Fox have announced plans to adapt the hit U.K. television series Doc Martin for the United States.
The new version, titled Best Medicine, will star Josh Charles, best known for his work in Dead Poets Society and The Good Wife.
He will star as Doctor Martin Best, an American version of the character Doctor Martin Ellingham who was portrayed by Martin Clunes in the original series. Doc Martin ran for ten seasons between 2004 and 2022.
In a statement to Variety, Fox Television Network president Michael Thorn said: “The story of Doc Martin has resonated worldwide with its humanity, originality and humor, and with Best Medicine coming to Fox, that eccentricity gets a smalltown America spin, complete with idyllic charm and absurdity.”
The new series will be executive produced by Ben Silverman, Rodney Ferrell, Liz Tuccillo, Mark Crowdy and Philippa Braithwaite.
Thorn added: “Liz, Mark, Philippa, Ben and Rodney have done a terrific job adapting this signature character for the Fox audience, especially in casting the terrifically talented Josh Charles as our lead.”
Last week, Clunes announced the death of the show’s much-loved dog, Buddy.
Clunes’ character was portrayed as a gradually softening, but irritable man who does not like dogs.
In the fourth season, which aired in 2009, he was joined by animal actor and Rough Jack Russell Terrier, Dodger, who plays Buddy. Dodger appeared in ten seasons before he was diagnosed with dementia in 2019 and retired from the show.
Clunes, an animal-lover who owns a farm in Dorset with six horses, two cats, nine hens, and three cows, shared the news in an interview on The One Show while promoting his forthcoming book, Meetings with Remarkable Animals.
“Your character was always irritated by his dog, but you had quite a good way of getting around that,” commented host Roman Kemp.
Clunes replied: “Oh Dodger, oh yeah! He was fantastic, that boy. Sadly, no longer with us.”
The actor commented on his character’s affectionately troublesome dynamic with his pet, saying: “That was the joke, I thought ‘Who hates dogs?’, [so] there’s someone who hates dogs, but they all love him, and they just hang out with him.”
Doctor Ellingham shouts at Buddy out of frustration throughout the show, and Clunes shared his special technique of not alarming the real animal during scenes.
“So I had to yell at him, throw him around, do all sorts of things, but I never shouted really at him. I just waved my lips around and added in the shouting later,” he explained.
“Me and Sonia Turner, his trainer, and Dodger, we just had such fun on that, you know? Pushing the limits of what we could do with him, and he was fabulous.”
Some fan theories suggested that Buddy’s growing relationship with Clunes’ character mirrors his developing connection with Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz). For the final series, he was replaced by a dog of the same breed, named Taffy.
