Doc Martin (Part 14 — Spoilers)

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 340
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    Gardening question

    I am a US gardener, I would like to know what the pink blooming vining foliage cascading over the walls throughout Port Issac is. There is some along Roscarrock Hill as well as other locations.

    And I thought it was pertinent for Janet Sawle to be on gardening leave - there were beautiful planters in the courtyard!! They were visible when she opened the door for DM.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,018
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    cc.cookie wrote: »
    The DM haircut might be for MC to get into character - to help with the rewrites and rehearsals - and/or to get rid of any tan lines that may have occurred around the longer hair.

    I hadn't thought of that. Maybe that's it.
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    dmbesotted wrote: »
    Gardening question

    I am a US gardener, I would like to know what the pink blooming vining foliage cascading over the walls throughout Port Issac is. There is some along Roscarrock Hill as well as other locations.

    And I thought it was pertinent for Janet Sawle to be on gardening leave - there were beautiful planters in the courtyard!! They were visible when she opened the door for DM.

    Answer: Red Valerian (SKA: Jupiter's Beard). See this nice pic I found on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/philipgoddard/6001683246/in/photostream/

    We took pictures of less mature barely beginning to bud plants when we were in PI last April. And they really are all over as they are a perennial and reseed readily (almost to the point of being invasive). They aren't a vine, though, just that the stems in difficult conditions fall over and/or break but the plant just keeps sending out more buds, sprouting from either side below the break.
  • mmDerdekeammDerdekea Posts: 1,719
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    Biffpup wrote: »
    I hadn't thought of that. Maybe that's it.

    MC has been wearing his hair shorter quite a lot in the last years. He has kept the short haircut after filming was over. He hasn't worn those long (awful) locks for a long time (thank G-d). Nothing was more unattractive on him than his curly, neck long, oily hair in the later years of "Men Behaving Badly".

    He looks very good in shorter hair and may just have decided to wear it that way a good deal of the time, although allowing it to grow out a little more now and then.

    I hope he never goes back to much longer hair.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 594
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    Caroline Catz on DCI Banks tonight. Awesome story with CC as DC Helen Morton. About as different a character from LG as you can get, I think.

    Anyone else see it?
  • ConniejConniej Posts: 972
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    I'm still waiting to get the file to download Heavy Horsepower to YT. A screen cap from ITV player is too choppy and poor quality so I'm waiting for a better file. However, I found an alternative site that allows non UK viewers to watch without Expat Shield or other similar programs. So if you're anxious to watch, give it a try.

    http://brittv.co.uk/play.php?t=41828

    Edit: I watched this easily on my Android tablet but when I brought it up on my computer it mentions registration and a fee. Hmm - not sure why it is free for my tablet. :confused:
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
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    robspace54 wrote: »
    Caroline Catz on DCI Banks tonight. Awesome story with CC as DC Helen Morton. About as different a character from LG as you can get, I think.

    Anyone else see it?

    Yes, I did. Much sharper-edged.
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
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    mmDerdekea wrote: »
    MC has been wearing his hair shorter quite a lot in the last years. He has kept the short haircut after filming was over. He hasn't worn those long (awful) locks for a long time (thank G-d). Nothing was more unattractive on him than his curly, neck long, oily hair in the later years of "Men Behaving Badly".

    He looks very good in shorter hair and may just have decided to wear it that way a good deal of the time, although allowing it to grow out a little more now and then.

    I hope he never goes back to much longer hair.

    I agree. I like his hair shorter. It is of varying lengths (a little) in the Heavy Horse docu.

    I really did not like the spikey gel-ed up look he sported sometimes in the last year. But I know others did. Color me old fashioned.

    And then he did have the nerve to remark, during the time he was off and on wearing his hair that way, that in the country "we just have hair." :D
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    Conniej wrote: »
    I'm still waiting to get the file to download Heavy Horsepower to YT. A screen cap from ITV player is too choppy and poor quality so I'm waiting for a better file. However, I found an alternative site that allows non UK viewers to watch without Expat Shield or other similar programs. So if you're anxious to watch, give it a try.

    http://brittv.co.uk/play.php?t=41828

    Edit: I watched this easily on my Android tablet but when I brought it up on my computer it mentions registration and a fee. Hmm - not sure why it is free for my tablet. :confused:

    Awwwww, beautiful horses, beautiful Clunes. Thanks, Connie.:) Oh, It was free on my laptop, but choppy.
  • marchrandmarchrand Posts: 879
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    mmDerdekea wrote: »
    MC has been wearing his hair shorter quite a lot in the last years. He has kept the short haircut after filming was over. He hasn't worn those long (awful) locks for a long time (thank G-d). Nothing was more unattractive on him than his curly, neck long, oily hair in the later years of "Men Behaving Badly".

