Martin Clunes wins award for Doc Martin: ‘I thought people were sick of it’

Actor Martin Clunes has said he thought “people were sick of” Doc Martin as he picked up a best actor gong for his role playing the gruff GP.

The 62-year-old British actor played the doctor, who lives in the fictional Cornish village of Portwenn, for 18 years before the last series aired in December 2022.

On Monday, the television star won the award for best actor at the TV Choice Awards 2024, hosted by comedian Tom Allen at The Hilton on Park Lane.

Speaking to the PA news agency on the red carpet, Clunes said: “The part I play’s been knocking around for 18 years so just when you thought people were sick of it, the readers have voted for it, so that’s nice.”

Reflecting on what it was like to end the show, he said “My wife and I made it. It’s our company that made it, so it was our call, and it felt very good, very happy to end it… I loved every second of it but it was a good time to stop.”

Discussing the last day of filming he said: “It was lovely. It was on a beach, it was pure Cornwall, 100% Cornwall and we were filming on a beautiful sunny beach and just to the left of where we were filming, the little cove we were in, there were people doing what they do in Cornwall, they were playing with inflatable balls and it was perfect.”

ITV’s Doc Martin, which first aired almost 20 years ago, was filmed in Port Isaac, a small fishing village in north Cornwall.

It follows the sometimes blunt former surgeon Doc Martin who arrives in the hamlet of Portwenn in series one to replace the former GP who had died.