtyFour iveness]]. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[AfraidOfBlood fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a successful surgeon in London and heading for the Cornish village of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]], the medical enigmas of the week, his aunt, and his ex-fiancée who he got pregnant.
----
!!This comedy drama contains examples of the following:
* AfraidOfBlood: Martin. Sets up the whole series, as his aversion to blood halts his high-flying medical career in its tracks and causes him to become a GP in a small rural village.
** [[spoiler:He sought therapy to correct it in season 4 and seemed to be over it by season 5, however in season six he started to have problems with blood again.]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: Martin.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: At the end of season 4, Martin finally breaks down and admits how much Louisa really means to him. Because he's such an emotionally repressed, stuffed shirt normally this becomes both a crowning moment of awesome and a crowning moment of funny as he struggles to put aside his StiffUpperLip tendencies and speak from his heart.
** Parodied earlier, with Pauline, who notes that Doc Martin is so terrible at demonstrating emotions that a simple expression of affection comes across like this trope.
-->Pauline: Thank God! I thought you were going to say that you were in love with me or something. After all that bumbling . . .
* {{Arcadia}}: The show takes place in an idyllic rural fishing village.
* BitterAlmonds: Not actually cyanide, but Martin manages to identify the smell of Copper Arsenite, which is giving a patient of the week Arsenic poisoning via a (unintentional) Napoleon's Wallpaper plot.
* BloodSplatteredWeddingDress: [[spoiler:Louisa]], after a man's carotid artery is cut in the course of her honeymoon from hell.
* BrainBleach: Martin invokes this when he walks in on Joan having sex with a man, 50 years her junior, on the kitchen table.
* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Averted. Britain is London AND Cornwall.
* BritishBrevity: Currently 38 episodes over 7 years.
* BritishStuffiness: Martin, is almost a caricature of the emotionally repressed Brit. From his stiff as a board posture, to his constant inability to handle emotions (well, postive emotions anyway, he has a better handle on the negative ones).
* BrokenAesop: In the final episode of season 1, a nine-year old boy who's kind of a loner is told by Louisa that, if you allow people to make fun of you and don't react, then [[BlatantLies they'll accept you because "they'll see you're okay"]]. Even worse, this {{Aesop}} is repeated by the boy to Martin... who in the same episode had been the victim of a practical joke that wasn't strictly a DeadlyPrank, but was still pretty cruel and quickly made him [[AcceptableTargets a laughing stock]] by pretty much everybody in the village, to the point where he was being discussed on local radio.
*** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Deconstructed}} in the same episode, as Louisa's advice ends up getting said boy a ruptured spleen for his trouble and rushed into emergency surgery. In the end, she amends her advice to "Some people won't ever fit in, but we should appreciate their uniqueness".
** There's another one played for laughs in an episode where the school's caretaker is kicked out and is sleeping in the school shed. He's delirious from carbon monoxide from a gas heater in a closed area, and has been putting fertilizer on the floors and floor cleaner on the vegetables. One of the teachers is trying to teach the kids the importance of eating fruits and vegetables, when Martin bursts into the room and shouts "Don't eat those! Destroy them immediately!"
* BuffySpeak: Martin tells PC Penhale that his brother is displaying ''some'' of the symptoms of Huntington's disease. Penhale has a panic attack and Martin shuts him up by agreeing to give him a blood test. Penhale says of his blood that "Oh no! It looks Huntington-y!"
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Doctor Martin Ellingham in is abrasive and arrogant, and generally unsociable. He had also developed a [[AfraidOfBlood blood phobia]], which caused him to have to give up his prestigious surgical practice and become the best damned GP (general practitioner) the village of Portwenn ever had.
** Also Stewart (the forest ranger).
* CantHoldHisLiquor: Martin.
* ChekhovsGun: If someone coughs, scratches an itch, or sneezes in the beginning, they're probably the victim of this week's medical mystery. It happens at ''least'' OnceAnEpisode.