    He looks very good in shorter hair and may just have decided to wear it that way a good deal of the time, although allowing it to grow out a little more now and then.

    I hope he never goes back to much longer hair.

    I'll meet you halfway mmDerdekea, ---while I like the short cropped hair in the DM series, fitting in with the no-nonsense stern man that he is portraying, I do like the long locks when he did the Islands of Britain, Horsepower and A Man and His Dogs documentaries. The longer hair somehow fits in with the outdoorsey part of the man that is Martin Clunes.
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
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    marchrand wrote: »
    I'll meet you halfway mmDerdekea, ---while I like the short cropped hair in the DM series, fitting in with the no-nonsense stern man that he is portraying, I do like the long locks when he did the Islands of Britain, Horsepower and A Man and His Dogs documentaries. The longer hair somehow fits in with the outdoorsey part of the man that is Martin Clunes.

    Glad to see that you have power, Marchrand. How did you fare in the storm?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 340
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    robspace54 wrote: »
    Caroline Catz on DCI Banks tonight. Awesome story with CC as DC Helen Morton. About as different a character from LG as you can get, I think.

    Anyone else see it?

    Well, I was fooled once but DCI Banks is on again here on Sat night and is supposed to have DCI Morton in it. I hope so. But I am optimistic that is won't be long since other US cities are getting it. Not available yet in US DVD format. Is it on Netflix?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 340
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    mmDerdekea wrote: »
    MC has been wearing his hair shorter quite a lot in the last years. He has kept the short haircut after filming was over. He hasn't worn those long (awful) locks for a long time (thank G-d). Nothing was more unattractive on him than his curly, neck long, oily hair in the later years of "Men Behaving Badly".

    He looks very good in shorter hair and may just have decided to wear it that way a good deal of the time, although allowing it to grow out a little more now and then.

    I hope he never goes back to much longer hair.

    I actually like him with at bit more hair - not like in MBB - but a bit more than in W&M.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 340
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    Answer: Red Valerian (SKA: Jupiter's Beard). See this nice pic I found on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/philipgoddard/6001683246/in/photostream/

    We took pictures of less mature barely beginning to bud plants when we were in PI last April. And they really are all over as they are a perennial and reseed readily (almost to the point of being invasive). They aren't a vine, though, just that the stems in difficult conditions fall over and/or break but the plant just keeps sending out more buds, sprouting from either side below the break.

    Thanks, it is so thick in some locations. In our rewatch one week out, S4E3 it is prominent outside the police station when PC Penhale and his brother are talking. Also noted that it is not native in my area of the US but maybe yours?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 340
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    Characters popping up in multiple episodes

    Uncle Jimmy - I think he is in S1E1 (uncredited) - only seen from the back, on the street, when either Lady Brading or Ross is coming out of the shop Fearless.

    And in S4S8 - is Mrs Wilson (uncredited), the Tommy's Taxi patient, also Mrs Poustie of the proper jobby?

    And of course our favorite crabman, Chippy Miller, also shows up uncredited in S4E3 - he takes the photo of the painting of Pauline. I forgot that she calls him by his full name in S4E1 when Edith first comes to the surgery.

    Anyone else got someone? And we should play 6 degrees of separation as Uncle Jimmy was also in Shakespeare in Love with MC. Maybe it is just that population of British actors but it is so interesting to keep coming up on these connections.
  • marchrandmarchrand Posts: 879
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    NewPark wrote: »
    Glad to see that you have power, Marchrand. How did you fare in the storm?

