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* DeadPersonConversation: [[spoiler: Martin has one with his dead mother in the final episode. However, as he points out, he's suffering from hypothermia and says she's just a hallucination. Whether she is or not is left up to the viewer]].
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*** [[spoiler: Even after her death, Margaret - as a hallucination ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane possibly]]) - is still a cold-hearted woman, bluntly telling Martin that she never loved him. However, she does warn Martin that he needs to pay more attention to his son, James, so that he doesn't resent him as Martin resented her.]]
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** [[spoiler: Martin's mother, Margret, dies off-screen of a heart attack in the final episode of the series]].
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* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler: In the Christmas episode, Martin's dead mother appears beside him in his crashed car and has a conversation with him, admitting that she and her husband never loved Martin and warning him that James is already starting to resent him like Martin did when he was a boy. However, Martin points out that he's suffering from hypothermia and says that she's a hallucination. The show doesn't indicate.]]
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* SpiritAdvisor: Possibly. [[spoiler: Martin's dead mother, Margaret, appears inside his crashed car in a snowstorm in the final episode. Zigzagged in that she bluntly tells Martin that she and her husband never loved him, but also warns Martin that his own son is starting to resent him as he did to her when he was little. But as Martin points out, he's suffering hypothermia and believes she's just a hallucination. The show doesn't reveal if she is or not]].
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Changed line(s) 8,13 (click to see context) from:
A mix of MedicalDrama and BritCom, brought to you by {{Creator/ITV}} starring Creator/MartinClunes. The character is based on the character Doctor Martin Bamford from the 2000 {{Comedy}} film ''Film/SavingGrace'' and the two [=BSkyB=] TV movies “Doc Martin: The Movie” and “Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie”, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a highly-skilled Doctor with two fairly glaring characteristics. Firstly, he's a misanthrope with the bedside manner of Franchise/HannibalLecter. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[IronicFear fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a renowned surgeon in UsefulNotes/{{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]] who often ignore his medical advice, the ailment of the week, being a magnet for the local dogs, his aunt[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (s)]], and the [[{{jerkass}} argumentative]] local schoolmistress.
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a highly-skilled Doctor with two fairly glaring characteristics. Firstly, he's a misanthrope with the bedside manner of Franchise/HannibalLecter. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[IronicFear fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a renowned surgeon in UsefulNotes/{{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]] who often ignore his medical advice, the ailment of the week, being a magnet for the local dogs, his aunt[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (s)]], and the [[{{jerkass}} argumentative]] local schoolmistress.
to:
A mix of MedicalDrama and BritCom, brought to you by {{Creator/ITV}} starring Creator/MartinClunes. The character is based on the character Doctor Martin Bamford from the 2000 {{Comedy}} film ''Film/SavingGrace'' and the two [=BSkyB=] TV movies “Doc Martin: The Movie” and “Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie”, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a highly-skilled Doctor doctor with two fairly glaring characteristics. Firstly, characteristics: firstly, he's a misanthrope with the bedside manner of Franchise/HannibalLecter. Secondly, Franchise/HannibalLecter; secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[IronicFear fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a renowned surgeon in UsefulNotes/{{London}} and heading for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornish village]] of Portwenn to become their GP (General Practitioner, i.e. village doctor).
doctor). There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]] who often ignore his medical advice, the ailment of the week, being a magnet for the local dogs, his aunt[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (s)]], and the [[{{jerkass}} argumentative]] local schoolmistress.
schoolmistress.
The character is based on the character Doctor Martin Bamford from the 2000 {{Comedy}} film ''Film/SavingGrace'' and the two [=BSkyB=] TV movies “Doc Martin: The Movie” and “Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie”, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
The character is based on the character Doctor Martin Bamford from the 2000 {{Comedy}} film ''Film/SavingGrace'' and the two [=BSkyB=] TV movies “Doc Martin: The Movie” and “Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie”, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
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Changed line(s) 306,307 (click to see context) from:
WhatAnIdiot:
** The Married couple Mr and Mrs Rix from the first episode of season 2 “Old Dogs” who choose to behave suspiciously and hide from Martin that they have introduced BDSM into their love life and are continuing to engage in it when Eddie has became so injured that he can’t work.
** The Married couple Mr and Mrs Rix from the first episode of season 2 “Old Dogs” who choose to behave suspiciously and hide from Martin that they have introduced BDSM into their love life and are continuing to engage in it when Eddie has became so injured that he can’t work.
to:
**
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The show has aired a total of nine series. In 2020 ''Film/SavingGrace'' director Nigel Cole confirmed that the tenth series would be the last - it is expected to air in 2022.
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The show has aired a total of nine series. In 2020 ''Film/SavingGrace'' director Nigel Cole confirmed that the tenth series would be the last - it is expected to air in started airing on 7th September 2022.
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* {{Irony}}: Annie and Clemo, the wife and son who kidnap Martin and force him to operate on their dying husband/father. Martin saves the man, but the both of them will definitely be going to jail for their actions, rendering them unable to be with their loved one.
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-->'''Chris:''' Mr. Walton complains that you called him a "mentally deficient parasite."\\
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-->'''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.]]
-->'''Martin:''' ''(earnestly)'' He ''is'' a mentally deficient parasite.
-->'''Chris:''' Right. [[DeadpanSnarker That man, he's always complaining about everything.]]
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-->'''Chris:''' Mr. Walton complains that you called him a "mentally deficient parasite."
-->'''Martin:'''"\\
'''Martin:''' ''(earnestly)'' He ''is'' a mentally deficientparasite.
-->'''Chris:'''parasite.\\
'''Chris:''' Right. [[DeadpanSnarker That man, he's always complaining about everything.]]
-->'''Martin:'''
'''Martin:''' ''(earnestly)'' He ''is'' a mentally deficient
-->'''Chris:'''
'''Chris:''' Right. [[DeadpanSnarker That man, he's always complaining about everything.]]
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* BarefootCaptives: Doc is kidnapped and held hostage in order to perform surgery on one of the Portwenn's inhabitants (who doesn't even need it). His shoes and socks are stolen (among the other predicaments).
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[[caption-width-right:350:''”Is there anyone here who has a genuine medical problem?”'' - '''Doc Martin''']]
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[[caption-width-right:350:]]
--> '''Doc Martin''': Sick people don’t want a laugh, they want a doctor who knows what he’s doing.
--> '''Louisa''': They want a bedside manner.
--> '''Doc Martin''': A bedside manner can’t cure you.
--> '''Doc Martin''': Sick people don’t want a laugh, they want a doctor who knows what he’s doing.
--> '''Louisa''': They want a bedside manner.
--> '''Doc Martin''': A bedside manner can’t cure you.
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--> '''Doc
-->
'''Louisa''': They want a bedside
-->
'''Doc Martin''': A bedside manner can’t cure you.
