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It’s nothing new or extraordinary to remake a foreign TV show for a different country.

“All in the Family” was modeled on the British series “Till Death Us Do Part,” as “Steptoe and Son” became “Sanford and Son.” The popular CBS sitcom “Ghosts” comes from the show you can find retitled as “U.K. Ghosts” on American Netflix. The British mysteries “Professor T” and “Patience” (from Belgian and Franco-Belgian productions, respectively), have been successful on PBS. And there is, of course, “The Office,” which outlasted its original by many, many seasons and nearly 200 episodes. It doesn’t always work out (“Life on Mars”; “Viva Laughlin,” from “Blackpool,” which lasted a single episode despite starring Hugh Jackman; “Payne” and “Amanda’s,” two failed stabs at adapting “Fawlty Towers”), but there’s nothing inherently wrong with the practice.

The new Fox series “Best Medicine,” arriving Sunday as an advance premiere before its time slot premiere on Tuesdays, remakes the U.K. “Doc Martin,” previously adapted in France, Germany, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. For better or worse, I have a long, admiring relationship with the original, having signed on early and attended every season in turn — and interviewed star Martin Clunes three times across the run of the series (10 seasons from 2004 to 2022). And I am surely not alone. Unlike with most such remakes, whose models may be relatively obscure to the local audience, “Doc Martin” has long been widely available here; you can find it currently on PBS, Acorn TV and Prime Video, among other platforms — and I recommend that you do.

In “Doc Martin,” Clunes played a brilliant London surgeon who develops a blood phobia and becomes a general practitioner in the Cornwall fishing village where he spent summers as a child. He’s a terse, stiff, antisocial — or, more precisely, nonsocial — person who doesn’t stand on ceremony or suffer fools gladly, but who time and again saves the people of Portwenn from life-threatening conditions and accidents or, often, their own foolishness. A slow-developing, on-again, off-again love-and-marriage arc with schoolteacher Louisa Glasson, played by the divine Caroline Catz, made every season finale a cliffhanger.

Obviously, the fair thing would be to take “Best Medicine” as completely new. But assuming that some reading this will want to know how it follows, differs from or compares to the original — which was certainly the first thing on my mind — let us count the ways.

Josh Segarra, Josh Charles and Abigail Spencer in “Best Medicine.”

(Francisco Roman / Fox)

The names have mostly not been changed. For no clear reason — numerology, maybe? — Martin Ellingham is now Martin Best (Josh Charles); Aunt Joan is Aunt Sarah (Annie Potts), a fisherwoman instead of a farmer. Sally Tishell, the pharmacist in a neck brace, has become Sally Mylow (Clea Lewis); and distracted receptionist Elaine Denham has been rechristened Elaine Denton (Cree). Keeping their full names are Louisa Gavin (Abigail Spencer), father and son handymen Bert (John DiMaggio) and Al Large (Carter Shimp), and peace officer Mark Mylow (Josh Segarra). Portwenn has become Port Wenn, Maine. (Lobsters are once again on the menu.)

As in the original, Martin is hounded by dogs (no pun intended, seriously), to his displeasure; teenagers are rude to him, because they are rude teenagers. Mark Mylow is now Louisa’s recently jilted ex-fiance. Liz Tuccillo, who developed the adaptation, has added a gay couple, George (Jason Veasey) and Greg (Stephen Spinella), who run the local eatery and inn and have a pet pig named Brisket (sensitive of them not to name it Back Ribs); and Glendon Ross (Patch Darragh), a well-to-do blowhard who bullied Martin in his youth. Apart from the leads Charles and Spencer, few have much to do other than strike a quirky pose, though Segarra, recently familiar as school district representative Manny Rivera on “Abbott Elementary,” makes a meal of Mark’s every line, and Cree, who gets a lot of scenes and a personal plotline, makes a charming impression. Spencer is good company; Potts, whom I am always happy to see, is more an instrument of exposition than a full-blown character, and it feels a little unfair.

The first episode is modeled closely on the “Doc Martin” pilot, from Martin and Louisa’s antagonistic meet cute — in which he offends her, leaning in unannounced to examine her eye — to the episode’s main medical mystery (gynecomastia), a punch in the nose for our hero. Other details and plotlines will arrive, but there has been an attempt to give “Best Medicine” its own identity and original stories.

On the whole, it’s cuter, milder, more cuddly (multiple vomit jokes notwithstanding), more obvious and more whimsical, but less real, less intense and less sharply written than “Doc Martin.” The edges and angles have been sanded down and polished; tonally, it resembles “Northern Exposure” more than the show it’s adapting. Port Wenn (represented by the coincidentally named Cornwall, N.Y., with a wide part of the Hudson River subbing for the Atlantic Ocean) itself comes across as comparatively upscale; the doctor’s office and quarters are here plushly appointed, rather than spare, functional and a little shopworn.