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: Morwena manages to revive her grandfather with a good minute and a half worth of this.
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Dr Dibbs is stunningly incompetent in treating herself, on a massive amount of self-prescribed medication and having missed an almost fatal diagnosis. She's barely any better with her patients.
** Given that she spent over 20 years working as a nurse without any problem, it's ''heavily'' implied the only reason Dr Dibbs is such a nervous wreck is because her [[CoattailRidingRelative husband]] pushed her to become a Doctor and she cracked under the pressure.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Penhale, heavier on the moron than the badass admittedly, but he came across as a very professional and scary copper when he dealt with the evil loan sharks threatening Bert. And when his estranged wife shows up apparently unaware that they've been divorced for four years, he's clearly still desperately in love with her, but the first thing he does is ask her the date, confirming that she's not well.
* CuteKitten: Even the AllDevouringBlackHoleLoanSharks love cute kittens, they keep one in their van.
* DeadlyPrank: Averted (see BrokenAesop above), but as Martin pointed out, it ''did'' keep him from attending to patients that actually needed his help
* DerailingLoveInterests: Louisa reunites with her ex-boyfriend, who accepts a job in London after asking her to marry him. So she dumps him because he's disingenuous about living a life together in their beloved village, and not so much because he's [[TheFundamentalist an insufferable Jesus freak]].
* DoctorsOrders: Doc Martin is routinely frustrated by patients ignoring his advice and doing what they want. One woman nearly killed herself trying to function with a herniated vertebra.
* DramaBomb: When [[spoiler:Joan]] is KilledOffForReal at the start of season 5.
* DroppedABridgeOnHer: [[spoiler:Aunt Joan.]] Killed off offscreen with a heart attack in her jeep, which was found crashed into a gorse thicket.
* {{Dr Jerk}}: Dr. Martin Ellingham, a top Harley Street surgeon who, after developing a fear of blood, retrains as a local G.P and moves to Cornwall. He's a brilliant doctor, but he's also a sour, pompous and miserable git almost entirely lacking in charm and bedside manner.
-->"It was easy to find you, I just followed the trail of outraged people".
** There's a minor RunningGag that Martin will accurately treat/diagnose people on the fly, but repeatedly fails to remember what their name was, even when he actually ''bothered'' to ask for it!
** The DrJerk is played straight in the 4th series with the character of Dr. Edith Montgomery, who not only shares Martin's lack of bedside manner but has even less care or empathy for her patients.
* EmotionallyTongueTied: Martin.
* ExpressLaneLimit: Martin's secretary is late to work on her first day because she stopped by the supermarket to get supplies, and got into an argument about whether she was entitled to use the "six items or less" lane (she had 20 items, but claimed the important thing was she had fewer than six types of item).
* EverybodyLives: More or less - the Doc has never lost a patient. At least not when anything could possibly be done about it. He walked into a bedroom to find a woman in the midst of a stroke and she died before he'd even finished phoning an ambulance.
* FatAndSkinny: Bert and Al. Bert being the short FatIdiot and his son Al is the sensible StraightMan.
* FollowTheLeader: ''Distant Shores'', staring Creator/PeterDavison as a fish-out-of-water city doctor on the Northumbrian island Hildasay.
** Less specifically, it also owes something to ''Series/NorthernExposure''.
* FishOutOfWater: Not so much these days, [[CharacterDevelopment since he's been living there a while by now]].
* TheFunInFuneral: Season Five, Ep2, plays this to the hilt with Joan's funeral. The hearse is late, the guests are weird[[note]]weirder than normal[[/note]], the pall-bearers drop the coffin, Martin turns Joan's eulogy into a medical case history presentation-cum-public health lecture, the local police constable bemoans dealing with simple heart attacks and not something exciting, someone's mobile phone goes off playing "things can only get better" as a ring-tone. The usual for Portwenn really.