    Hi, NewPark, we had between 8-10 inches, not bad. But yesterday we had a bit of rain underneath so, of course, it froze overnight. I went to bed midnight and it looked like 3-4 inches, then I awoke when I heard the snowplow come down the street about 3:30 a.m. (more snow) and there was a neighbor across the street and over a few houses shoveling his property!!! I guess he wanted to get a head start before dawn. I was out there about 9 a.m. and was shoveling when a neighbor across the street with a snowplow did my driveway (car in garage). I did the stairs and walkway--mind you, I am probably a few years older than you but I like to feel that I can do most things on my own. Fortunately, we did not lose power, and thanks for thinking of me. Now, back to things DM, and I have a region 2 dvd player set up with A Man and His Dogs which I will rewatch later today.
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
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    cc.cookie wrote: »
    The Great Re-watch
    S4e2 Uneasy lies the head
    Director: Ben Bolt
    Writer: Ben Bolt

    Martin Ellingham struggles to deal with Louisa's news, and is conflicted over what action to take. But Louisa is adamant she does not want Martin involved. Auntie Joan, however, is highly insistent that she help Louisa through the pregnancy. Louisa takes a job back at Portwenn Primary School, where the headmaster is creating suspicion and public concern over his increasingly erratic behaviour. Martin realises the schoolmaster is unwell when he evacuates blue urine. Things come to a frightening turn when he takes a class of schoolchildren to the beach.

    Here's a question about last scene of E1 and first scene of E2: when he hears the knock on the door and pauses briefly, do you think that he recognizes or half-recognizes Louisa? His round-eyed astonishment when he sees her suggests that he doesn't, but he does pause for a beat or two before he goes to the door.
    cc.cookie wrote: »
    "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown."

    Shakespeare Henry IV Part II, 1597.

    Meaning

    A person with great responsibilities, such as a king, is constantly worried.

    Who is that has the responsibilities here? Perhaps it's Martin, who actually needs to step up and take responsibility. But, I've always thought somehow that the quote means that the king is uneasy lest someone take his crown. But in that case, would the quote refer to Louisa?
  • lemsterlemster Posts: 196
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    robspace54 wrote: »
    Caroline Catz on DCI Banks tonight. Awesome story with CC as DC Helen Morton. About as different a character from LG as you can get, I think.

    Anyone else see it?

    I watched the second episode with CC last night. It is as if they gave DM traits to CC's character (serious disposition, lack of empathy, competence, lack of humor). It will be interesting to see how fully they develop the character, perhaps with a view to permanent casting in this series.
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    dmbesotted wrote: »
    Thanks, it is so thick in some locations. In our rewatch one week out, S4E3 it is prominent outside the police station when PC Penhale and his brother are talking. Also noted that it is not native in my area of the US but maybe yours?

    I don't know about the nativity :confused: of it. I have only seen it in people's gardens here and I got a white version as a start from a friend's yard, and it is sold in nurseries here. It does produce lots of seed if you don't deadhead occasionally but I truly haven't seen it go wild here. In PI it truly is on the rock walls all over except I guess, where folks decided they didn't want it and keep them clear. It is quite well-behaved in my yard, but I positioned it next to the driveway to lessen any spreading tendencies. I look forward to it every late spring and all through summer.

    Just did a little research and the Native Plant Society of Oregon lists it as invasive and exotic in origin. And that the west coast is where it is listed. Much the same climatic conditions as PI and Cornwall then. Native range: Native Range: Europe, N. Africa to Asia Minor (BAIL). Info source: http://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=13957

    Do just love it and it works nicely in bouquets, too.
  • Shop GirlShop Girl Posts: 1,284
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    I was able to watch on that link you sent on my iPad. Interesting that the nag screen popped up, but I tried touching the arrows to make the video full screen and it worked perfectly. Slight flaw, eh? Shhhhh..... Watched a couple of other programs this morning too.

    I loved the program. Laughed when he said the horses turned on a sixpence. Never thought about the fact that the phrase would be different in different countries. I was surprised that he brought up his driving ban on the show - he must not be too sensitive about it. And I loved how excited he was when Bruce & Ronnie returned to the farm. Did anyone else sense that, although he adores Emily, Ronnie & Bruce are the sons he never had?
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    NewPark wrote: »
    Here's a question about last scene of E1 and first scene of E2: when he hears the knock on the door and pauses briefly, do you think that he recognizes or half-recognizes Louisa? His round-eyed astonishment when he sees her suggests that he doesn't, but he does pause for a beat or two before he goes to the door.



    Who is that has the responsibilities here? Perhaps it's Martin, who actually needs to step up and take responsibility. But, I've always thought somehow that the quote means that the king is uneasy lest someone take his crown. But in that case, would the quote refer to Louisa?