As Martin, Charles stiffens himself and keeps his facial expressions generally between neutral and annoyed, though he’s softer than Clunes, less a prisoner of his own body, less abrasive, less otherworldly. Where Dr. Ellingham remained to a large degree inexplicable — the series expressly refused to diagnose him — Tuccillo has given Dr. Best a quickly revealed childhood trauma to account for his blood phobia and make him more conventionally sympathetic.

I freely admit that in judging “Best Medicine,” my familiarity with “Doc Martin” puts me at a disadvantage — or an advantage, I suppose, depending on how you look at it. But taken on its own merits it strikes me as a rather obvious, perfectly ordinary example of a sort of show we’ve often seen before, a feel-good celebration of small-town values and traditions and togetherness that will presumably improve the personality of its oddball new resident, as the townspeople come to accept or tolerate him anyway in turn. In the first four episodes, we get a celebration of baked beans, a town-consuming baseball championship and a once-a-year day when the women of Port Wenn doll themselves up and go out into the woods to meet a jacked, shirtless, off-the-grid he-man, right off the cover of a romance novel, who steps out of the forest, ostensibly to provide wilderness training. It’s like that.

All in all, “Best Medicine” lives very much in a television reality, rather than creating a reality that just happens to be on television. To be sure, some will prefer the former to the latter.

Take That are poised to dominate 2026 – and their fans have a lot to look forward to.

As well as their massive 17-date Circus Live stadium tour next spring, Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen are just 29 days away from dropping their huge Netflix documentary series.

And bosses at the streaming giant have kindly shared the first trailer for the three-parter, left, exclusively with me. It will be shared on YouTube and across social media today from 10am.

The series will go ahead without Jason and Robbie but fans will see them speaking in never-before-seen interviews and clips from their time in the band.

Insiders told me that nothing was off limits for Mark, Howard and Gary in the documentary, which will see them giving new interviews about the highlights and the heartaches of being part of Take That.

For the opening trailer, Netflix has pulled together some amazing archive footage of the group at the very start of their careers, with Gary heard saying: “Nothing beats being in a band.

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“There’s strength, there’s a buzz.” Mark adds: “From the beginning, there was something within us that wanted to prove something.”

The cameras then cut to footage of the fivesome mucking about backstage, as Jason says: “We were tight among ourselves, like we were kings of the world.”

Elsewhere, a baby-faced Robbie walks into shot and looks at the camera as he says: “We all kiss before the show, in a butch way.”

Discussing the magnitude of what was to come — with Take That landing 20 Top Ten hits including 12 No1s — Howard adds: “I don’t think anything could prepare you for what we were about to take on in the Nineties.”

Netflix has billed the series, which is available to stream from January 27, as “the deeply personal and definitive story of Take That.”

A music insider told me: “Gary, Howard and Mark gave their all for this series.

“Take That was life-changing for all of them but, naturally, with the great highs came great lows.

“So much has been said and written about them, the documentary gives them the chance to say their piece — and no stone is left unturned.

“It really is a must-watch for their fans.”

I can’t wait.

Kim gives kids puppy love

Kim Kardashian pulled off the impossible this festive season – by getting all four of her kids to pose for a snap with her.

She filled her home with snow-covered trees before making North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm smile for the camera. Kim also posed with her mum Kris Jenner and a visiting Santa Claus.

And the kids had a lot to grin about after each were given a Pomeranian puppy, above.

But animal rights organisation PETA blasted Kim’s choice of gift.

Urging people to adopt, not shop, founder Ingrid Newkirk said: “It’s a shame Kim missed the chance to be a spokesperson for shelter pups and is being rightly slammed on social media.”

Tim’s Su-preme gift

Timothee Chalamet got a surprise from one of his heroes as he turned 30 on Saturday.

In a video shared online, Susan Boyle wore merch from the actor’s new movie Marty Supreme to sing Happy Birthday to him.

This month Timothee hailed the Scottish singing sensation, who found fame after dazzling on TV’s Britain’s Got Talent, as one of his greatest Brits, saying: “She dreamt bigger than all of us. Who wasn’t moved by that?”

He seemed chuffed by his special video as he celebrated his milestone.

Sharing it on Instagram, he wrote: “THANK U SUSAN!!!!!!!!”

A dream team for Dermot

Dermot Kennedy has teamed up with Noah Kahan to work on new music, which may well end up on the Irishman’s upcoming third album.

Dermot has been pals with the Stick Season singer for years, but he recently let slip that they have finally got together to record tracks.