* GameBreakingInjury: It's implied that PC Penhale used to be a city cop (and/or a better cop) before being kicked in the head by a horse on a call. It messed him up quite badly, resulting in [[spoiler:narcolepsy, agoraphobia, and mood swings that ruined his marriage]].
* HostageSituation:
** Martin, Louisa, and Pauline are taken hostage by a criminal who is suffering from untreated bipolar disorder. [[spoiler:It ends after about half a dozen others get roped into it, a medical emergency occurs, and Martin completely loses patience with the situation.]]
** Again in the final episode of Series 5. [[spoiler: Mrs Tishell has a psychotic break and essentially holds James Henry -- Martin and Louisa's son -- hostage. Martin talks her down.]]
** Another episode has a delusional woman take Martin, Penhale, Ruth and her son hostage, believing the latter was poisoning her with weedkiller. Turns out she ''[[RightForTheWrongReasons was]]'' being poisoned, but by the old wallpaper in her bedroom coated in arsenic, which her son had begun to strip but never bothered to finish.
* ImaginaryFriend: Anthony, an invisible 6-foot squirrel.
** In the Spanish version, Migue, an alien from Saturn.
* InformedSelfDiagnosis: The "gets it wrong" variant of this trope is done twice.
** Dr Dibbs self-diagnosis almost kills her before Martin manages to correct it.
** Martin's Aunt Ruth diagnoses herself with a terminal illness, listing all the symptoms, but thankfully Martin is on hand to point a couple of symptoms she's missed which means he has to break the [[SarcasmMode bad news that she is going to live]] as she has something totally different.
* InstantBirthJustAddWater with ScreamingBirth: Louisa, less than half an hour had passed between waters breaking and delivery.
* InsufferableGenius: The Doc
* InVinoVeritas: [[DoubleSubversion Double-subverted]]. Louisa tries this on Martin, but he says that alcohol just makes him sleepy. But then he [[spoiler:admits that he loves Louisa]]. And then he falls asleep.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While the Doc has a habit of being extraordinarily rude to people, it's clear that he ''does'' care about their well-being, but is frustrated by the fact that they never follow directions. He also clearly loves his Aunt, Louisa, and even Pauline. This is most obviously expressed in the episode where he and Louisa become engaged, as he tells off Pauline's mum for accusing Pauline of being a criminal when really she just has a gambling addiction, and where he tells Louisa that he can't bear to live without her.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Auntie Joan]] dies of a heart attack offscreen during the hiatus between seasons 4 and 5.
* KissingUnderTheInfluence: [[spoiler:Martin and Louisa.]]
* LackOfEmpathy: Doc Martin has ''no bedside manner'' and is probably a candidate for schizoid personality disorder. He routinely tells people about their illness in the most abrasive way possible.
* LickedByTheDog: Martin in basically every episode. Some episodes almost use the dog as a link.
* LikesOlderWomen: In one episode, a painter has the hots for Auntie Joan. Martin suspects an OedipusComplex, and it's later revealed that he's grieving for his dead mother...
* LimitedWardrobe: Martin and his suits would make [[Series/HowIMetYourMother Barney Stinson]] proud. He changes into a new suit for his wedding (with the classic "wardrobe full of copies of the same outfit" gag), but nobody can tell the difference.
* LoanShark: It turns out that Bert has had to go to some loan sharks to keep his restaurant afloat.
* [[{{MyLocal}} The Local]]: The Crab and Lobster.
* [[CaliforniaDoubling Location Doubling]]: The fictional Portwenn is played by Cornish village Port Isaac.
** This gets a ShoutOut in the Spanish version, "Doctor Mateo". The fictional town in which the Spanish version is played, San Martín del Sella (actually Lastres), is said to be a sister town to Portwenn.
* LongList:
** In the first episode Bert mentions that there's a few people Martin needs to see, and then proceeds to list practically everyone in the village.
