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Doc Martin (Part 13 — Spoilers)
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Sorry, NewPark, I beg to differ with you. I know you are a lovely person. I was married to a man who was pre-med before I met him and had to switch to another field because of lack of family funds to see him through, plus other factors which I won't go into here. When he passed away a few years ago, the first thing I thought of was what a waste that he didn't fulfill his dream of going into the medical field. But, we fell in love, I gave him 3 wonderful children and I hope a good marriage, that dream faded into the background. So, AR understands DM more than anyone that fire in the belly of DM to go back to surgery.
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It may well be that the way the series ends is that LG decides that he needs surgery more than she needs Port Wenn and they reach some accomodation about her working, too. And they do go off to London, in the end. I can see LG ultimately making that choice for them -- "you know how she is " --as she realizes how much being a surgeon does mean to him.
Or maybe one theme of S6 will be trying to find a way within the framework of PortWenn for him to practice surgery, although, as some FanFic has pointed out, this would not be easy.
My comment was more about whether the writers feel like that plot device has outlived its usefulness.
It's the Diamond Jubilee Pageant on Sunday which is being televised by ITV but not broadcast until early June. MC will be one of several narrators introducing the acts.
Edit: the Windsor Horse Show was yesterday (Saturday) but I don't think that's televised.
http://blogs.weta.org/tellyvisions/2012/05/12/great-doc-martin-watch-continues-series-5-episodes-3-and-4
Brilliant again! :)
Thanks for posting this, dcdmfan.
Have I Got News for You and Reggie Perrin both air on BBC1.
Martin Clunes was in a production of Tartuffe at the National Theatre in 2002: http://www.whatsonstage.com/reviews/theatre/london/E8821015496396/Tartuffe.html
Jack Lothian has written episodes of Shameless for Channel 4, Beaver Falls for E4, 3 episodes of Ashes to Ashes for BBC1 along with one episode each of Outcasts and Death in Paradise, both on BBC1.
Tom Butterworth and Chris Hurford have both written episodes of Ashes to Ashes and Hustle for BBC1.
Director, Ben Bolt has directed 2 episodes of Ashes to Ashes and Downton Abbey in between seasons of Doc Martin. Along with 4 episodes of Waking the Dead
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=362832797109389&set=a.156069011119103.33787.152017704857567&type=1&theater
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/5/13opinion/sunday/bruni-muddling-through-mothers-day.html?_r=1&hp
Let's face it, the DM we know would never actually, (and remember he is a very literal man) ever sit depressed in his underwear watching TV. It's so out of place, and I think it was clearly part of DM affirming how idiotic the PW folks, and how he hated being there, with them blabbering on about "rubbish" all the time.
At least that was my take of that scene]
Mona, I totally understand what you’re getting at here. On the surface it’s our classic DM. Distain and slight regard for the village and its inhabitants. These exchanges provide essential humor for the series – they are quite funny. But they also play a deeper function in story progression, I think. The fishmonger is, unwittingly, a mouthpiece for a kind of “life-wisdom” that DM is (I believe) unwittingly and perhaps subconsciously, struggling with. It is just the kind of wisdom that story writers like to find in unlikely places – especially simple, uneducated (idiotic) villagers.
It is certain that DM will never actually sit in his underwear, unshaven, watching television. He will maintain that exterior shell! But to what end? The core “who he is” - more and more is being exposed. He sits on the brink (remember, he asks for one last chance in S5E8) of effectively (and symbolically) being stripped of his rigid exterior –leaving him emotionally unshaven and undressed. The fish retailer acts as a kind of chorus for the deep reality that lives under the humor of the series. Actually DM has been dancing around this deeper reality most of the series. Back in the S1E6 he tells LG that surgery is the only thing he has ever been good at – quite an admission. And think how brilliantly MC nonverbally communicates deep sadness – even despair -when LG tells him she doesn’t want to see him any more (S3E5), and when she actually leaves him (S3E7, S4E2, and S5E6). DM may say rubbish to the simple, literal observations that he hears from PW folk. But this stuff is eating at the edges of his world. That is where we see his vulnerability and why he is so engaging and human – in a strange, lovely sort of way.
Yup! All you wrote, and NewPark in a previous post, is 100% my point of view. That's why he is such a fascinating character and enthralls so many of us. But, if there is one impossible thing to do in life it's visualizing an unshaven doc in his y-fronts watching TV.
The fishmonger turns out to be a bit of a Greek Chorus, doesn't he, in our mythical little tale. He states what all the audience knows and believes to the main character who alone has been unable to consciously articulate that truth.
It's a bit less subtle than we are used to seeing in the show.
What do we call him in that Grecian scene, not Oedipus Rex with his unfortunate blindness (figuratively and literally), but perhaps Martinus Rex?
Here's a pic of MC at the horse show.
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=237356543005802&__user=657876831#!/photo.php?fbid=402859073070478&id=100000391660428&set=a.387246244631761.85451.100000391660428&__user=657876831
Strangely enough, we've actually already seen that exact mythical scene dramatized by MC in Reggie Perrin!
I was 36 when I lost my mom. After she died, Mother's Day was the first (and worst) holiday to come around. It was like some cruel joke -- everywhere I turned there were signs, cards, flowers, radio, tv, magazines, reminding me of what I no longer had. I was angry at my friends who had moms to hug, talk and listen to. 8 years later, I'm still mad ... just able to fake it better. Thanks for sharing the article, marchrand. It was helpful sharing the emotions with someone else who understands (both you, and the author).
Hi Conniej! Thanks for the link to the pic of MC! His hair is still pretty short, isn't it? Looks good! Are you still on vacation? Hope you're having a wonderful time!
Well, it's not a Grecian tragedy to see MC nearly nekkid, in any TV show! In fact, it does amaze me how often MC has been comfortable being very undressed, or naked, in his TV Movies/shows. He seems very comfortable showing fellow actors and film/TV production crews, er, um, well, various parts of his body....:o Now, how do I join one of those crews?....:o:eek::p
I don't know if he's so comfortable with it anymore. He had a double during the "swim in the ocean" scene. And, I think men actors wear some kind of sock thing during "nekkid" scenes! Of course, that doesn't cover their bottoms.
During Reggie Perrin, "swim in ocean".
I agree, he might not literally be sitting in his y fronts, depressed, but it hit a note for him, he knows it is not a good thing for him to be without Louisa and JH. Anyway a funny and brilliant scene.
Thanks we're having a great time in Italy! We're going to Amsterdam and Belgium in a couple of days.
Is anyone having problems with the Fanfic site? It times out for me as unavailable.
That's probably true, ReneeBird, with age he's gotten more conservative that way. I'm another one who liked Reggie Perrin, but I never saw the first series to compare it too. Although his daydreams of violence against others, while initially very funny, got repetitive and a bit boring as the series progressed.
I'm sure he probably wasn't really nekkid, too, although I hear in love scenes some actors are with their co-actors, but I really don't know. I was just taking a break from sitting on my butt all day rewriting conference notes, and got silly.
MC has said two contradictory things on this topic that I'm aware of. One: that staff rig up some kind of flesh-colored contraption to cover his front. Two: that on at least one set shooting bed scenes all day, he didn't wear anything because after awhile he didn't see the point. He then said it wasn't really awkward for him shooting nude sex scenes, only talking about them or watching them with his wife.
Comment I found from MC: "I started off playing a few scenes in my underwear because I was a bit self-conscious," he says. "But a day or two into it I thought, 'What the hell' and off came the trolleys. It was strangely empowering being in the nude."