# Doc Martin - short question with minimal spoilers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045 "2012-08-10T03:34:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/1 "2012-08-10T03:34:59Z")
So once again my TiVo read my mind correctly and recorded an episode of this BritCom as a suggestion. I’ve only watched a few episodes of what I believe is the current (fifth?) season (or series as they say in the UK), but I really like it. Kind of show that only British TV could make. Anyways, my question is how in the hell did the Doctor and Louisa \*ever \*hook up? Let alone get married & have a baby? The character of Doc Martin is more stone-faced, snobbish and humorless than even _Basil Fawlty_! Seriously, I’ve only seen a few episodes but I don’t think I’ve ever even seen him so much as crack a smile! The reason I ask here is I’d like it if someone could **just give me the gist of things** , without revealing any major spoilers, as I hope to watch the show from the beginning some time. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/2 "2012-08-10T03:59:51Z")
Louisa thinks he is a decent and good man, which he is, and like many women thinks she can fix everything else about him. And for every maddening and frustrating thing Martin does, he then tempers it by being selfless and heroic to save somebody’s life. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/3 "2012-08-10T04:05:58Z")
And it didn’t happen in a short period of time. There were lots of fits and starts. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/4 "2012-08-10T13:55:03Z")
Lots and lots of fits and starts. Plus, it’s a tiny town – it’s not like Louisa has a whole lot of other options. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/5 "2012-08-10T14:10:58Z")
I recommend you start from the beginning. Some of the episodes give you an idea of how he got where he is. (Like why he is working as a GP in a small village, and what his childhood was like.) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/6 "2012-08-10T14:17:16Z")
They’re the only two decent looking people for miles around. Of course they’re going to end up knocking boots. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/7 "2012-08-10T15:07:48Z")
That show had a very interesting start. If you go back and look at the TV movies that started it the character was completely different. They made him stranger for the show. I never saw the Craig Ferguson movie the character started in. I like the show quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/8 "2012-08-11T02:25:26Z")
Yeah, I think Netflix has the first two seasons streaming so I guess I’ll start there. I didn’t mean to imply I disliked the Doctor character, just the opposite. I love straight-laced, sensible, intelligent people who will simply not waste one second suffering fools (that’s what I loved about John Cleese’s _Basil_, though he was also a loon). Like all BritComs the King’s English caused me some confusion, namely why he kept calling his office ‘the surgery’. In the US surgery means the OR. Course in the last episode I saw he _did_ perform surgery in his office, but only because it was an emergency… ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/9 "2012-08-11T02:43:40Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Yeah, I think Netflix has the first two seasons streaming so I guess I’ll start there. I didn’t mean to imply I disliked the Doctor character, just the opposite. I love straight-laced, sensible, intelligent people who will simply not waste one second suffering fools (that’s what I loved about John Cleese’s _Basil_, though he was also a loon). I don’t think Martin’s failed socilialization is supposed to be admirable, as such. He’s a strigh-up asshole often. It’s when he’s not being an asshole that he becomes endearing. > [@](#): > > Like all BritComs the King’s English caused me some confusion, namely why he kept calling his office ‘the surgery’. In the US surgery means the OR. Course in the last episode I saw he _did_ perform surgery in his office, but only because it was an emergency… I gather that in British English, “surgery” refers to any place where a service provider meets clients. When British politicians hold open office hours where constituents can drop in to make their petty complaints, they call it “surgery.” ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/10 "2012-08-11T03:06:35Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > In the US surgery means the OR. I thought that what Americans call an operating room (OR), the Brits call an operating _theater_. Or _theatre_, rather. Both of which are in hospitals. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/11 "2012-08-11T04:51:31Z")
I’d thought an operating theater was an operating room with an observation area, so visiting or trainee doctors could watch and learn new procedures. And did Doc Martin really start as a tv movie? I had no idea. I loved that show and shall have to look it up. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/12 "2012-08-11T09:40:53Z")
Doc Martin was a fairly minor character in _[Saving Grace](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195234/)_. Well worth the effort. What gets me is that Martin Clunes seems to be making a mid-term career out of stuffy straight-laced characters (Doc Martin, [The Man Who Lost His Head](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Lost_His_Head)) after starting out in very comic roles (Jeeves and Wooster,[Men Behaving Badly)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_Behaving_Badly) ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/13 "2012-08-11T10:19:57Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > They’re the only two decent looking people for miles around. Of course they’re going to end up knocking boots. Possibly even the only _sane_ people for miles around. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/14 "2012-08-11T12:15:50Z")
Yes, he started in Saving Grace. And then he started in a TV Movie, which is the same character kind of doing the same thing (for different reasons, I think he walks away from a london practice because his wife is unfaithful in that one) as a standalone thing. They then rebooted it into a series, where he came to Cornwall for different reasons (hates the sight of blood). The character in that one is much more socially stinted and yes its a long struggle and a number of false starts before he gets together with Loisa including getting her pregnant the deciding to go back to London… ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/15 "2012-08-11T12:24:47Z")
To be honest, I saw **Saving Grace** in the cinema when it was released and when **Doc Martin** the series started, it never occured to me that there was a link. (Other than quirky goings-on in a small fishing village). ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/16 "2012-08-11T21:30:10Z")
Another Britishism that threw me at first: surgeons are called “Mr.” in England, not “Dr.” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/17 "2012-08-12T00:40:13Z")
> [@Barking\_Dog](#): > > And did Doc Martin really start as a tv movie? I had no idea. I loved that show and shall have to look it up. As mentioned he was a minor character in Saving Grace. Notice that Craig ferguson has producing credit for the series. Then there were 2 (maybe 3) tv movies. I don’t think they are on Netflix. In the movies he is called Martin Bamford. The character is still a fish out of water but he is not nearly as quirky. The tv show followed. ETA I liked the tv movies even though they are a bit different. The NYC PBS station aired them a couple months ago. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/18 "2012-08-12T01:28:18Z")
The two made-for-TV films _are_ available on DVD through Netflix. No idea if they are available for streaming. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/19 "2012-08-12T04:18:44Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > Another Britishism that threw me at first: surgeons are called “Mr.” in England, not “Dr.” That must be a leftover from olde timey days when a doctor and a surgeon were two different things. Before anesthetic, surgery essentially meant one thing: amputations. Consequently ‘surgeons’, although still a learned skill, were viewed as middle to lower class ‘tradesmen’. Whereas ‘doctors’ were more upper gentry who went to Universities and studied a wider discipline. Rather ironic that before the medical revolution of the late 1800s most of what these so-called ‘doctors’ learned was closer to religion, politics, and parlor tricks… ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045/20 "2012-08-12T18:21:17Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Whereas ‘doctors’ were more upper gentry who went to Universities and studied a wider discipline. Rather ironic that before the medical revolution of the late 1800s most of what these so-called ‘doctors’ learned was closer to religion, politics, and parlor tricks… A quick side question on that point. In one scene in the film _The Madness of King George_, which is set in the 1780s, the king’s doctors are talking about the new guy — a Dr. Willis, who they’re appalled to learn is “not a proper doctor”. Also mentioned is the fact that he’s not a member of the Royal Academy of Physicians. I’m not sure whether that’s two separate pieces of information or just one. That is, could you be a “proper doctor” in 18th century Britain and not be a member of the Academy? Or is that membership just something you’d be expected to have before you’re allowed anywhere near the king? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doc-martin-short-question-with-minimal-spoilers/631045.md?page=2)