Louisa gave Martin several opportunities not to attend the sports day, although he had previously agreed to do so. As he is responsible for the physical well being of the community, it makes sense that she would invite him to participate in an event promoting physical well being. When she invited him to participate, Louisa may still have been in that honeymoon bubble of thinking of themselves as a team. He helps me with my work, I help him with his work He obviously agreed to participate, twice agreed to participate the day of the event and then acted like a jerk. The deal with him messing up the three leg race showed how mean spirited he has become. It was his "in your face" to Louisa for making him do what he agreed to do. He is on a downward spiral, but if Louisa had any sense she wouldn't join him. with all that said I love the new all dramatic turn of the show even thought they continue to re-work plotlines and stretch credibility

It should be interesting to finally get to see this episode tonight. Life conspired to keep me from having the time last night and today, but tonight I plan to watch.

I've got some of the negative comments and some of the positive comments I've read here in my head. We'll see. It sounds heavy. I've been expecting that, but it may turn out to be more than I expected.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dcdmfan View Post
The producers have taken a huge artistic risk and have gone out on a limb with this series. The creators are exposing themselves and delving into unique emotional and artistic territory. I applaud them. It was a lot of hard work to make this program. They have gone to great pains to make this shift in focus and message, and I think they have succeeded.


That may well be my favourite critical riposte of all time!

Louisa is a stupid, shallow, selfish woman imho. She married Dr M, therefore she knows what he's like - behaving like a spoilt bitch clearly bewilders him, and she knows it & wields it like a weapon. To me, he exhibits Asperger's type symptoms, therefore she should respect this and work around it if she really does love him. Constantly stomping out like a schoolgirl will send him into the depths of confusion. She has no idea how to handle him, and has zero respect for his job.

Louisa also went back to work far too early, without bothering to make proper childcare provision. The way that poor little mite is passed around like a parcel has become shocking - initially it was amusing, but every time I see him flung at the unwilling Morwenna because of some crisis, I actually find it quite uncomfortable viewing.

Lastly, I was so hoping that we'd seen the last of the loathsome Mrs Tishell. It's really about time she was quietly dropped off a cliff (I'll do it myself if no-one else volunteers!).....

I am really disappointed in this series of DM. Someone said she “feels betrayed by what they (MC and PB) have destroyed” and that describes exactly how I feel. I think it all comes back to the fact that MC and PB have never understood what it is that the audience sees in the show.

This started out as a story about a London surgeon who was searching for meaning in his life. He was forced to change his life radically and was heading towards finding redemption in a small seaside village filled with quirky characters who all played a part in showing DM what he was missing in his life.

LG started out as “just a girl” but CC took the character to an amazing level and her chemistry with MC took over the show. So much so that the show became equally about them as a couple as DM’s redemption. Or perhaps the focus changed to be how CC could help DM find redemption. Through the quirky characters and character development the audience has found that they identify with the characters and feel sympathetic towards even the grumpy doctor who understandably struggles against his exile in a backward little town when he was a successful, well known London surgeon.

Then MC and PB decided that the public liked the grumpiness of DM and ratcheted it up. If you think that’s grumpy wait till you see this...(Evil laugh). This is where they lost the plot, at the end of series 3 just when Dominic Minghella’s influence left the show (although I think the next 2 series had a plot outline written by him). I think the non wedding episode was fine. I really think they shouldn’t have got married then.

I also really like the premise of series 4. I loved Edith Montgomery. Lovely to work out DM’s back story. I didn’t like DM’s inexplicable insistence that LG wasn’t capable of being a mother and working and that she should give up work. What was this based on? His mother didn’t work and she was no great example of motherhood so where did this view come from? He was so rough with LG throughout the series. He woke her up at the desk more roughly than he woke up Mean Mother in s6e7. But despite DM’s errant behaviour there was lots of humour and lots of affectionate moments where we could believe that DM and LG loved one another. Then the big revelation at the end “I was wrong, wrong about everything...”

Of course this was forgotten 20 minutes later in s5ep1 when DM said the school wouldn’t miss LG if she died which pretty much set the tone for s5. Depression and downward slide to darkness. I think there was one moment of affection during the whole series. Apparently they forgot that there should be some moments of affection between people supposedly in love. Then the big Castle scene at the end when DM declared he “won’t be like my father and JH won’t be like me”.

In s6ep1 we had a great glimpse of how they could get on as a couple. Humour, united and still DM has a lot to learn but he’s trying. SUDDENLY in ep2 it all falls apart for no apparent reason and DM does exactly what he said he wouldn’t do at the Castle. Oh, maybe the chaos of the last 2 minutes of ep1 explained why DM suddenly when into a funk. From then on the tone of the series gets even darker than series 5 (which I couldn’t believe possible in my favourite COMEDY/drama show) and slides further into dark depression mode. No affection and no humour from any source at all to lighten the gloom. If DM was depressed he wouldn’t have agreed to go to the sports carnival he would have stayed holed up at home just as he wanted to do when it was suggested they go away for the weekend.

I don’t mind if they want to show DM falling apart and unable to cope. Really, I can see that his upbringing was atrocious and he has to be hit over the head to realise why he behaves the way he does. But, I don’t understand why there can’t be some humour and light in the rest of the show. Sure we’ll get 2 minutes of light at the end of ep8 where DM will declare yet again that he’ll change. I am expecting s7 to be all about LG leaving work to look after JH just to put the final nail in the coffin of a stupid, wasted opportunity to produce a fantastic memorable show.

