Ahead of the heart-stopping climax of Doc Martin (ITV1, Monday, Oct 31), Martin Clunes and Caroline Catz tell TV Times magazine about loyal fans and their dream job... Have you enjoyed filming the ending to this series? Martin: “I have loved it. There’s a real cliff-hanger at the end of the series, and it feels like a really strong ending.” Caroline: “We were filming right by the sea, and we had three days in just the most exquisite spot in Cornwall. It was a lot of fun. We had no phone signal so nobody could get hold of us, and there weren’t too many passers-by. When you’re really cut off like that and you’re filming, you can really get on with it.” What was it like filming in such a good location? Martin: “We got really lucky with the location and really lucky with the weather. We had the sea crashing on the cliffs and it just looked beautiful.” Caroline: “It was quite entertaining with my high-heeled shoes on! Louisa’s footwear isn’t practical, which I rather like. She always finds herself in unexpected situations, shall we say. So she never knows when she starts the day she’s going to end up running round a cliff.” You’ve been coming to Cornwall off and on since 2004 to film the show. Does it feel like a second home for you now? Martin: “Not so much a second home. But it’s a second place in my life. It’s got a huge significance. It’s meant an awful lot to me coming down here. I love it – and we’ve made some great friends here too. We couldn’t have made the show anywhere else as the place is as much a character as any of the cast.” And are we right in saying that hundreds of people visit Port Isaac, which doubles for Portwenn, when you’re filming in the village? Martin: “Yes. It’s extraordinary. It really is the most gratifying thing. Especially because we sort of invented him, and it’s sort of become the product of everyone’s involvement. There’s been a lot of people who’ve been involved with it right from the beginning and we’ve been lucky enough to get the chance to get better and grow, and that’s really nice.” Is this really the dream job for the two of you? Caroline: “It’s absolutely the dreamiest job, because I love the show, and I love where we film in Cornwall. We’re like a big family now, we’ve got great scripts to work with so it doesn’t really get any better than that I don’t think. I’m always very happy to be here.” Martin: “It will be weird if I ever have to film in a city again. For the last four or five years, the only filming for a drama I’ve done has been down in Cornwall, which is really spoiling actually because it doesn’t get any better!”