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Dr. Martin Ellingham is a highly-skilled Doctor with two fairly glaring characteristics. Firstly, he's a misanthrope with the bedside manner of Franchise/HannibalLecter. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[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).
to:
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a highly-skilled Doctor with two fairly glaring characteristics. Firstly, he's a misanthrope with the bedside manner of Franchise/HannibalLecter. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[IronicFear fear of blood]]. The latter resulted in him leaving his job as a renowned surgeon in London UsefulNotes/{{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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[[caption-width-right:350:''”Is there anyone here who has a genuine medical problem?”'' - Doc Martin]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:''”Is there anyone here who has a genuine medical problem?”'' - Doc Martin]]'''Doc Martin''']]
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Changed line(s) 53 (click to see context) from:
** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Deconstructed}} twice over 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village, dismissing even the amended moral.
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** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Lampshaded}}, {{Deconstructed}} twice over and ultimately [[IgnoredAesop Ignored]] all 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village, dismissing even the amended moral.
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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 despite his good intentions. (Commenting on Louisa's breath after kissing her in the middle of a cab ride gets him [[GetOut 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 despite his good intentions. so. (Commenting on Louisa's breath after kissing her in the middle of a cab ride gets him [[GetOut dumped on the outskirts of town]].)
Changed line(s) 53 (click to see context) from:
** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Deconstructed}} twice over 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village, which deconstructs even the amended moral.
to:
** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Deconstructed}} twice over 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village, which deconstructs dismissing even the amended moral.
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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 [[GetOut 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. so despite his good intentions. (Commenting on Louisa's breath after kissing her in the middle of a cab ride gets him [[GetOut dumped on the outskirts of town]].)
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* AesopAmnesia: By the beginning of each episode the majority of the village completely forgets that Doc Martin is usually right with his medical advice or diagnoses and continuously disregard him because of it.
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* AesopAmnesia: By the beginning of each episode the majority of the village completely forgets has forgotten that Doc Martin is usually right with his medical advice or diagnoses and continuously disregard him because of it.
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* AesopAmnesia: By the beginning of each episode the majority of the village completely forgets that Doc Martin is usually right with his medical advice or diagnoses and continuously disregard him because of it.
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* InstantBirthJustAddWater with ScreamingBirth: Louisa, less than half an hour passes between her waters breaking and delivery.
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* InstantBirthJustAddWater with ScreamingBirth: InstantBirthJustAddLabor: Louisa, less than half an hour passes between her waters breaking and delivery.
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* BritishBrevity: Currently 78 episodes over 18 years.
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* BritishBrevity: Currently at 78 episodes episodes, which while not bad for a British series, is still pretty modest for LongRunner of over 18 years.
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* BritishBrevity: Currently 62 episodes over 13 years.
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* BritishBrevity: Currently 62 78 episodes over 13 18 years.
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The show has aired a total of nine series.
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The show has aired a total of nine series. In 2020 ''Film/SavingGrace'' director Nigel Cole confirmed that the tenth series would be the last - it is expected to air in 2022.
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Changed line(s) 139 (click to see context) from:
** Louisa is often quick to antagonise and start an argument with Martin for things he does that she doesn’t like or the way he acts, however she usually refuses to admit her mistakes or when she is in the wrong if Martin or someone else points them out.
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** Louisa is often quick to antagonise and start an argument with Martin for things he does that she doesn’t like or the way he acts, like, however she usually refuses to admit her mistakes or when she is in the wrong if Martin or someone else points them out.calls her out because of her NeverMyFault attitude.
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Changed line(s) 5,8 (click to see context) from:
--> Doc Martin: “Sick people don’t want a laugh they want a doctor who knows what he’s doing”.
--> Louisa: “they want a bedside manner”.
--> Doc Martin: “a bedside manner can’t cure you”.
--> Louisa: “they want a bedside manner”.
--> Doc Martin: “a bedside manner can’t cure you”.
to:
--> Doc Martin: “Sick '''Doc Martin''': Sick people don’t want a laugh laugh, they want a doctor who knows what he’s doing”.
doing.
-->Louisa: “they '''Louisa''': They want a bedside manner”.
manner.
-->Doc Martin: “a '''Doc Martin''': A bedside manner can’t cure you”.
you.
-->
-->
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Changed line(s) 132 (click to see context) from:
** Julie Mitchell is revealed to actually be a false identity when a man from the Salvation Army arrives in the village searching for a woman named Emma Lewis who fits her description, when Martin sees that her results show she is pregnant too early she threatens to sue him if he tells PC Mark Mylow, who she was only marrying as a cover.
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** Julie Mitchell Mitchell, who is revealed to actually be a false identity when a man from the Salvation Army arrives in the village searching for a woman named Emma Lewis who fits her description, when Martin sees that her results show she is pregnant too early she threatens to sue him if he tells PC Mark Mylow, who she was only marrying as a cover.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4b608dd0_d499_431d_91a3_2dbed3c8d429.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''”Is there anyone here who has a genuine medical problem?”'' - Doc Martin]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''”Is there anyone here who has a genuine medical problem?”'' - Doc Martin]]
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4b608dd0_d499_431d_91a3_2dbed3c8d429.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f6fec98f_9694_4b2c_bbab_265dc9ce8372.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''”Is [[caption-width-right:350:''”Is there anyone here who has a genuine medical problem?”'' - Doc Martin]]Martin]]
[[caption-width-right:350:]]
[[caption-width-right:350:]]
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Dr. Martin Ellingham is a highly-skilled Doctor with two fairly glaring characteristics. Firstly, he's a misanthrope with the bedside manner of Franchise/HannibalLecter and none of the charm. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[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).
to:
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a highly-skilled Doctor with two fairly glaring characteristics. Firstly, he's a misanthrope with the bedside manner of Franchise/HannibalLecter and none of the charm.Franchise/HannibalLecter. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[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).
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** Julie Mitchell is revealed to actually be a false identity when a man from the Salvation Army arrives in the village searching for a woman named Emma Lewis who fits her description, when Martin sees that her results show she is pregnant too early she threatens to sue him if he tells PC Mark Mylow who she was only marrying as a cover.
to:
** Julie Mitchell is revealed to actually be a false identity when a man from the Salvation Army arrives in the village searching for a woman named Emma Lewis who fits her description, when Martin sees that her results show she is pregnant too early she threatens to sue him if he tells PC Mark Mylow Mylow, who she was only marrying as a cover.
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Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
** 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village, which sabotages the amended moral.
to:
** Notably this was {{Lampshaded}} and {{Deconstructed}} twice over 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village, which sabotages deconstructs even the amended moral.