I know MC and PB don’t understand their audience but I would have thought that Dominic Minghella, Edana Minghella, and Ben Bolt all leaving might have given them a bit of a jolt as to the fact that the direction of the show left something to be desired.

When LG leaves work I will be very sad to report the demise of the only thing left on TV to watch. I will await Dominic Minghella starting another project. Hope springs eternal in me.

Thank you for letting me rant.

I agree with all you have said and the comment I have emboldened more than anything, this is a ridiculous character totally pointless

That may well be my favourite critical riposte of all time!


Why does everybody have to enjoy things all the time???

I'm glad you didn't hold back!! Wow.

There are some points you make that are good ones especially: do the producers know/understand the magic of the show? A cautionary tale that though the characters on the telly may be the creatures of the show and its writers, the fans can and DO care about them.

Clearly the choice was made to make DM ill, and greatly so. There is fallout on screen... and off, when doing that. Taking a quick look at FB there are oodles of 'oh my God' and 'I don't like this,' as well as 'how will I get thru the next two years if they crash and burn at the end of Series 6?'

Note to nascent producers - be VERY careful - when playing with your creations.

If Martin was broken from the get go, then this is a huge reversal in the positive changes he had made as a GP and a human, as a help mate to Lousia and james. It is so very sad to see the character and the show go thru hell...

Rob

p.s. I suspect that Dominic Minghella's (although he has not been involved since 2005) blog is already getting questions heaped upon it...

Please note, DM was taking his pulse walking through the race, still focused on his health, and was completely unaware the children had run into him. Knocking them over was done in an completely innocent way; note when she mentions it he looks back wondering what she is talking about. He was oblivious, not mean spirited.

I really don’t mind if there is angst and soul searching and dark times but they have to be realistic and tempered with humour in a supposedly comedy show with one of the main focuses on romance. How can we realistically believe that LG (a woman with a brain most of the time) would stick with DM when he never, ever changes (except for two minutes at the end of EVERY series – which is just like a little tidbit thrown to the fans and frankly insulting to our intelligence) and when he shows her no affection or human kindness?

The people directing the storyline of the show are so concerned with showing DM falling apart that they’ve forgotten all the rest of the necessary plot development that makes us want the hero and heroine to be happy and to be together.

Perfect. You've managed to channel the Doc who said effectively "Why does everyone have to be happy?" If I had a choice of hitting my thumb with a hammer or not, I think I'd choose not.

P.s. Since 2005 (probably 2004) ... really!!! So why would anyone question him on S6 (2013) and think he would be able to provide an answer!!!! Still not getting it Rob x

Hahaha! Brilliant!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...=feeds-newsxml

Ah, yes, that is what has happened. We are REELING!

I can sleep better now.

Rob

Because Mr. Minghella has a blog, is accesible, and not all fans understand the facts. That is all.

Poor mr. Minghella...don't expose him to to your wrath. Find the powers that be, although I know they are probably rubbing their hands together. Nothing that we say will surprise them...we are f**cking putty in their hands. They are playing with us all. I just regret that I find Mr Clunes so attractive..you're really playing with that aspect...it will take a faithful fan to stick with all this discord. And I will be that I fan...I love that man. Amen. Crazy huh?

For all of us "true fans," something to keep in mind that I've learned the hard way as a fan of many other shows and movies . . .

Diehard fans like us are the most loyal BUT we are NOT in the majority. For example, House MD loyal fans loved the House/Wilson interaction. However, it was largely missing for several seasons.

The point for DM is that MC/PB are interested in the show being successful on a mass market level. And that may not be the same thing as pleasing us. They are in it for money/marketing/commercial success. That's not a criticism, just a fact of the industry. Thus, they will do what it takes to get ratings -- and who can blame them?

The above may not translate into a series that diehards love. Which is definitely sad and frustrating for us. But if the audience numbers are high, it means they are pleasing the "masses." And that translates into more seasons and more $$ . . .

Just saying . . .

HA HAA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !

For UK fans only, a contest: http://newsroom.simplyhealth.co.uk/d...er-2013-terms/

Unfortunately today is the 16th October ...

For the location spotters, the school sports was held at St Minver cricket field and Louisa's accident on Menafreda Way St Minver, which is the road that passes just outside the cricket field.

BRAVO! Entirely my thoughts. And I love it for not being a traditional love story. And I love Martin and Louisa as the damaged people they are. And I love their quirky commitment to make something out of it. And I feel highly sympathetic when they fail.
Each series has focused on certain aspects of their relationship, and this one has a rather dark tone. I wonder if the title choice for the first episode was foreshadowing - "Sickness and Health". We have never seen both Martin and Louisa being injured or feeling ill as much as in this series. They are vulnerable. They also need to learn to care for each other and accept care.
As you, I don't want yo miss any of the series. Of course there are episodes I like more than others, but isn't it always? But each episode has something that I think is important piece in the puzzle they are.

Being a relative newcomer to the programme, I am a little confused about Martin's various relations. I have gathered that Joan was Ruth's sister and both are/were Martin's aunts, but are they also sisters to Margaret (Martin's mum) or to his dad? I am guessing from the fact that Ruth is an Ellingham that his dad was their brother. Does anyone know and are there any other relatives that pop up from time to time?