** The list of medications Dr Dibbs prescribed for herself is insanely long.
* MaliciousMisnaming: Martin's mother insists on calling Louisa "Louise" despite being corrected multiple times.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Martin was brought up by emotionally distant and borderline [[AbusiveParents abusive]] parents who resented having a child at all.
--> '''Martin:''' I was locked in the cupboard under the stairs as a child, and it never did me any harm.
* MomentKiller: Martin manages to muck up the moment with Louisa repeatedly.
* MoodWhiplash: Done deliberately as part of the format, every episode will contain one dark, serious and weighty storyline, and one light Quirky Town style story. They will then interleave throughout the episode, often with both story lines crossing through the same scene, and leaving the viewer pretty wrung out emotionally by the end.
* MotorMouth: Morwena after taking some "energy pills", see MushroomSamba below.
* MushroomSamba: In Series 5, after noticing bouts of hyperactive behaviour, Martin fires his new receptionist for taking drugs. It later finds out that the "energy pills" her grandfather had given her were actually 70-year-old metamphetamines from his WWII ration kit. Both assumed they were safe because [[GovernmentDrugEnforcement it had the Government stamp on]], after all... the Government wouldn't give out something that was ''[[InsaneTrollLogic bad]]'' for you.
* MyBelovedSmother: After being left virtually penniless Martin's mother, in series six, moves to Portwenn intent on [[InvokedTrope invoking this trope]].
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Either a single patient with a strange illness or a town epidemic.
* NotSoStoic: [[spoiler: Martin after hearing the news about Joan's death. Despite outwardly remaining his typical aloof self, as he walks around her empty house, his eyes betray how utterly heartbroken he is.]]
* OnlySaneMan: Martin likes to paint himself as one of these, however Joan and her replacement Ruth have far better claims on this (albeit in different ways).
* OppositesAttract: Martin and Louisa basically cover every trope in this section at some point.
* PapaWolf: Subverted in the fourth episode, when Martin expects a confrontation with a father angry that Martin's seduced the man's daughter (he fixed her dislocated shoulder and she developed a crush, baked him a cake, showed up naked in his bed). A huge Tae Kwan Do instructor walks into Martin's surgery and ... the father turns out to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure and apologizes for the inconvenience.
* ParentalAbandonment: The Ellinghams took every opportunity to not have to raise Martin, sending him to boarding school at age six and having him spend summers with Aunt Joan (until his father decided that Joan was too immoral). Louisa's mother walked out on the family when she was ten and she became estranged from her gambling-addict father when she was an adult. [[spoiler:Her father eventually becomes a criminal, causing a second estrangement. Her mother returned to become a cast member in season 5.]]
* PastimesProvePersonality: Martin is frequently seen repairing clocks, showing that even his hobby is similar to his job, requiring slow care and attention to detail.
* PetTheDog: Martin writes a prescription[[note]]vitamin pills[[/note]] to the town's ranger, a traumatized war veteran. Later, he does the same[[note]]with breath mints[[/note]] for a teenage girl who is suffering largely from being a teenager.
* PoliceAreUseless: PC Penhale is hopelessly bad at his job. Lampshaded by Ruth;
--> '''Ruth''': Is he ''really'' a policeman... or just pretending to be one?
* {{Retcon}}: In the first series, Martin says that his haemophobia was caused by high stress as a trauma surgeon in an inner-city hospital, even relating the tale of first getting it after seeing his patient's family before he had to operate. The sixth series' explanation, on the other hand, was that it was caused by Martin's mother being neglectful, dismissing the first's as self-rationalistion.
* RecycledTheSeries: Kind of an odd example. A character, played by Clunes appeared in a film ''Saving Grace'' and later two prequel miniseries. In making this series, the character was given a ReTool with DoctorJerk added to the character (who was originally just a FishOutOfWater), and his last name was changed to Ellingham (an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of the last name of the show's writer Dominic Minghella).