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Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
** 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village, which dismisses the amended moral.
to:
** 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village, which dismisses sabotages the amended moral.
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Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
** 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village, deconstructing the amended moral.
to:
** 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village, deconstructing which dismisses the amended moral.
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Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
** 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" after she says Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village.
to:
** 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" (referring to both Peter and Martin) after she says this Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath which he believes might be a sign of a medical problem she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village.village, deconstructing the amended moral.
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Deleted line(s) 162 (click to see context) :
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 Aunts, 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.
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Changed line(s) 143 (click to see context) from:
* IdiotBall: In the final episode of series 2 “On The Edge” Martin, Louisa and Pauline get taken hostage. When the inspector knocks on the door Martin is sent out to the reception hall to get rid of him. He doesn’t take the opportunity to tell the inspector that he, Louisa and Pauline are being held hostage by a man with a gun and to call the police before sending him away, instead he just sends him away without telling him.
to:
* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: Creator/MartinClunes' ''Series/MenBehavingBadly'' co-star Caroline Quentin appeared in three episodes.
* IdiotBall: In the final episode of series 2“On The Edge” "On the Edge", Martin, Louisa and Pauline get taken hostage. When the inspector knocks on the door Martin is sent out to the reception hall to get rid of him. He doesn’t take the opportunity to tell the inspector that he, Louisa and Pauline are being held hostage by a man with a gun and to call the police before sending him away, instead he just sends him away without telling him.
* IdiotBall: In the final episode of series 2
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Changed line(s) 4 (click to see context) from:
--> Louisa: “they want a bedside thAHeartOfGold: 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 Aunts, 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.
to:
--> Louisa: “they want a bedside thAHeartOfGold: manner”.
--> Doc Martin: “a bedside manner can’t cure you”.
A mix of MedicalDrama and BritCom, brought to you by {{Creator/ITV}} starring Creator/MartinClunes. The character is based on the character Doctor Martin Bamford from the 2000 {{Comedy}} film ''Film/SavingGrace'' and the two [=BSkyB=] TV movies “Doc Martin: The Movie” and “Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie”, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a highly-skilled Doctor with two fairly glaring characteristics. Firstly, he's a misanthrope with the bedside manner of Franchise/HannibalLecter and none of the charm. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[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).
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]] who often ignore his medical advice, the ailment of the week, being a magnet for the local dogs, his aunt[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (s)]], and the [[{{jerkass}} argumentative]] local schoolmistress.
The show has aired a total of nine series.
----
!!This comedy-drama contains examples of the following:
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: After Martin tells Roger Fenn (in the hospital for throat cancer, about to undergo a surgery that might cost him his voice) about his fear of blood, Fenn promises not to tell anyone. Martin comments that it's not like Fenn will be able to tell anyone soon, anyway. There's a {{beat}}, and then Fenn and Martin both crack up.
* 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.
** He sought therapy to correct it in season 4 and seemed to be over it by season 5, however in season 6 he started to have problems with blood again.
** This comes to a climax in [[spoiler:Series 8, where he faints after a patient herself faints and loses a lot of blood due to hitting her head. This causes her to complain and almost costs Martin his career.]]
* [[invoked]]AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: 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. Ruth's explanation in the sixth series was that it was caused by Martin's mother being neglectful, dismissing the earlier story as self-rationalization.
* 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 [[GetOut dumped on the outskirts of town]].)
* AmbiguousDisorder:
** Martin. He has no grasp of social niceties, is very literal-minded, and lacks a filter between his brain and his mouth. It only becomes apparent once he's free of the chilly confines of London and can no longer bark at people with total 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.]]
** Peter Cronk is like Martin. How? We have no idea.
** Although Aunt Ruth, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. Martin's father ([[IdenticalGrandson also played by Clunes]]) was an ogre, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case. What a mess.
** PC Penhale in later seasons, after {{Flanderization}} sets in. Originally stated to have narcolepsy, agoraphobia, and mood swings as the result of a head injury he sustained before being transferred to Portwen (which were portrayed fairly realistically in his introductory episode), these were dropped (possibly because they made it difficult to have him interact with the rest of the cast). Instead, he gained a general incompetence in his job and "quirkiness" to the point that by season 6 he seems more like a boy playing cops and robbers and no longer has the slightest idea of how to actually do his job: his presence in an emergency situation is at best irrelevant and most of the time actually serves to make things worse.
* 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.
* ArtisticLicenceMedicine: The proper way to take blood is to feel the area you want to take blood from for a suitable vein (usually in the bend of the elbow, the forearm, or the hand.), then place a tourniquet just above the area to make the vein more prominent, and to stop any unnecessary bleeding. Then a thin needle designed for the job is inserted into the vein, a flowback should appear in the needle to let you know whether the vein will give blood, before a vacuum tube is added to the other end of the needle to draw the blood into, when the tube is full (though this isn't necessary for all blood tests, a minimum of 2 mls of blood will suffice unless it is for a Warfarin test, in which case the tube needs to be full), remove tube, needle and tourniquet, then place cotton wool over the area, with pressure to stem bleeding, before everything is then properly tagged, and the needle is disposed of in a special yellow Sharps bin. The Doc Martin way of taking blood, is to stick a needled syringe into the bend of the elbow, not bother with the tourniquet, draw the blood into the syringe and then put some cotton wool over the vague area, and then run through the surgery with the syringe, with the needle still attached.
* BaitAndSwitch: It wouldn't be a medical mystery series if it didn't string you along for most of the episode with hints that the cause is one thing (with sometimes one or two alternatives), and then reveal it to be something else entirely.
* 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.
* BittersweetEnding: The Series 9 finale. [[spoiler: On the positive side, Morwenna and Al's wedding goes well and Louisa is pregnant, but on the negative, Martin is forced to resign from general practice.]]
* BloodSplatteredWeddingDress: [[spoiler:Louisa]], after a man's carotid artery is cut in the course of her honeymoon from hell.
* BookEnds: In the first season, Bert runs Large and Son, but Al leaves fairly early to strike his own path. In the finale, Bert joins Al's bed-and-breakfast business and starts calling them "Large and Son" again.
* BotheringByTheBook: You might say that he's a Martin-''et''. (Rim shot)
* BrainBleach: Martin invokes this when he walks in on Joan having sex with a man, 50 years her junior, on the kitchen table.
* [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim Break Her Heart To Save Her]]: 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.
* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Averted. Britain is London AND Cornwall.
* BritishBrevity: Currently 62 episodes over 13 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, positive emotions anyway; he has a better handle on the negative ones).
* BrokenAesop:
** In the final episode of Series 1, Peter Cronk, 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 [[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. 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" after she says Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village.
** 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 is abrasive and arrogant, and generally unsociable. He has 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 ShellShockedVeteran turned forest ranger).
** Dr. Timoney, a therapist, is often discredited because she is 'young looking'. She is a rather good therapist, though, according to Ruth.
