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Dr. Martin Ellingham (otherwise known as Doc Martin to the local people of Portwenn) is a former surgeon and the GP of Portwenn.

He is married to Louisa Glasson/Ellingham and shares a son and daughter with her.

Appearance[]

Doc Martin is a middle-aged man who usually has an uninviting expression. He seems to exclusively wear suits and is known for his characteristic tall height of 6 foot 3. He has closely cropped grey hair and distinctively large ears.

Personality[]

Due to being raised by neglectful parents, Martin has grown into an emotionally stunted adult. He has problems showing emotion and is influenced more by logic, which has helped him in his profession to keep calm in serious situations and become one of London's best surgeons, but also makes him appear rude, blunt, arrogant, and anti-social. He is constantly vexed by the inhabitants of Portwenn, most of whom he views as incompetent, though as time goes on he appears to become more accepting of their quirks. Despite this, Martin does sometimes display a form of compassion to some of his patients (e.g. Mandie in "Movement").

The only person with whom Martin has had a positive relationship is his paternal aunt, Joan. She acts as his confidante, helps him become accustomed to his new patients, and also acts as a voice of reason when Martin's aloof nature keeps him from helping people.

When he arrives at Portwenn, Martin meets a woman named Louisa Glasson, who is his opposite in nearly every way and to whom he becomes attracted to and vice versa. Despite their less-than-successful interactions, the two rely on each other.

Martin's greatest weakness and reason for coming to Portwenn is that he began to suffer from hemophobia during the surgery of a woman, after having seen her family clinging to her before the surgery. The idea that the person he was operating on was more than just a body, on a table, to work on caused Martin to have a nervous breakdown.

Despite this, he remains a first-rate diagnostician, and is able to treat a far greater range of medical conditions than the average General Practitioner.

Series 1[]

Doc Martin was a surgeon in London. He saw a woman whom he was about to operate on, and noticed how her family members clung to her. It was at this moment he saw his patient as a human being, not just another medical case, which led to his development of hemophobia. He then becomes a General Practitioner of the village of Portwenn. He is constantly annoyed by the locals of Portwenn, and by his assistant Elaine. He falls in love with Louisa Glasson, a school teacher and member of the committee that interviewed him for the G.P. position. At the end of Series 1, he kisses her in the back of a taxi. Typically, he panics, and resorts to question her on her dental hygiene routine; she reasonably infers that he is implying she has bad breath, and pushes him out the car.

Series 2[]

Series 3[]

Series 4[]

In series 4, Louisa returns. She turns up on Martin's doorstep 6 months pregnant.

Martin is shocked by this. When he figures out the baby is his, at first he does not want much to do with the situation as Louisa said that she does not need help.

By the end of series 4 Martin announces he is going to London.

At the end of series 4 Louisa gives birth in a pub with Martin present.

Series 5[]

At the start of series 5 Martin's move to London is halted by his son's entrance into the world.

Eventually Martin decides to stay and he and Louisa start a relationship.

Series 6[]

At the start of series 6, Louisa and Martin get married but by the middle of the series things start to get rocky. Louisa is hit by a car and Martin is pressed to operate on her. She decides to go to Spain to visit her mother.

Series 7[]

At the beginning of series 7 Martin struggles without Louisa but she returns in episode 2 however their marriage is still rough and Martin moves into a small house to give his wife some space the couple also start marriage counseling.

By the end of the series the pair move back in together and work on their relationship.

Series 8[]

Series 9[]

By Series 9, Martin's job is under intense scrutiny as he faces monitoring from the GMC, which involves him taking part in a failed medical scenario which quickly falls to pieces. He also later comes face to face with an old surgical colleague who is beginning to struggle in his role as a surgeon due to an undisclosed medical condition. This then causes him to botch a surgical procedure which Martin fixes. The surgeon threatens to fail Martin if Martin reports him to the GMC, which would lead to Martin being struck off and no longer being able to practice as a doctor. To avoid being failed, Martin resigns and reports the surgeon to the GMC and considers himself no longer a doctor.

Series 10[]

At the start of Series 10 Martin is still not a Doctor. His wife, Louisa, is now a Child councilor and is using his old consulting room for her Clients. However when Louisa is with a young boy. Martin manages to receive a fierce telling of from the young boys mum because the mum of the young boy is seemingly ill. This inspires Martin's return to medicine. Later in the first episode he saves this women's life and protects her from falling of a cliff. At the end of this episode he is re-licenced and is becomes a Doctor again and is allowed to practice.

Gallery[]

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