** AscendedExtra
* RunningGag: The dog that follows Martin around.
* SanitySlippage: Mrs Tishell. Her crush on Martin went from "she's an odd one", to "what're those pills she's taking?", to StalkerShrine, and finally a full blown psychotic break, which was a bad interaction between two drugs she was taking.
* SassySecretary: Elaine. Mostly averted with Pauline, though she really "wants" to be one.
* SceneryPorn: From the opening titles, the DOP takes the opinion that any shot with less than three people in it can be improved with moorland or some good Cornish cliffs.
* ShoutOut: Stewart James, who has delusions involving a giant squirrel, is named after the actor Creator/JimmyStewart, who famously played [[Theatre/{{Harvey}} a man who has delusions (or are they?) involving a giant rabbit]].
* SlutShaming: After the surprise pregnancy, both Ellingham and Louisa get some guff. He for not doing the right thing and marrying her, her for having had sex and being DefiledForever. Her pregnancy cost her a job in London, and the town pharmacist is snippy about it due to her own crush on Ellingham.
* SoftGlass: Averted. Never treated as anything but a hazard, particularly when a girl crashes through a glass doorway and ends up unconscious and nearly bleeding to death.
* SpockSpeak: Ellingham, frequently.
* StalkerShrine: After developing an obsession on Martin due to a medication issue Mrs Tishell constructs one of these in season 5 finale.
* StrawFeminist: The midwife who comes into town for one episode during Louisa's pregnancy.
* SupremeChef: Martin himself. He might be uptight, a stick-in-the-mud, and unexpressive in every other aspect of his life, but his gastronomic creations show a singular passion and creativity. Notable that even during his relationship with Louisa he still insisted on doing the cooking for both of them.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute:
** PC Penhale for PC Mylow.
** Originally Pauline for Elaine, though since Pauline has run for three seasons now she has a rather well developed, unique character.
*** Morwena is very much one for Pauline though.
** Averted with the replacement for Aunt Joan, Martin's Aunt Ruth is a very different person.
** When the anonymous black sheepdog disappears, Joan gets a dog that takes just as much an unwelcome liking to Martin.
* TenMinuteRetirement: Martin's replacement at the end of season 4 is so stunningly incompetent he feels he has to take over again.
* TheWestCountry: The show is set in a small [[QuirkyTown fishing village]] somewhere Cornwall-ish.
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Invoked in the show and referenced in the show's title. The villagers endearingly call him "Doc Martin" though he prefers "Doctor Ellingham". Also, his London name was "Mister Ellingham" (British surgeons are doctors, but they traditionally prefer "Mr").
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Blood for Martin.
* YourHeadAsplode: Ellingham diagnoses one patient with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome Exploding Head Syndrome]], the patient assumes it is a literal description fearing this trope.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Ellingham, in spades.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: What is the reaction to a man holding a baby, giving a testicular exam to a policeman, in a public lavatory?
-->'''PC Penhale:''' Give us a minute Nigel.
-->'''Nigel:''' All right.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Almost. Ellingham and Louisa had a difficult on-again-off-again relationship, conceived a baby, almost married, and reconciled in the final episode of season 4.
* WeddingSmashers: Unusually, the wedding itself goes off almost seamlessly (partly due to Martin and Louisa escaping early while they're ahead); the ''honeymoon'', on the other hand, sees [[spoiler:their cottage rendered unusable by a blocked chimney and their luggage lost; they get lost attempting to walk home and held at gunpoint by an irascible farmer insisting they fix a chicken coop they broke, and then have to stitch him up after an unlikely accident severs an artery and carry him back to town in a wheelbarrow.]]
* WeWantOurJerkBack: After Martin resigns to go to London at the end of season 4 he is replaced by the lovely, sweet, and patient Dr Dibbs. She's so bad at the job that it's a relief to get grumpy old Martin back.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Martin and Louisa, and to some extent, Pauline and Al.
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