* TheBusCameBack:
** Caroline Bosman returns in Series 6 after being absent, only to be written out yet again in Series 7.
** Peter returns as a teenager in Series 7. He's studying to become a doctor and shadows Martin in the surgery -- as it turns out, with disastrous consequences.
** Also returning in Series 7 is Louisa's ex, Danny Steel, who is now leading a religious group for kids.
** PC Mark Mylow returned for a guest spot in Series 9, as did Penhale's ex-fiancee Janice.
* CallBack: When Martin and Edith were sharing a hotel room, one of the first things he was shown to do was to check the bed for bedbugs. Apparently it's a habit he's had for sometime because she knew to expect it and even automatically helped him with it. On his honeymoon with Louisa, Martin again checks for bedbugs (though quickly covered it up).
* CantHoldHisLiquor: Martin.
* CatchPhrase:
** "Oh for God's sake!" Shouted by Martin in exasperation whenever someone does something particularly stupid, often the exact opposite of his instructions as their doctor.
** Martin often tells patients "Stop talking" while examining or treating them. Justified, since he needs them to keep still and quiet.
* CharacterisationMarchesOn: Martin is notably more ’normal' in early seasons. His rudeness is born more of a prickly personality and a Londoner’s standoffish attitude. He is actually a brilliant DeadpanSnarker, and makes stilted attempts to make friends with the villagers. In later seasons his difficulties morph into an AmbiguousDisorder where he seems incapable of understanding basic human emotions or humour.
* 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.
* ChekhovsGunman: The Wintons appear a few episodes into Series 7, when Mr. Winton has a tumor on his neck and Mrs. Winton displays both an absolute refusal to go to the hospital and pure desperation for Martin to cure him. [[spoiler:Guess who causes the crisis in the series finale.]]
* TheCon: Though normally preferring an honest get rich quick scheme, Bert attempts this in “In Loco” [[spoiler:...against his own son, by pretending to have lost Mrs Cronk’s Fish ‘N’ Chip shop a lot of money by buying the food at more than he was selling it for and needing Al to bail him out. Luckily, Al figures out in time that the ingredients that Bert supposedly lost all the money on were actually being given to him at cost.]]
* ContinuityNod: In the final episode of Series 7, Janice suggests that the legendary Beast of Bodmin got Martin, which Louisa dismisses as a ginned-up "legend" for tourists that happened years ago. The first of the two [=BSkyB=] movies the series originated from involved the legend in its plot.
* CoolOldLady: Martin's aunts Joan Norton and Ruth Ellingham. They're two of the only people in the world that he listens to, and the latter is the only person who can out-snark him.
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: Morwena manages to revive her grandfather with a good minute and a half worth of this.
* 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.
** To say nothing of Mrs. Tishell's [[SanitySlippage cocktail of self-prescribed drugs...]]
** Dr. Dibbs is stunningly incompetent in treating herself, on a massive amount of self-prescribed medication and misses 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.
* CloudCuckooland: Portwenn, The community of the village seems to be mostly made up of or attract {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s. Most of the comedy comes from Doc Martin having to deal with ignorant (wilful or otherwise) quirky, and sometimes horrible characters.
* 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.
** 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. In Series 7 she helps a man having a stroke while they're stranded in a remote place and she only has garbled radio instructions.
* CuteKitten: Even the AllDevouringBlackHoleLoanSharks love cute kittens, they keep one in their van.
* TheDanza: The titular Doc - he's called Martin, and so is the actor who plays him.
* DeadlyPrank: Averted (see BrokenAesop above), but as Martin pointed out, it ''did'' keep him from attending to patients that actually needed his help
* DeadpanSnarker: Martin on occasion but bluntness and LackOfEmpathy are a more common way of him dealing with people.
* DearJohnLetter: Bert gets one from Jennifer, the woman he'd romanced and proposed to in the previous series. [[spoiler:He gives up his restaurant, sells his van, and is later found by Al being morose in a camper.]]
* 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]].
* {{Determinator}}: Bert Large. Regardless of how many failures and setbacks he goes through (mainly self-inflicted), he never stops trying to strike success. Both Al and Ruth say "you never give up, do you?" in the finale, although in markedly different tones of voice.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Annie Winton [[spoiler:takes Martin prisoner to cure her cancer-stricken husband]]. But as he repeatedly tries to point out, he's not an oncologist and he can't do surgery in a farmhouse, ''especially'' not when her son made him ditch his medical bag somewhere on the moor. And in the end it turns out if the Wintons had actually gone to the follow-up appointment and done the procedures instead of just losing hope at the initial diagnosis they would have found out [[spoiler:it's ''not'' cancer, and Mr. Winton could have been treated immediately without anyone waving guns around or getting arrested]].
* DoctorsOrders: Doc Martin is routinely frustrated by patients ignoring his advice and doing what they want. One woman nearly kills herself trying to function with a herniated vertebra.
* DramaBomb: When [[spoiler:Joan]] is KilledOffForReal at the start of Series 5.
* DroppedABridgeOnHer: [[spoiler:Aunt Joan.]] Killed off offscreen by a heart attack in her jeep, which is 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."
** In Series 3, 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.
** 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.
** Dr. Timoney shows right from the get-go that she can match Martin's lack of empathy. Thankfully, she doesn't keep that tone past her first episode.
* EagleLand: Creator/SigourneyWeaver plays an American tourist with an entitled "customer is always right" type of attitude who judged her American doctor's skill by how much she had to pay him and is shocked when Martin informs her that the visit to his office carries no charge.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the first few episodes, Martin is still rude, but he's much more talkative and tries to repair some of the damage he does with his tactlessness. In the pilot, for instance, he secretly gets a husband, his unfaithful wife, and the lover all in the same room to try and make up.
* EmbarrassingNickname: The villagers quickly take to calling Martin "Doc Martin", no matter how many times he insists that it's ''Doctor Ellingham.''
* EmotionallyTongueTied: Martin.
* EpicFail: Al does a radio interview to try and promote his fishing tours and B&B, but gets hung up on clarifying that Morwenna is not his girlfriend, nor is Ruth, and gives curt one-word answers when the host tries getting him to elaborate on his business.
* ExpressLaneLimit: Martin's secretary, Elaine, 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 once walks into a bedroom to find a woman in the midst of a stroke and she dies before he's even finished phoning an ambulance.
* FatAndSkinny: Bert and Al. Bert being the short FatIdiot and his son Al is the sensible StraightMan.
* FishOutOfWater: Not so much these days, [[CharacterDevelopment since he's been living there a while by now]].
* {{Flanderization}}: PC Penhale wasn't terribly competent to begin with, but as the series has gone on he seems to keep getting worse and worse at his job, to the point that, by Series 6, he no longer seems to have the slightest idea what proper police procedure is.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Pauline's habit of online gambling during surgery downtime is established a number of episodes before it blooms into a full-blown addiction.