In an exclusive interview, I asked Dermot if he had been in the studio with any other artists and he replied: “We did spend a day with Noah Kahan, which was lovely.

“I’ve been a fan of his for a long time.”

Last month, Outnumbered singer Dermot announced a huge UK and Europe arena tour, which will begin in May.

And he told how his sleep pattern became “extremely irregular” while working on his forthcoming album.

He said: “There were days where I might start at night and go until all hours.

“When the mood feels right, you do it.”

Lily Allen stocked up on Britney Spears-themed cigarette lighters from Pittsburgh-based artist Jegan Mones, on her recent US trip.

The Smile singer loved the products so much she later returned to the store to buy others emblazened with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

Sounds like Lily is paying homage to fellow reformed party girls in her own way.

Adele is rolling in the dosh

Adele banked £158,000 a week last year, despite not having released an album since 2021.

Her pop empire is run by A Adkins Touring, Melted Stone and Melted Stone Publishing and new accounts filed over Christmas reveal she added £8.2 million to her business riches over the year in 2024.

But that doesn’t include earnings from her money-spinning ten-date residency in a purpose-built venue in Munich, or the final 32 dates of her Las Vegas residency, which ended in November last year.

Even at a modest £100 per seat, the Munich gigs would have raked in £75million in ticket sales alone.

And although her Vegas residency saw Adele, above, performing in a smaller venue, she will still have made millions.

There was a six-year gap between her last two records, so maybe there won’t be too much longer to wait before Adele pops up to say Hello once again.

Sam plays NYE safe

He’s had a cracking year with a new album and his biggest headline show yet but Sam Ryder won’t be opening the champagne on New Year’s Eve.

The singer is headlining the 40th annual London Parade on New Year’s Day, appearing in a line-up featuring 8,000 other performers, and he’s planning to play it safe in the run-up.

In an exclusive chat, he told me: “I love New Year’s, but love an early night more. Pre-gig prep like sleep and rest are super-important to me, so I’ll see in the New Year with friends, family and a few mocktails.”

The London Parade will be shown on London Live and on YouTube from 12pm.

Sam, right, continued: “We have an hour-long set so a decent amount of time to ring in the New Year in style.”

Next summer, Sam will take the lead in an 11-week run of Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium – and is also penning tunes at his new home in Nashville.

He added: “We’ve got the busiest year coming up so I want to get into the most positive space.”

Netflix is currently streaming a ‘bittersweet’ documentary tracking the tumultuous life of a beloved musician

Netflix viewers have been encouraged to watch a ‘bittersweet’ documentary that tells ‘one of the saddest stories ever’.

Avicii: I’m Tim chronicles the life of late DJ Avicii, real name Tim Bergling, charting his meteoric rise to stardom before his heart-breaking death by suicide in 2018.

Avicii narrates the film from his perspective and offers insight into his life away from the stage. The documentary also features previously unseen material from the Swedish artist’s life and conversations with his collaborators, including Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

The Stockholm-born sensation ruled the EDM world during the 2010s with number-one anthems like Wake Me Up and Levels. However, he battled health and substance abuse issues away from the spotlight, reports the Daily Record.

Audiences were moved by the film at the time of its release, with many urging others to tune in. On X, formerly Twitter, one excited supporter declared: “AVICII’S LAST SHOW AND HIS DOCUMENTARY ARE ON NETFLIX RUUUUUUN.”

Someone else commented: “I have just finished watching ‘I’m Tim’ the new Avicii documentary on Netflix. It was very nicely put together and helps show the true genius and character of Tim Bergling. I recommend checking it out” whilst a third shared: “Avicii doc on Netflix… A must-watch.”

Another viewer lauded the film, saying: “This Avicii I’m Tim documentary that was just released on Netflix was absolutely incredible.”

Some reflected on the DJ’s personal battles, with one X user stating: “Avicii’s documentary on Netflix is one of the saddest stories I have ever watched.”

Music fans also took to Reddit to commend the documentary, with one admitting: “I really enjoyed the ‘I’m Tim’ documentary. Very well done.

“And to watch the last show after that was…bittersweet. Sad that Tim just wanted to make music and the success of his music became too much for him.”

The film quickly climbed Netflix’s charts when it premiered in December 2024, and it was released alongside a concert special of his final performance in Ibiza, titled Avicii: My Last Show.

The gig took place on 28 August 2016, at the renowned party hotspot, Ushuaïa Hotel. Despite 2016 marking his final live performance, Avicii continued to produce music for another two years before tragically ending his own life in April 2018.

Avicii – I’m Tim and Avicii: My Last Show are streaming now on Netflix. For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.