A New 'Doc Martin' Is on the Case in 'Best Medicine'

Most people no longer remember that Doc Martin was initially a spinoff of a British film, the comedy Saving Grace, where star Martin Clunes played "Doc Martin," Dr. Martin Bamford, a London surgeon stuck out in the wilds of Cornwall. When a spinoff was commissioned to explain how Martin found himself so far from his natural habitat, the character underwent a personality realignment, the result of which was rechristened Dr. Martin Ellingham (still played by Clunes), the sullen misanthrope whose career was derailed when he developed haemophobia (a fear of blood). The series was so successful that it ran for ten seasons over two decades and will now be revived with an American remake, Best Medicine.

Much like the U.K. series, Best Medicine will star a different version of Doc Martin, but not one played by Clunes. Instead, this new character is Dr. Martin Best (hence the show's title), starring another actor who is not exactly handsome but beloved by middle-aged women viewers, Josh Charles (The Veil). Like Ellingham, Dr. Best is a "brilliant surgeon" in a major metropolitan city (Boston instead of London), whose career abruptly changes course to find himself working as a village doctor in a sparsely populated small town.

The twist here is that the "village" is the hometown he wanted to escape, and the people who don't understand his terse and blunt bedside manner are the people who once knew him well, best.