** Aunt Ruth is shown attending Joan's funeral in the episode before she becomes a permanent part of Port Wenn.
** Mrs. Winton is shown with her husband in the surgery a few episodes before [[spoiler:she kidnaps Martin in the finale for that series.]]
* TheFreelanceShameSquad: British TV has seen some terrifying portrayals of youth culture in its time, but none as vile as the pack of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Nelson Muntzes]] endlessly prowling the village. They are the Furies of Portwenn: heartless, unfazed by everything (even [[NightmareFetishist gory nail-gun accidents]]), communicating only in shouts of "Tosser!", and are always nearby to point and laugh at Martin's misfortune.
* TheFundamentalist: Louisa's ex-boyfriend. He's an insufferable Jesus-freak who tries to come between Louisa and Martin. She dumps him because he lied about wanting to live in Portwen in his first appearance, but he tries to separate them again when he returns in Season 7 while still spouting sanctimonious religious lines.
* TheFunInFuneral: Series Five, Ep 2, plays this to the hilt with Joan's funeral. The hearse is late, the guests are weird (even weirder than normal), 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. Meanwhile, the cause of the aforementioned coffin drop is late for the surgery to fix his bad back because the burning of an unspecified dead body had been pushed forward one day at almost the last minute.
-->'''Pall-bearer with bad back:''' It wasn't like spontaneous combustion, we had it booked in--!
* FreezeFrameBonus: The news articles about Martin in Mrs. Tishall's StalkerShrine. Most of them are about Martin saving someone's life... but she also pinned up one headline reading "Local Doctor Ruins Village Festival Again".
* FunnySchizophrenia: Averted with the park ranger Stewart. Certainly, on the surface it sounds amusing: He has delusions of having a six-foot red squirrel as a friend, and that grey and red squirrels are locked in a brutal conflict. However, the character is at first played brilliantly in a way which keeps both Martin and the viewer uncertain about how unstable and dangerous he might be if you don't go along with him. Second, it soon comes clear that [[ShellShockedVeteran Stewart is suffering from PTSD]] and the delusions are a coping mechanism. He fought in Bosnia and took a bullet from friendly fire. Later he is shown having a breakdown, screaming about how dangerous and uncertain the world can be for ''squirrels'', but it is clear he is externalizing his own feelings and his war experiences left him a broken, fragile man.
* 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]].
* GetRichQuickScheme: Bert Large tends towards these, though on a mild scale. Examples include bottled water (that sickens the village) and trying to organize a birdwatching tour for one pair of rare birds on an inaccessible bit of cliff. After he opens his restaurant, he sticks to constantly reworking the menu and theme, and trying to expand the business. [[spoiler:When he gives up on the restaurant, he goes back to this and starts building a still.]]
* GettingTheBabyToSleep:
** Series 5 Ep 3, Louisa is so desperate to get her baby to sleep she does all sorts of bizarre dances, and even gets arch-stick-in-the-mud Martin to do one too.
** The next episode reveals Martin is willing to place the baby in a car and drive right out to the middle of the moor as a way to lull the baby to sleep.
* HateSink:
** Elaine, Doc Martin’s first receptionist. She was unprofessional, incompetent, entitled and completely obnoxious.
** Doc Martin's parents. Especially his mother, who is one of the worst mothers in British television. Picture Delores Umbridge with the Personality of The Wicked Stepmother from Snow White and the Dress Sense of [[WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians Cruella de Vil]]. Every scene she is in she is doing something horrible, she resents Martin for existing, Aunt Ruth calls her a Monster and Martin pretty much disowns her after she steals his clock for money, she is also an awful mother in law. His father is only slightly more likable but he dies after his first appearance so we don't see as much of him.
** Edith Montgomery is a selfish, cold, elitist, borderline racist, former love interest of Martin who unsuccessfully tries to have sex with him.
** Mark Mylow’s sister Sandra, a herbalist who think her treatments are superior to traditional medicine and is condescending and obnoxious to both her own brother and Doc Martin.
** Julie Mitchell is revealed to actually be a false identity when a man from the Salvation Army arrives in the village searching for a woman named Emma Lewis who fits her description, when Martin sees that her results show she is pregnant too early she threatens to sue him if he tells PC Mark Mylow who she was only marrying as a cover.
** Mickey Mabley from Season 3 is a thug, he takes advantage of Bert Large's naiveté and is possibly a paedophile
* HeartbeatSoundtrack: Featured whenever Martin's haemophobia comes up.
* HeistEpisode: This gets subverted in the season 2 finale “On The Edge” [[spoiler:, Louisa’s father and his friend arrive in Cornwall to pickup a bag of dynamite from a boat offshore in order to break into a warehouse. Their plans get ruined because of an accident and multiple misunderstandings.]]
* HiddenDepths: Martin used to write Edith poetry.
* HillbillyMoonshiner: After [[spoiler:losing his restaurant]] in the final series, Bert builds a still in an old camper to make whiskey. However, his product actually turns out to be of salable quality, and Ruth helps him obtain a distillers' license.
* {{Hypocrite}}: The other characters usually expect Doc Martin to be more empathetic and active in the community, however when he offers medical advice they often ignore him.
** Louisa is often quick to antagonise and start an argument with Martin for things he does that she doesn’t like or the way he acts, however she usually refuses to admit her mistakes or when she is in the wrong if Martin or someone else points them out.
* HostageSituation:
** Martin, Louisa, and Pauline are taken hostage by criminal Jonathan 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 her son, Martin, Penhale, and Ruth 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.
** Once again in Series 7's finale when a woman takes Martin hostage to find an alternative course of action against her husband's thyroid tumor. [[spoiler: She is let go when Penhale and Louisa (And later Ruth and Al) arrive at the house and Martin discovers that it wasn't actually a tumor at all.]]
* IdiotBall: In the final episode of series 2 “On The Edge” Martin, Louisa and Pauline get taken hostage. When the inspector knocks on the door Martin is sent out to the reception hall to get rid of him. He doesn’t take the opportunity to tell the inspector that he, Louisa and Pauline are being held hostage by a man with a gun and to call the police before sending him away, instead he just sends him away without telling him.
* ImaginaryFriend:
** Anthony, an invisible 6-foot squirrel to Stewart.
** 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.
** Martin does this when he starts seeing a therapist in Series 7, but she doesn't correct him since it's plausible enough and it's the first session.
* InjectionPlot: The episode "Remember Me" is about Martin trying to give his new receptionist Morwenna a tetanus shot, even though she is AfraidOfNeedles. Eventually he gets her to take it by describing what would happen if she doesn't get a shot.
* InMediasRes: The Christmas special and series 7 finale both open with Martin tied up and then flash back to 3 days and 24 hours earlier respectively.
