Said Saxon57: Just wondering...does anyone know if the intention was to have the entire series end this way? I kept reading in advance of its' airing that S6 might be the last.

I don't think they started out to have a two season story arc. I think as the plotline developed in the creative minds, it became clear that the story couldn't be finished in one season/series and so "to be continued" is definitely implied by the ending. As well as now confirmed by Martin Clunes, who's also said that Louisa and Martin will try "couples counseling."

New Park - it seems hard to believe but a year from now the cast and crew will descend upon Port Isaac to film S7! Even though you were a clinical social worker, I think you have some knowledge of couples counseling. Don't you wish you could look over the shoulders of the writers now to see what they are cooking up! I am looking forward to your posts after S7 is aired. I am sure you will give us some food for thought.

Marchrand said: New Park - it seems hard to believe but a year from now the cast and crew will descend upon Port Isaac to film S7! Even though you were a clinical social worker, I think you have some knowledge of couples counseling. Don't you wish you could look over the shoulders of the writers now to see what they are cooking up! I am looking forward to your posts after S7 is aired. I am sure you will give us some food for thought.

Marchrand, I actually did a little couples counseling, enough to know that it's darned difficult and that I wasn't very good at it, and probably never would be. And I didn't like it much either -- possibly b/c by the time I saw the couples that came to our agency, they were mostly deeply hostile to each other, with a lot of unresolved and hidden items on their agenda. So I don't think my experience is very predictive of what's going to happen here!

Yes, I'd love a peek over their shoulders -- wouldn't it be interesting if the very first scene of S7 showed them actually at couples counseling, with some wonderful British actor as the therapist, and them show them for a part of successive episodes, trying to carry out their counselor's suggestions, with varying degrees of success?

Don't you think there has been foreshadowing of a possible single incident that is the root of the blood phobia? The butterfly dream, broken glass, dissecting a frog at age 5, Martin dropping the plate when Mummy Dearest touched him, his picking up the frog on the stairs, Ruth giving history of a change between age 4 and 6. Sometimes I wonder if the red Venetian tumbler should be in that list. There is a story there which will be revealed......do you think?

I think if you rewatch S6 you will see those little "slightly softer" moments from Martin. And not just toward his family, but toward patients too. I can't think of too many off the top of my head, but the one that sticks out is his use of the word "poo", mimicking the young girl's mother's choice of vocabulary. In the past he would have continued to use the medical term, but now that he is a husband and father, he seems to be a bit more understanding. From E1 on, I really saw a slight softening in him toward both his family and his patients. Oh, he still had his moments, but he was trying.

As the series progressed and he fell deeper into his black hole, that became much more difficult for him. But the fact that he was trying gives me hope that he will continue down that path as he begins to heal.

We are definitely in a "worst of the best" scenario with DM. I was able to vote relatively easily at first but now it is agony. Just throw a dart because there is little empirical rationale for elimination.
But Shop Girl - the work you have put into PortWennOnline continues to enrich the viewing and reviewing experience.
I know that I have a few eps that I think will end up in those left over, some that have so much value in our hero's journey that they would never be voted out.
So, perhaps there are others like me out there who are somehow making a random selection because every one is so dear to us for one reason or another. I often have to recheck my choices as they are often already gone.

Maybe S7 will open with Martin not in Portwenn but someplace where he is getting help for his issues, Louisa patiently waiting at home with James for his return. While he's away, perhaps she will have someone to guide her in improving her behavior. When he returns, they are given the chance to push a restart button on their relationship. It could start out awkward and the series run its course to the end and a resolution.

I really like the idea of him getting help before they start couples stuff. He has issues of his own that would be almost too personal in the setting of couples therapy...
The two of them cannot progress unless he progresses.....apples and oranges issues in my opinion.

I think them being apart only right at the beginning of the new series might give us something to look forward to. Not an intense passionate reunion upon his return, but something enough that shows us how much they both love each other and are starting to work on things.

It would be nice though to have a lot more episodes with them together and working on things than it would be for the whole series of them apart and working their way back to each other. That's just repetitive of the past. BP needs to change it up a bit, especially if this is it. I'd rather see them together the entire series than apart. Play up storyline scenarios, each one with a story that relates to their "therapy". Each episode containing a story or a lesson that help them change and grow together as husband and wife AND parents.

I like the way you think, Lizzie. That's exactly what I would like to see.

In some recent interview, Martin Clunes remarked that now " [Martin and Louisa] had to 'claw' their way back to each other...or not."
Here is the only way I know how to cite the FB item: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater
but I fear this may not work for you b/c it's 'https' -- maybe some more knowledgeable soul can help.

Anyway, I hope this comment doesn't mean that the "clawing" back is going to take up most of the series -- I'd much prefer as you suggest. Martin Clunes is usually fairly straight in these comments, though.

Also, I wonder if the scenario that we prefer would give enough of a dramatic story arc? In other words, we know the conclusion early on and the rest is working out the details.

Nope, couldn't access. Bummer.

Here is what he said that is relevant to Doc Martin: [Reporter asks:] "What can you tell us about the seventh series?" "Well, it's all under wraps," explains Clunes. "When we left it, it was pretty gloomy. Our American fans are very rigorous with us and tell us 'we shouldn't have left it like that. We should have had a happy ending.' We had a happy beginning, so we had to move somewhere and it gives somewhere to claw back from..or not," he smiles.

