Martin Clunes uses doctor skills to stop wife's op

Doc Martin star Martin Clunes has used his medical knowledge from his years playing the grumpy West Country GP to step in and stop surgeons operating on his wife.

The actor, who said he had picked up some tips on set in the hit ITV show, told Reader's Digest: "You have to remember that British medical dramas are obliged to be accurate. You can't just make things up as they do on American shows. So we have a medical expert on the series and I have learned about certain conditions and procedures."

Martin, who is married to Doc Martin's producer Philippa Braithwaite, got involved when doctors said they wanted to carry out what he described as a 'nonsensical' operation.

He said: "She had an infection in her gall bladder and the surgeon was minded to take out her appendix. There was no infection in her appendix and instinct told me that it would be the wrong thing to do. So I took her home instead and she was treated there.

"As Philippa's husband, it was my prerogative to do this. But when I was chatting to hospital staff they handed me her medical notes to look at in a way they might not have with an ordinary member of the public. I do wonder whether there wasn't some confusion between me and Doc Martin."

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.