* InstantDramaJustAddTracheotomy:
** Martin has to perform one on Louisa's painter boyfriend using improvised materials.
** Happens again in Series 7 when a girl gets epiglottitis from a case of strep throat. This time he's got a proper kit, but the procedure is also broadcast over live radio because it happens in the station.
** A similar instance in the Series 7 finale happens when Martin has to puncture a bloody cyst that's blocking a man's windpipe.
* InstantBirthJustAddWater with ScreamingBirth: Louisa, less than half an hour passes between her 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 Aunts, 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.
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 Aunts, 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.
--> Doc Martin: “a bedside manner can’t cure you”.
A mix of MedicalDrama and BritCom, brought to you by {{Creator/ITV}} starring Creator/MartinClunes. The character is based on the character Doctor Martin Bamford from the 2000 {{Comedy}} film ''Film/SavingGrace'' and the two [=BSkyB=] TV movies “Doc Martin: The Movie” and “Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie”, before being significantly retconned and renamed "Ellingham" by Dominic Minghella (spot the anagram). Aside from the scenic postcode, there is no link between the two characters.
Dr. Martin Ellingham is a highly-skilled Doctor with two fairly glaring characteristics. Firstly, he's a misanthrope with the bedside manner of Franchise/HannibalLecter and none of the charm. Secondly, he's managed to acquire a [[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).
There he deals with the variety of [[EccentricTownsfolk local oddballs]] who often ignore his medical advice, the ailment of the week, being a magnet for the local dogs, his aunt[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (s)]], and the [[{{jerkass}} argumentative]] local schoolmistress.
The show has aired a total of nine series.
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!!This comedy-drama contains examples of the following:
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: After Martin tells Roger Fenn (in the hospital for throat cancer, about to undergo a surgery that might cost him his voice) about his fear of blood, Fenn promises not to tell anyone. Martin comments that it's not like Fenn will be able to tell anyone soon, anyway. There's a {{beat}}, and then Fenn and Martin both crack up.
* 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.
** He sought therapy to correct it in season 4 and seemed to be over it by season 5, however in season 6 he started to have problems with blood again.
** This comes to a climax in [[spoiler:Series 8, where he faints after a patient herself faints and loses a lot of blood due to hitting her head. This causes her to complain and almost costs Martin his career.]]
* [[invoked]]AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: 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. Ruth's explanation in the sixth series was that it was caused by Martin's mother being neglectful, dismissing the earlier story as self-rationalization.
* 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 [[GetOut dumped on the outskirts of town]].)
* AmbiguousDisorder:
** Martin. He has no grasp of social niceties, is very literal-minded, and lacks a filter between his brain and his mouth. It only becomes apparent once he's free of the chilly confines of London and can no longer bark at people with total 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.]]
** Peter Cronk is like Martin. How? We have no idea.
** Although Aunt Ruth, herself a psychologist, proposes that his coldness is as much rooted in childhood neglect as neuroses. Martin's father ([[IdenticalGrandson also played by Clunes]]) was an ogre, his {{gold digger}} mother detested him utterly, and it's even hinted that she's not his biological mum in any case. What a mess.
** PC Penhale in later seasons, after {{Flanderization}} sets in. Originally stated to have narcolepsy, agoraphobia, and mood swings as the result of a head injury he sustained before being transferred to Portwen (which were portrayed fairly realistically in his introductory episode), these were dropped (possibly because they made it difficult to have him interact with the rest of the cast). Instead, he gained a general incompetence in his job and "quirkiness" to the point that by season 6 he seems more like a boy playing cops and robbers and no longer has the slightest idea of how to actually do his job: his presence in an emergency situation is at best irrelevant and most of the time actually serves to make things worse.
* 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.
* ArtisticLicenceMedicine: The proper way to take blood is to feel the area you want to take blood from for a suitable vein (usually in the bend of the elbow, the forearm, or the hand.), then place a tourniquet just above the area to make the vein more prominent, and to stop any unnecessary bleeding. Then a thin needle designed for the job is inserted into the vein, a flowback should appear in the needle to let you know whether the vein will give blood, before a vacuum tube is added to the other end of the needle to draw the blood into, when the tube is full (though this isn't necessary for all blood tests, a minimum of 2 mls of blood will suffice unless it is for a Warfarin test, in which case the tube needs to be full), remove tube, needle and tourniquet, then place cotton wool over the area, with pressure to stem bleeding, before everything is then properly tagged, and the needle is disposed of in a special yellow Sharps bin. The Doc Martin way of taking blood, is to stick a needled syringe into the bend of the elbow, not bother with the tourniquet, draw the blood into the syringe and then put some cotton wool over the vague area, and then run through the surgery with the syringe, with the needle still attached.
* BaitAndSwitch: It wouldn't be a medical mystery series if it didn't string you along for most of the episode with hints that the cause is one thing (with sometimes one or two alternatives), and then reveal it to be something else entirely.
* 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.
* BittersweetEnding: The Series 9 finale. [[spoiler: On the positive side, Morwenna and Al's wedding goes well and Louisa is pregnant, but on the negative, Martin is forced to resign from general practice.]]
* BloodSplatteredWeddingDress: [[spoiler:Louisa]], after a man's carotid artery is cut in the course of her honeymoon from hell.
* BookEnds: In the first season, Bert runs Large and Son, but Al leaves fairly early to strike his own path. In the finale, Bert joins Al's bed-and-breakfast business and starts calling them "Large and Son" again.
* BotheringByTheBook: You might say that he's a Martin-''et''. (Rim shot)
* BrainBleach: Martin invokes this when he walks in on Joan having sex with a man, 50 years her junior, on the kitchen table.
* [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim Break Her Heart To Save Her]]: 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.
* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Averted. Britain is London AND Cornwall.
* BritishBrevity: Currently 62 episodes over 13 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, positive emotions anyway; he has a better handle on the negative ones).
* BrokenAesop:
** In the final episode of Series 1, Peter Cronk, 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 [[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. 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" after she says Louisa and Martin kiss, but after he comments on her breath she throws him out the taxi, forcing him to walk back to the village.
** 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 is abrasive and arrogant, and generally unsociable. He has 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 ShellShockedVeteran turned forest ranger).
** Dr. Timoney, a therapist, is often discredited because she is 'young looking'. She is a rather good therapist, though, according to Ruth.
* TheBusCameBack:
** Caroline Bosman returns in Series 6 after being absent, only to be written out yet again in Series 7.
** Peter returns as a teenager in Series 7. He's studying to become a doctor and shadows Martin in the surgery -- as it turns out, with disastrous consequences.
** Also returning in Series 7 is Louisa's ex, Danny Steel, who is now leading a religious group for kids.
** PC Mark Mylow returned for a guest spot in Series 9, as did Penhale's ex-fiancee Janice.
* CallBack: When Martin and Edith were sharing a hotel room, one of the first things he was shown to do was to check the bed for bedbugs. Apparently it's a habit he's had for sometime because she knew to expect it and even automatically helped him with it. On his honeymoon with Louisa, Martin again checks for bedbugs (though quickly covered it up).
