Martin Clunes

Martin Clunes is making an unlikely return to the Doc Martin universe – three years after the ITV drama ended with fans devastated over the news

Martin Clunes is making an unlikely return to the Doc Martin universe. The actor, 63, played Doc Martin in the ITV show from 2004 and 2022, where he starred as the rather awkward GP of a small British village.

The show wrapped in 2022, with fans up and down the country devastated. At the time, ahead of the UK show’s final season, Martin and Philippa Braithwaite released a joint statement, which read: “We have loved making nine series of Doc Martin.

“When we launched the series in 2004 we could never have imagined how much our loyal viewers would take to the grumpy Doc like they have. The series has avid fans both in the UK and throughout the world and we are thrilled that Doc Martin has topped the ratings every time. However, after sixteen years we now feel that the time has come to say goodbye to Portwenn.

“We will be making the tenth and final series in 2021 and we are very much looking forward to returning to Cornwall to film it.”

At the time, Martin insisted there was no bad ratings that caused the end of the series – but they just felt it was time.

He said: “All good things have to come to an end. And I’m sure there are lots of people who aren’t fans of the show who think it’s terribly repetitive anyway, but we’re at huge pains not to repeat ourselves. I just think we’ve sort of done everything. I mean, it would be so great to just sort of carry on, but I don’t think we can keep it as good.”

However, Martin is back in the world of Port Wenn once more – but in a very different capacity. Martin will be returning to the show as the father of Dr Martin Best is the United States reboot of the show, titled Best Medicine.

Josh Charles, 54, will star as Dr Martin, who has left his career as a surgeon in Boston and heads to the East Coast fishing village of Port Wenn, but with a few secrets up his sleeve. Martin’s wife Philippa Braithwaite will also serve as executive producer on the new show.

The synopsis for Best Medicine teases drama ahead, as it reads: “A brilliant surgeon leaves Boston to become a small-town doctor where he spent childhood summers. Despite his medical skills, his rude manner alienates locals as he battles hidden phobias and struggles with personal connections.”

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Doc Martin star Martin Clunes has signed up for a huge-budget film that will see him star alongside Margot Robbie as well as Euphoria actor Jacob Elordi

Martin Clunes is set to star in a major Hollywood film, alongside big names like Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.

The Doc Martin actor’s next role will be in the upcoming Wuthering Heights, directed by Emerald Fennell, slated for release in February 2026. However, many details about the film remain a secret.

In a recent interview with The i Paper, Martin unveiled his involvement in this “massive, Warner Brothers, huge-budget movie, all built on sets at Elstree”.

He will take on the character of Mr Earnshaw, father of Catherine Earnshaw, in Wuthering Heights. Margot Robbie is set to play Catherine, while Jacob Elordi will portray Heathcliff.

Other cast members include Hong Chau as Nelly Dean and Shazad Latif as Edgar Linton, with Alison Oliver playing Isabella Linton. Owen Cooper, Charlotte Mellington, and Vy Nguyen will also feature as young Heathcliff, teenage Catherine, and young Nelly respectively, reports Wales Online.

Wuthering Heights is based on Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel of the same name, which explores the turbulent relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff, an orphan adopted by Catherine’s family.

If the film stays true to the book, audiences can anticipate a gripping story of love and revenge set in 19th-century Yorkshire, with themes of social class, obsession, and love taking centre stage.

Emerald is set for her third venture with LuckyChap Entertainment, the production company helmed by Margot Robbie, her spouse Tom Ackerley, and Josey McNamara. She has previously joined forces with them for the acclaimed films Promising Young Woman and Saltburn.

Although Emerald has kept quiet about the particulars of her upcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights, her fascination with gothic themes is no secret.

In a piece for the Los Angeles Times, Emerald confided: “I’ve always been obsessed with the gothic. Whether it was Edward Gorey’s children who are variously choked by peaches, sucked dry by leeches or smothered by rugs; Du Maurier’s imperilled heroines or the disturbing erotic power of Angela Carter’s fairy tales, the gothic world has always had me in its grip.”

She continued: “It’s a genre where comedy and horror, revulsion and desire, sex and death are forever entwined, where every exchange is heavy with the threat of violence, or sex or both.”

Wuthering Heights will be released 13 February 2026