    My first thought is that Uneasy Lies the Head refers to the headmaster who's having health problem, acting oddly and eventually becomes afraid of LG taking his job. But on further thought, it seems that there are a lot of "uneasy heads" in the episode:
    1. Louisa coming back to the village in her condition and finding Edith at Martin's; not having her own home to go to.
    2. Villagers who greet her in her condition (kind of) : a bit of a fall from grace as headteacher.
    3. Martin --trying to sort out the situation with LG, being questioned by Pauline and Aunt Joan.
    4. Pauline's uncle (his bi thing) and aunt (lack of pregnancy)
    5. Mrs. Tishell's faint in the pub.
    6. And yes, the headmaster, Mr. Strain, losing his mind. Oh, and of course the connection to the "crown" being the porphyria hypothesis for the madness of George III.
    Any others, I've missed?

    As to answering the door, I think just a bit surprised/wondering/annoyed perhaps at the knock and who it could be. But the big round eyes and "Louisa" say total surprise to me. I think the pause was just a "Dramatic Paws, oh, sorry, Pause". ;)
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    Shop Girl wrote: »
    I was able to watch on that link you sent on my iPad. Interesting that the nag screen popped up, but I tried touching the arrows to make the video full screen and it worked perfectly. Slight flaw, eh? Shhhhh..... Watched a couple of other programs this morning too.

    I loved the program. Laughed when he said the horses turned on a sixpence. Never thought about the fact that the phrase would be different in different countries. I was surprised that he brought up his driving ban on the show - he must not be too sensitive about it. And I loved how excited he was when Bruce & Ronnie returned to the farm. Did anyone else sense that, although he adores Emily, Ronnie & Bruce are the sons he never had?

    Absolutely!! I had the exact same reaction.
    I'm not surprised, however, about him bringing up the driving ban. I believe with his ears, bedwetting and such, he learned a long time ago that owning it, is the way to disarm others regarding it. Gee, sounds a lot like Ms. G's advice to Peter Cronk in the Haemophobia episode, doesn't it?

    Come to think of it, when you see the amount of press that he gets over and over in so many publications, for just absolutely anything good or bad, he has had to learn to handle it or go stark raving mad by now. Goes with the territory for famous folks. Some meet the challenge, some, well, not so much.
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
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    My first thought is that Uneasy Lies the Head refers to the headmaster who's having health problem, acting oddly and eventually becomes afraid of LG taking his job. But on further thought, it seems that there are a lot of "uneasy heads" in the episode:
    1. Louisa coming back to the village in her condition and finding Edith at Martin's; not having her own home to go to.
    2. Villagers who greet her in her condition (kind of) : a bit of a fall from grace as headteacher.
    3. Martin --trying to sort out the situation with LG, being questioned by Pauline and Aunt Joan.
    4. Pauline's uncle (his bi thing) and aunt (lack of pregnancy)
    5. Mrs. Tishell's faint in the pub.
    6. And yes, the headmaster, Mr. Strain, losing his mind. Oh, and of course the connection to the "crown" being the porphyria hypothesis for the madness of George III.
    Any others, I've missed?

    As to answering the door, I think just a bit surprised/wondering/annoyed perhaps at the knock and who it could be. But the big round eyes and "Louisa" say total surprise to me. I think the pause was just a "Dramatic Paws, oh, sorry, Pause". ;)

    I think you're right that it's the head master -- who is worried from the get-go that Louisa is after his job. And uneasy lies the "head" -- punning reference to headmaster?

    I think that secondarily it may be a reference to Martin realizing or trying not to realize his responsibilities and what they might entail. (Curiously there's a scholarly article titled "Uneasy lies the head: the relationship between guilt-proneness and leadership.")

    The reason I wondered if he might have recognized her is the parallel with the early scene where he spots the pony-tailed teacher and yanks open the classroom door (early in E1, that is). And it seems like a shape generally like Louisa is visible through the glass in the door.
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    NewPark wrote: »
    I think you're right that it's the head master -- who is worried from the get-go that Louisa is after his job. And uneasy lies the "head" -- punning reference to headmaster?

    I think that secondarily it may be a reference to Martin realizing or trying not to realize his responsibilities and what they might entail. (Curiously there's a scholarly article titled "Uneasy lies the head: the relationship between guilt-proneness and leadership.")

    The reason I wondered if he might have recognized her is the parallel with the early scene where he spots the pony-tailed teacher and yanks open the classroom door (early in E1, that is). And it seems like a shape generally like Louisa is visible through the glass in the door.

    It would be interesting to know if Ben Bolt or someone deliberately set up that connection between the pony-tailed teacher in E1 and this door scene in E2. Everything seems so well thought out and connected in this show, that I wouldn't be surprised if it was all intentional.

    Ahh, could this be another question for the questions list talked about a few days ago here?
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