* CantHoldHisLiquor: Martin.
* CatchPhrase:
** "Oh for God's sake!" Shouted by Martin in exasperation whenever someone does something particularly stupid, often the exact opposite of his instructions as their doctor.
** Martin often tells patients "Stop talking" while examining or treating them. Justified, since he needs them to keep still and quiet.
* CharacterisationMarchesOn: Martin is notably more ’normal' in early seasons. His rudeness is born more of a prickly personality and a Londoner’s standoffish attitude. He is actually a brilliant DeadpanSnarker, and makes stilted attempts to make friends with the villagers. In later seasons his difficulties morph into an AmbiguousDisorder where he seems incapable of understanding basic human emotions or humour.
* 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.
* ChekhovsGunman: The Wintons appear a few episodes into Series 7, when Mr. Winton has a tumor on his neck and Mrs. Winton displays both an absolute refusal to go to the hospital and pure desperation for Martin to cure him. [[spoiler:Guess who causes the crisis in the series finale.]]
* TheCon: Though normally preferring an honest get rich quick scheme, Bert attempts this in “In Loco” [[spoiler:...against his own son, by pretending to have lost Mrs Cronk’s Fish ‘N’ Chip shop a lot of money by buying the food at more than he was selling it for and needing Al to bail him out. Luckily, Al figures out in time that the ingredients that Bert supposedly lost all the money on were actually being given to him at cost.]]
* ContinuityNod: In the final episode of Series 7, Janice suggests that the legendary Beast of Bodmin got Martin, which Louisa dismisses as a ginned-up "legend" for tourists that happened years ago. The first of the two [=BSkyB=] movies the series originated from involved the legend in its plot.
* CoolOldLady: Martin's aunts Joan Norton and Ruth Ellingham. They're two of the only people in the world that he listens to, and the latter is the only person who can out-snark him.
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: Morwena manages to revive her grandfather with a good minute and a half worth of this.
* 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.
** To say nothing of Mrs. Tishell's [[SanitySlippage cocktail of self-prescribed drugs...]]
** Dr. Dibbs is stunningly incompetent in treating herself, on a massive amount of self-prescribed medication and misses 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.
* CloudCuckooland: Portwenn, The community of the village seems to be mostly made up of or attract {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s. Most of the comedy comes from Doc Martin having to deal with ignorant (wilful or otherwise) quirky, and sometimes horrible characters.
* 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.
** 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. In Series 7 she helps a man having a stroke while they're stranded in a remote place and she only has garbled radio instructions.
* CuteKitten: Even the AllDevouringBlackHoleLoanSharks love cute kittens, they keep one in their van.
* TheDanza: The titular Doc - he's called Martin, and so is the actor who plays him.
* DeadlyPrank: Averted (see BrokenAesop above), but as Martin pointed out, it ''did'' keep him from attending to patients that actually needed his help
* DeadpanSnarker: Martin on occasion but bluntness and LackOfEmpathy are a more common way of him dealing with people.
* DearJohnLetter: Bert gets one from Jennifer, the woman he'd romanced and proposed to in the previous series. [[spoiler:He gives up his restaurant, sells his van, and is later found by Al being morose in a camper.]]
* 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]].
* {{Determinator}}: Bert Large. Regardless of how many failures and setbacks he goes through (mainly self-inflicted), he never stops trying to strike success. Both Al and Ruth say "you never give up, do you?" in the finale, although in markedly different tones of voice.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Annie Winton [[spoiler:takes Martin prisoner to cure her cancer-stricken husband]]. But as he repeatedly tries to point out, he's not an oncologist and he can't do surgery in a farmhouse, ''especially'' not when her son made him ditch his medical bag somewhere on the moor. And in the end it turns out if the Wintons had actually gone to the follow-up appointment and done the procedures instead of just losing hope at the initial diagnosis they would have found out [[spoiler:it's ''not'' cancer, and Mr. Winton could have been treated immediately without anyone waving guns around or getting arrested]].
* DoctorsOrders: Doc Martin is routinely frustrated by patients ignoring his advice and doing what they want. One woman nearly kills herself trying to function with a herniated vertebra.
* DramaBomb: When [[spoiler:Joan]] is KilledOffForReal at the start of Series 5.
* DroppedABridgeOnHer: [[spoiler:Aunt Joan.]] Killed off offscreen by a heart attack in her jeep, which is 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."
** In Series 3, 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.
** 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.
** Dr. Timoney shows right from the get-go that she can match Martin's lack of empathy. Thankfully, she doesn't keep that tone past her first episode.
* EagleLand: Creator/SigourneyWeaver plays an American tourist with an entitled "customer is always right" type of attitude who judged her American doctor's skill by how much she had to pay him and is shocked when Martin informs her that the visit to his office carries no charge.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the first few episodes, Martin is still rude, but he's much more talkative and tries to repair some of the damage he does with his tactlessness. In the pilot, for instance, he secretly gets a husband, his unfaithful wife, and the lover all in the same room to try and make up.
* EmbarrassingNickname: The villagers quickly take to calling Martin "Doc Martin", no matter how many times he insists that it's ''Doctor Ellingham.''
* EmotionallyTongueTied: Martin.
* EpicFail: Al does a radio interview to try and promote his fishing tours and B&B, but gets hung up on clarifying that Morwenna is not his girlfriend, nor is Ruth, and gives curt one-word answers when the host tries getting him to elaborate on his business.
* ExpressLaneLimit: Martin's secretary, Elaine, 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 once walks into a bedroom to find a woman in the midst of a stroke and she dies before he's even finished phoning an ambulance.
* FatAndSkinny: Bert and Al. Bert being the short FatIdiot and his son Al is the sensible StraightMan.
* FishOutOfWater: Not so much these days, [[CharacterDevelopment since he's been living there a while by now]].
* {{Flanderization}}: PC Penhale wasn't terribly competent to begin with, but as the series has gone on he seems to keep getting worse and worse at his job, to the point that, by Series 6, he no longer seems to have the slightest idea what proper police procedure is.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Pauline's habit of online gambling during surgery downtime is established a number of episodes before it blooms into a full-blown addiction.
** Aunt Ruth is shown attending Joan's funeral in the episode before she becomes a permanent part of Port Wenn.
** Mrs. Winton is shown with her husband in the surgery a few episodes before [[spoiler:she kidnaps Martin in the finale for that series.]]
* TheFreelanceShameSquad: British TV has seen some terrifying portrayals of youth culture in its time, but none as vile as the pack of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Nelson Muntzes]] endlessly prowling the village. They are the Furies of Portwenn: heartless, unfazed by everything (even [[NightmareFetishist gory nail-gun accidents]]), communicating only in shouts of "Tosser!", and are always nearby to point and laugh at Martin's misfortune.
