Doc Martin
(2004-)

Martin Clunes, Caroline Catz, Ian McNeice

Doc Martin is a British television medical comedy drama series starring Martin Clunes in the title role. It was created by Dominic Minghella after the character of Dr Martin Bamford in the 2000 comedy film Saving Grace. Seven series aired between 2004 and 2015, together with a feature-length special that aired on Christmas Day 2006. The seventh series began airing on ITV on 7 September 2015 and aired its last episode “The Doctor Is Out” on 2 November 2015. An eighth and final series has been announced, to air in 2017.

Dr Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes), a brilliant and successful vascular surgeon at Imperial College London, develops haemophobia (a fear of blood), forcing him to stop practising surgery. He obtains a post as the sole general practitioner (GP) in the sleepy Cornish village of Portwenn, where he had spent childhood holidays with his Aunt Joan (Stephanie Cole), who owns a local farm. Upon arriving in Portwenn ’Äì where, to his frustration, the locals address him as “Doc Martin” ’Äì he finds the surgery in chaos and inherits an incompetent receptionist, Elaine Denham (Lucy Punch). The show revolves around Ellingham’s interactions with the local Cornish villagers. Despite his medical excellence, Ellingham is grouchy, pugnacious, and lacks social skills. His direct, emotionless manner offends many of the villagers, made worse by his invariably unpleasant responses to their comments.

The show is set in the fictional seaside village of Portwenn and filmed on location in and around the village of Port Isaac, Cornwall. Neighbouring Port Gaverne (an adjoining cove to Port Isaac), is also used for exterior shots. 2 km up the road from Port Isaac is a barn near Roscarrock Manor Farm. Inside the barn are the many sets (the surgery for example) that make up the interior locations for Doc Martin. The show has also filmed exterior shots near the farm in the Roscarrock area. Dinnabroad Farm, St Teath (renamed as Dannabroad Farm in the show) is the location used for Aunty Joan’Äôs farm. The farm has featured regularly across all five seasons. All hospital scenes have been filmed on location at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro (approximately km south of Port Isaac). All school interior scenes for seasons 3, 4, and 5 have been filmed at nearby Delabole Primary School.

The picturesque Camelot Castle Hotel in Tintagel was used as the backdrop for Martin’Äôs meeting with the health board in 1.1 Going Bodmin and again as The Castle Hotel searching for the missing James Henry in 5.8 Ever After. John Slater (Aunt Joan’s old flame), moored his boat and was delivered some bad news in Padstow, Cornwall (a fishing port 16 miles south west of Port Isaac) in the season one episode 1.5 Of All the Harbours in all the Towns. Pencarrow house and gardens (located in Bodmin, Cornwall) is open to the public. It is also the backdrop of Doc Martin and Louisa’s first date (at the classical music concert) in the season three episode 3.5 The Holly Bears a Prickle.

The featured railway station of Doc Martin (shown most notably in the episode which introduces Martin’s parents: 2.6 The Family Way) is Bodmin Parkway station (BOD). Incidentally, when travelling from London by train, this station is the closest to Port Isaac. Interior shots of the sudden delivery of Martin and Louisa’s baby was filmed at The Old Inn, St Breward (located between Bodmin and Camelford) in the fourth season finale 4.8 The Wrong Goodbye. Named Pentire Castle in the show, stunning Doyden Castle is located in Port Isaac’s neighbouring hamlet Port Quin. The castle featured heavily in the climactic 5.8 Ever After and can be rented out as holiday accommodation. Martin and Louisa’s almost wedding was filmed at the parish church of Lanteglos-by-Camelford in the third season finale 3.7 Happily Ever After.

The village has also appeared in the following:

Poldark (1975’Äì77), a BBC television series, used locations in the area.

Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man (1978), BBC supernatural play.

The Nightmare Man (1981), BBC drama serial, filmed in and around the village ’Äì which doubled for a Scottish island.

Oscar and Lucinda (1997), film.

DIY SOS, featured the village hall being decorated.

Saving Grace (2000), a comedy film, was filmed in and around the village.

The Shell Seekers (2005), a television production with Vanessa Redgrave, where the village was used as the backdrop and many scenes were shot in the main street.

Midsomer Murders
(1997-)

John Nettles, Daniel Casey, Barry Jackson, Jane Wymark, Laura Howard

Based on the crime-novel series by author Caroline Graham, “Midsomer Murders” follows the efforts of Detective Chief Inspector John Barnaby to solve crimes that occur in the wealthy, isolated English county of Midsomer, a picturesque and peaceful place on the outside but one filled with amoral and snobbish eccentrics with all kinds of vices. The stories are set in modern-day England and revolve around Tom Barnaby’s (later, John Barnaby’s) efforts to solve numerous murders that take place in the idyllic, picturesque but deadly villages of the fictional county of Midsomer. The Barnabys have worked with several different sergeants throughout the run of the show: Sgt Gavin Troy (Daniel Casey), Sgt Dan Scott (John Hopkins), Sgt Ben Jones (Jason Hughes), Sgt Charlie Nelson (Gwilym Lee) and currently Sgt Jamie Winter (Nick Hendrix).

