Watching Doc Martin

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will have discovered that Carol and I enjoy television dramas of a wide variety. We like many of the 'whodunnits' that abound across all the channels, from Father Brown on BBC 1 to Grantchester on ITV to Broadchurch (although that was rather drawn out over three series. The first series was good and the second was just a rehash of the first and the third was reasonable, but all in all it was rather over-egged. Probably just to keep the rating high.) I have mentioned Downton Abbey in earlier posts so there's really no need to rehash what I've already said. The downstairs characters were so much more interesting than the upstairs lot. Nothing further to say on that score.

We're currently watching Doc Martin on catch-up. Fortunately all the past episodes are available through our Sky Q box as a box set. I'm not entirely sure how many series or even how many episodes there have been. We started watching through the Amazon Fire stick, when the first couple of series (seasons to American television audiences) were free. The newer episodes you suddenly had to pay for, which we somewhat objected to, so we stopped watching and then Carol found the later episodes on the ITV Hub through the Sky Q box. And, you don't have to pay for the privilege.

What I in particular enjoy about Doc Martin is that it's so quirky. The central character played by Martin Clunes has so many quirks, particularly his lack of empathy with his patients, his brusque manner with everyone he meets and indeed most of the people he comes into contact with. Then there are the locals, his patient-base, if you like. Most have some weird illness or at least have some odd quirk which makes them interesting. It certainly has a heart and soul which a good deal of modern television drama seems to lack. From the completely incompetent receptionist in Dr Ellingham's surgery to the agorophobic policeman Joe Penhale. You can identify with the characters and they are almost part of the family. Which is why you want to keep on watching. Then there's the location. Portwenn is actually Port Isaac in Cornwall. It looks such an inviting place to visit. I don't expect I'm the only viewer of this show to want to visit and I expect the show hasn't done the real place any harm by attracting visitors and greatly helped the local economy.

There are many television drama series which have managed to use the locations in which they're set to establish character and definite anchor for their storylines and character bases. Look at shows such as 'Inspector Morse,' set in and around Oxford, 'Lovejoy' in and around East Anglia or 'Bergerac' on the Channel Island of Jersey. There are, of course, many more.

Visit to Oxford

It's been another really warm and sunny day, so we went to Oxford. We didn't take the car, instead opting for bus travel. I now have my concessionary bus-pass (yes, one is now at the age when one can travel by bus for nothing!) and we caught the bus on Saxon Street which took us into the centre of Milton Keynes next to The Point, and then to the railway station, where we boarded the bus for Oxford, and within around an hour and ten minutes we were at Oxford Bus Station. So the entire journey there and back cost around £12.50, and without the hastle of driving, the cost of petrol, finding somewhere to park, or at least not having to use the park-and-ride system into the centre of Oxford. We have been there on several occasions, usually to visit the theatre, The Oxford Playhouse, or a performance of Creation Theatre (who perform in something called the mirror or spiegeltent.) and we've seen a show based on stories by the Brother's Grim and the theatre set up in the carpark of the B.M.W. car plant, and another show based on Shakespeare's  'Saints and Villains' and performed in a city centre church. The other shows we've seen have been at the Playhouse, and performed by Propellor, and all-male company who stage Shakespeare productions, and we've seen 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Twelfth Night' there, as well as 'Henry V' at the Milton Keynes Theatre, as well as 'The Taming Of The Shrew' at The Old Vic, when we went with a party from Stantonbury School when Carol worked there.
Oxford on most sunny summer's days must be quite busy, particularly as it is very likely to be one of those places that attracts tourists, from whatever country, as it is a particularly historic place, featuring in many events over the centuries. Also, it has been used in many films and television drama series as well as being the setting for many novel, notably the "Inspector Morse" novels and the television series. C.S. Lewis, author of the "Narnia" books and J.R.R. Tolkein, of "Lord Of The Rings" and "The Hobbit" fame were professors here and were part of a literary group known as "The Inklings." Lewis Carrol was Dean of one of the colleges during the 19th century and wrote the "Alice" books. And also Philip Pullman used a version of Oxford as a background to his "Dark Materials" trilogy of novels. So, it wasn't at all surprising that we saw groups of people being taken on guided tours of the city centre. We also saw a film unit parked in one of the main streets. From experience as a television walk-on and supporting artiste I know what one of these looks like, and the amount of space all the vans, lorries and other paraphernalia looks like. We couldn't see exactly what the film or television series was they were filming, but I have an idea it might have been the "Inspector Morse" spin off, "Lewis."