In my experience... Martin Clunes

You hit the big 6-0 last November. How did you feel about that number?

In the run up to my birthday, the idea of being 60 bugged me a bit, but I’d had a bigger wobble around age 57 – the age my father [the actor Alec Clunes] was when he died from cancer. I had various medical tests to reassure myself I wasn’t going to go at the same age, but I’ve passed that milestone now. I’m reconciled to getting older.

Are there benefits to getting older?

Age gives you greater perspective; the younger me didn’t much enjoy having my appearance insulted or being ‘ear-shamed’, for example. Now, I think my ears are rather splendid and I realise they earned me roles I might not otherwise have had.

Is there any connection between hitting 60 and finally ending Doc Martin, given that the last series is due to air this month?

No. It was more that, over a period of 18 years, ten series and 81 hours of TV, we felt we’d really said it all and didn’t want to start repeating ourselves. Each script we produce is a labour of love, especially for Philippa [Braithwaite, his wife], who puts her shoulder in more than any other producer I’ve ever worked with. We didn’t want the show to become tiresome.

Has playing a doctor turned you into an unlikely sex symbol?

No! Not that I’m aware of. I doubt there’s any sex in the minds of my lady Doc Martin fans. I suppose the smart suit and the whole medical thing might be a bit attractive. But, honestly, nobody’s throwing their knickers at me or any of that caper. What we do have is The Clunatics – a global band of fans who are friends with one another, stay in touch and often visit Port Isaac in Cornwall where we film. Sometimes they bring gifts; an Australian lady recently came with a stuffed duck-billed platypus for me.

‘Everybody should marry my wife. But too late, I already did. And I’m not letting her go’

You’re in extremely good shape. How do you maintain your fitness and weight?

About ten years ago, when I hit 50, I lost three stone on the 5:2 diet and have managed to keep it off. My weight goes up and down a bit, although I generally lose it when we’re filming Doc Martin because I’m working hard and running around. I do also have a pretty active life at home. There’s a lot of mucking out and mouths to feed, I can tell you.

You have quite a menagerie of animals at your 130-acre farm in Beaminster, Dorset. What’s the latest head count?

We have two cocker spaniels, a Parson Jack Russell, and a Jackahuahua. We have two cats, too, half a dozen hens, a cockerel, a handful of cattle and six horses.

You’re about to celebrate your 25th wedding anniversary. What’s your secret?

I don’t know. I did also have a short marriage [to the actor Lucy Aston], but that was very different, and I can’t compare them. At the end of the day, I suppose, everybody should marry my wife. But too late, I already did. And I’m not letting her go. I can’t totally analyse why it works, although I suppose some things are obvious; we make each other laugh, for example, and I know I have to make my wife laugh to keep her because her dad was very funny, too, and she’s funny and so is our daughter, Emily. It helps that we’ve always worked together, from the very beginning when we met, and we’re partners in our company, Buffalo, and yet we do totally different things. I call her ‘The Boss’, but, actually, it’s a very equal partnership. She’ll be in her office and I’ll be on set or in the studio and then, at some point in the day, she’ll turn up and, hand on heart, I still feel totally thrilled to see her, like it’s the first time. It never stops. We’re both welling up now.

Do you cry easily?

Famously, and my family laugh about it all the time. It’s particularly bad when I see people achieve something against the odds. Britain’s Got Talent gets me all the time, and so does Strictly. I’m a basket case when I watch them.

It must be emotional, then, to watch your daughter, Emily, who’s now a novice eventer?

Hugely so. My heart swells with pride when I watch her on a horse. Emily is 23, but we recently had a massive, delayed (by Covid) 21st birthday celebration for her up on the top field, with guests in tents and yurts. It was fantastic.

Your father left the family to live in Majorca and came home to die when you were eight. Have you tried to be a different kind of dad?

Not consciously, although giving Emily my support and love have been the most important things to me as a father. I love the young woman that Emily has become.

‘Enduring bullies at school was not a lot of fun. But I feel life’s given me an easy ride and I’ve been lucky’

After your dad died, you were sent to boarding school, aged eight. You described it as ‘a weekly agony, cemented by my chronic bedwetting’...

Yes, my dad died, which was tough, and enduring bullies and beatings at school was not a lot of fun. But, in comparison, I feel life’s given me an easy ride and I’ve been lucky. I can even laugh about it now.

Did you become a performer in order to fend off the bullies?

Quite possibly, because if you make people laugh, they’re less likely to hit you. In my case, I suppose acting was also in the DNA. My dad was an actor and my mum’s cousin was Jeremy Brett, who played Sherlock Holmes in the long-running series. In the absence of my father, Jeremy was just full of love and encouragement for my acting ambitions.

What do your future career plans look like?

When we finish Doc Martin, I’m having a month off, then heading off to do another of my Islands of the Pacific documentaries. This time next year, I’ll be working on a new thriller in Wales, called Out There. It revolves around the county lines scandal and exploitation of children or vulnerable young adults by criminal gangs. Don’t ask me to choose between presenting and acting. I love both.

Could there ever be another series of Men Behaving Badly?

God, no. Not these days. I mean we talked about things like Kylie Minogue’s buttocks and compared them to a racehorse’s. How could we do that now? But neither could you get a show like Doc Martin commissioned now. Someone would say, ‘Where’s the murdered prostitute in the opening scene?’

Doc Martin has been a way of life. Do you have mixed feelings about it ending?

I do because it’s been a huge part of our lives. I’m slightly in denial and haven’t even planned a wrap party yet for the Doc Martin family, who’ve been there from the start. Now that it’s ending, the memories are flooding back.

Is the last-ever series going to end with a bang and not a whimper?

Absolutely, it’s going to be extremely dramatic and extremely emotional. In fact, the whole of the last series is going to be quite massive. We’re going out in style, believe me. Then there’ll be the Christmas special to look forward to. We’ve thrown the kitchen sink at that one too. No one will be disappointed.

The final series of Doc Martin starts on ITV in September.

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