* TheFundamentalist: Louisa's ex-boyfriend. He's an insufferable Jesus-freak who tries to come between Louisa and Martin. She dumps him because he lied about wanting to live in Portwen in his first appearance, but he tries to separate them again when he returns in Season 7 while still spouting sanctimonious religious lines.
* TheFunInFuneral: Series Five, Ep 2, plays this to the hilt with Joan's funeral. The hearse is late, the guests are weird (even weirder than normal), 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. Meanwhile, the cause of the aforementioned coffin drop is late for the surgery to fix his bad back because the burning of an unspecified dead body had been pushed forward one day at almost the last minute.
-->'''Pall-bearer with bad back:''' It wasn't like spontaneous combustion, we had it booked in--!
* FreezeFrameBonus: The news articles about Martin in Mrs. Tishall's StalkerShrine. Most of them are about Martin saving someone's life... but she also pinned up one headline reading "Local Doctor Ruins Village Festival Again".
* FunnySchizophrenia: Averted with the park ranger Stewart. Certainly, on the surface it sounds amusing: He has delusions of having a six-foot red squirrel as a friend, and that grey and red squirrels are locked in a brutal conflict. However, the character is at first played brilliantly in a way which keeps both Martin and the viewer uncertain about how unstable and dangerous he might be if you don't go along with him. Second, it soon comes clear that [[ShellShockedVeteran Stewart is suffering from PTSD]] and the delusions are a coping mechanism. He fought in Bosnia and took a bullet from friendly fire. Later he is shown having a breakdown, screaming about how dangerous and uncertain the world can be for ''squirrels'', but it is clear he is externalizing his own feelings and his war experiences left him a broken, fragile man.
* 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]].
* GetRichQuickScheme: Bert Large tends towards these, though on a mild scale. Examples include bottled water (that sickens the village) and trying to organize a birdwatching tour for one pair of rare birds on an inaccessible bit of cliff. After he opens his restaurant, he sticks to constantly reworking the menu and theme, and trying to expand the business. [[spoiler:When he gives up on the restaurant, he goes back to this and starts building a still.]]
* GettingTheBabyToSleep:
** Series 5 Ep 3, Louisa is so desperate to get her baby to sleep she does all sorts of bizarre dances, and even gets arch-stick-in-the-mud Martin to do one too.
** The next episode reveals Martin is willing to place the baby in a car and drive right out to the middle of the moor as a way to lull the baby to sleep.
* HateSink:
** Elaine, Doc Martin’s first receptionist. She was unprofessional, incompetent, entitled and completely obnoxious.
** Doc Martin's parents. Especially his mother, who is one of the worst mothers in British television. Picture Delores Umbridge with the Personality of The Wicked Stepmother from Snow White and the Dress Sense of [[WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians Cruella de Vil]]. Every scene she is in she is doing something horrible, she resents Martin for existing, Aunt Ruth calls her a Monster and Martin pretty much disowns her after she steals his clock for money, she is also an awful mother in law. His father is only slightly more likable but he dies after his first appearance so we don't see as much of him.
** Edith Montgomery is a selfish, cold, elitist, borderline racist, former love interest of Martin who unsuccessfully tries to have sex with him.
** Mark Mylow’s sister Sandra, a herbalist who think her treatments are superior to traditional medicine and is condescending and obnoxious to both her own brother and Doc Martin.
** Julie Mitchell is revealed to actually be a false identity when a man from the Salvation Army arrives in the village searching for a woman named Emma Lewis who fits her description, when Martin sees that her results show she is pregnant too early she threatens to sue him if he tells PC Mark Mylow who she was only marrying as a cover.
** Mickey Mabley from Season 3 is a thug, he takes advantage of Bert Large's naiveté and is possibly a paedophile
* HeartbeatSoundtrack: Featured whenever Martin's haemophobia comes up.
* HeistEpisode: This gets subverted in the season 2 finale “On The Edge” [[spoiler:, Louisa’s father and his friend arrive in Cornwall to pickup a bag of dynamite from a boat offshore in order to break into a warehouse. Their plans get ruined because of an accident and multiple misunderstandings.]]
* HiddenDepths: Martin used to write Edith poetry.
* HillbillyMoonshiner: After [[spoiler:losing his restaurant]] in the final series, Bert builds a still in an old camper to make whiskey. However, his product actually turns out to be of salable quality, and Ruth helps him obtain a distillers' license.
* {{Hypocrite}}: The other characters usually expect Doc Martin to be more empathetic and active in the community, however when he offers medical advice they often ignore him.
** Louisa is often quick to antagonise and start an argument with Martin for things he does that she doesn’t like or the way he acts, however she usually refuses to admit her mistakes or when she is in the wrong if Martin or someone else points them out.
* HostageSituation:
** Martin, Louisa, and Pauline are taken hostage by criminal Jonathan 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 her son, Martin, Penhale, and Ruth 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.
** Once again in Series 7's finale when a woman takes Martin hostage to find an alternative course of action against her husband's thyroid tumor. [[spoiler: She is let go when Penhale and Louisa (And later Ruth and Al) arrive at the house and Martin discovers that it wasn't actually a tumor at all.]]
* IdiotBall: In the final episode of series 2 “On The Edge” Martin, Louisa and Pauline get taken hostage. When the inspector knocks on the door Martin is sent out to the reception hall to get rid of him. He doesn’t take the opportunity to tell the inspector that he, Louisa and Pauline are being held hostage by a man with a gun and to call the police before sending him away, instead he just sends him away without telling him.
* ImaginaryFriend:
** Anthony, an invisible 6-foot squirrel to Stewart.
** 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.
** Martin does this when he starts seeing a therapist in Series 7, but she doesn't correct him since it's plausible enough and it's the first session.
* InjectionPlot: The episode "Remember Me" is about Martin trying to give his new receptionist Morwenna a tetanus shot, even though she is AfraidOfNeedles. Eventually he gets her to take it by describing what would happen if she doesn't get a shot.
* InMediasRes: The Christmas special and series 7 finale both open with Martin tied up and then flash back to 3 days and 24 hours earlier respectively.
* InstantDramaJustAddTracheotomy:
** Martin has to perform one on Louisa's painter boyfriend using improvised materials.
** Happens again in Series 7 when a girl gets epiglottitis from a case of strep throat. This time he's got a proper kit, but the procedure is also broadcast over live radio because it happens in the station.
** A similar instance in the Series 7 finale happens when Martin has to puncture a bloody cyst that's blocking a man's windpipe.
* InstantBirthJustAddWater with ScreamingBirth: Louisa, less than half an hour passes between her 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 Aunts, 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.
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 Aunts, 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.