The rest of the article was a promo for his recent lion documentary.

He is very unlikely to have to go somewhere to get individual therapy help -- unless you're thinking that he'd have to spend some time in London in intensive therapy. But I think he could probably do just fine in Truro, a couple times a week.

I have a different take on this: I think he has had a critical insight, that his sense of himself was formed by emotionally (and physically) abusive parents, and that has led to a lot of dysfunctional behaviors and difficulty with intimacy. Individual therapy at this point might be about consolidating and extending that insight, but he could do both individual therapy and couples therapy, simultaneously, and people sometimes go that route.

I think there's a way of doing couples therapy which is more than just behavioral -- e.g., teaching people how to work through disagreements productively, etc. but really can help partners explain themselves to each other, and each come to understand how patterns in their "families of origin" have shaped how they respond to each other. I really think couples therapy is what would be of most benefit to them right now.

However, as I've said before, if you ask 3 therapists for a treatment plan, you're going to get at least 3 different approaches.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01w11xk

(Courtesy of a contributor on a FB page - Doc Martin-Martin Clunes Fan Page.

An interview with Martin Clunes that all can listen to. It starts at about 2:09, but today is the last day.

Clearly, BP has become very aware of American interest, and he vaguely mentioned plans for a "sort of" version of DM, a half-hour show. (Oh, no!)

Also, he more or less repeats the comment quoted above about putting Martin and Louisa back together.

And he is back to waffling about whether there'll be another series following S7.

Having attended 3 script-in-hand presentations of plays at my local community center in the last few years I can understand MC's response of uncertainty as to whether there will be another series after S7. When a small troupe of actors gets in front of an audience and reads the whole play through, the audience reaction takes the writer by surprise as they question or "pull apart" the writer's intention in a scene or even give new ideas as to the direction of the storyline. As there are several writers for each DM series and PB & MC's set of rules as to what the doc can or can't do, this must be a difficult situtation for all involved. Who would have thought after the non-wedding at the end of S3 there now will be a S7?

Thank you for posting this. I noticed there are some repetitive themes in these interviews. I just hope it doesn't turn into some sappy soap opera reunion in S7 and I don't think a 30 minute show would work for this particular program. 50 minutes maybe but not 30.

I still really want to see some sort of Christmas extended length episode. I'm sure wintertime in Cornwall isn't any great shakes, but they don't necessarily have to shoot it all outdoors or even during the winter months.

The suggestion that they are possibly trying to make an American pilot based on Doc Martin means that the Clunes' probably were paid a large amount of money for the rights and permission. Good for them. However, the idea of anyone playing Doc Martin other than MC doesn't fly. The American television industry always seems to have a way of "dumbing down" concepts that are clever. American Doc Martin.....no

It's bad enough with all the versions in other countries...the last place we need another one is the US. Ugh. Makes me think they really DON'T understand their American audience or why some of us LOVE British produced and filmed shows.

Now I'm more in favor than ever before that S7 needs to be the end of it and that BP, MC, PB, CC and company need to go do something else leaving DM to end on a good note without greed getting in the way for more series or an American version.

I am at a disadvantage because I rarely watch TV. I certainly don't watch mainstream network TV with it's plethora of inane situation comedies and such. However, wasn't there a show called "Becker" about a grumpy, cigarette smoking doctor in NYC? I think I saw 10 minutes of it once. It seemed that the plot was similar to DM. Between that, "Northern Exposure" and "House" it seems that America has covered that ground. British "Doc Martin" is unique in the fact that there is an unusual place called Cornwall and that an actor called Martin Clunes is the lead character. The concept is old and has been done. It gives me the willies to think of who they would cast. An American "Doc Martin".......an oxymoron.

The fact that he said it would be a half hour program leads me to believe it will be on commercial television, 15 minutes of commercials and 15 minutes of story content - yes, a real winner! I have seen some parts of the Spanish, French and German versions of DM and no one comes close to the concept of who DM is--- Martin Clunes owns that part.

I totally agree. Perhaps he's too modest to say, or perhaps he just doesn't realize it, but he is, I think, by far the major reason the show is so popular. I hate the whole idea of an American version.

Kelsey Grammar, anyone?

Aside from the fact that as someone pointed out a similar concept has been tried with Becker (which I agree was awful) and to some point with House there also exists the obvious difference in the way medical practices operate outside of the UK. There is no way, even in a small town, that patients could just waltz in and out with as many maladies as someone like Bert has and come off as believable. Medical insurance and malpractice worries are a reality for so many medical professionals in the US that mainstream audiences would spend most shows saying "that could never happen." Watching the UK version eliminates that complication...for me anyway.

the thought of Kelsey Grammar makes me ill. Martin is Martin and although I don't begrudge them their 30 minutes of fame and opportunity for prosperity, I hope they will hang on to that bit of control which will prevent pure crap from resulting from their concept. I have to agree with Lizzie. I don't want them to produce a mediocre S8 or S9 just to milk the profit. I can easily see S7 as being the end. I worry a lot about how money can talk. Lots of decisions to be made.

I don't know - I think I'd be happy watching Clunes and Catz reading the phone book in Port Wenn.

I'm happy with them reading the phone book, but I think it should be somewhere else. Look at how excited we are about their upcoming collaboration on "Arthur and George." I think DM has nearly run its course, so let's see them in a new series based on a totally different concept.