Midsomer is an English fictional county. The county town is Causton, a middle-sized town where Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby lives with his wife, and where the Criminal Investigation Department is located. Much of the popularity of the series arises from the incongruity of sudden violence in a picturesque and peaceful rural setting. Individual episodes focus on institutions, rituals, and customs popularly seen as being characteristic of rural English counties. Causton is represented by the village of Wallingford in Oxfordshire. Causton police station is represented by the former RAF Staff College, Bracknell. Most episodes have been filmed in villages around Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire counties.

The Six Bells, a pub in Warborough, Oxfordshire, repeatedly features as the Black Swan in the Midsomer village of Badger’s Drift.

Filming took place on Sunday 11 August 2013 at White Waltham Airfield, southwest of Maidenhead, England, for episode 4 of Series 16, “The Flying Club”.

In the Killings of Copenhagen episode, number five in the sixteenth season’Äîthe 100th episode in all, several scenes are filmed at location in central Copenhagen, like Radhuspladsen (“the City Hall Square”, Nyhavn), “New Port” with its canal and old colourful houses, a Danish countryside church, and at the circular square inside the Copenhagen Police headquarters building. The murder in Copenhagen is the only one within the entire series (until episode 106, at least) where a murder takes place outside the indeed very dangerous fictive County of Midsomer with exception of Brighton where the soon-to-be new Inspector Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) is introduced.

Broadchurch
(2013-)

David Tenant, Olivia Colman, Jodie Whittaker, Andrew Buchan

Broadchurch is a British television crime drama broadcast on ITV. It was created and written by Chris Chibnall and produced by Kudos Film and Television, Shine America, and Imaginary Friends. Broadchurch series one focused on the search for the boy’s murderer by detectives Alec Hardy (played by David Tennant) and Ellie Miller (played by Olivia Colman). Chibnall was inspired by the Jurassic Coast of Britain to set his crime drama in a fictional, close-knit small town in Dorset. Much of the tone of the series was inspired by the music of Olafur Arnalds, who also composed the soundtrack for the programme.

The second series primarily focuses on two plot strands: the trial of the murderer and the reopening of the Sandbrook case. Tennant, Colman, and most of the cast of series one returned for series two. New series two cast members include Marianne Jean-Baptiste, James D’Arcy, Eve Myles, Charlotte Rampling, Meera Syal, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and location shooting again occurred primarily in North Somerset, Devon, Dorset, and Berkshire. Secrecy surrounding the series two plot was strong.

Most of Broadchurch series one was shot on location to heighten the reality and intimacy of the series, and because the Dorset coast was integral to setting the mood of the drama. The first cast read-through occurred at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in London on 7 August 2012. Principal photography began on interior sets at Vision Studios on 13 August 2012. Location shooting began the first week of September. Most location photography occurred in the town of Clevedon. Some scenes were also shot in the towns of Bridport and West Bay, and in the surrounding district of west Dorset. Three locations were used in the area around Yate: South Gloucestershire, and two in Bristol. Other filming locations included Shepton Mallet, Portishead, and Weston-super-Mare, and the villages of Eype and Flax Bourton. The oft-seen cliff where Danny Latimer’s body is found, and which features heavily in the visuals of Broadchurch, is Harbour Cliff and Harbour Cliff Beach in West Bay. Many of the villages involved in the shooting of Broadchurch received a boost in tourism, especially in West Bay and Bridport. Not all shooting was done on location. Some sets were built at Vision Studios near Bristol, because equipment needs made it impractical to film on location.

The second series filmed under the code name “Tea and Sympathy” in Devon, Dorset, North Somerset, and the town of Reading in Berkshire. Shooting has taken place outside the George Hotel in Bridport, at a Munchees cafe in Reading, and at the Riverside Restaurant, Wynn’s funfair, the seafront, and The Lazy Lizard nightclub in the town of Weymouth. A few scenes were shot on a beach between Freshwater Beach and East Beach in West Bay. St Andrew’s Church in Clevedon has been used to depict the Broadchurch parish church and graveyard. Other Clevedon filming locations include Marshall’s Field and Hill Road, and the house used to represent the Latimer family home in Lavington Close. The Forum building on the campus of the University of Exeter was used to represent the Wessex police station, while another campus structure served as a local courtroom. Some filming occurred in Bracknell Forest, in particular the Jennett’s Park suburb and the John Nike Leisuresport Complex in Bracknell. The shopping district in Bracknell was decorated to mimic the Christmas holidays for filming.