Shut Up! – The Return of Doc Martin
I haven’t had a chance to grab Acorn’s bew Blu-ray of Doc Martin: Season 7, so I’ve posted a review of the series as it aried, with the usual focus on the arc and qualities that, amazingly, make ITV’s series so enduring and unique.
I remember seeing Season 1 on the rental wall and someone saying ‘You should see this,’ and feeling a little perlexed by the odd cover with Martin Clunes manicured to maximize his magnificent stature and character-heavy visage.
One night I caught the pilot episode on Vision TV, and halfway through the show, I changed channels, realizing immediately that this was a show to own (and ultimately binge-watch), being rooted in the kind of odd world that echoed Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, a novel of sketch-like chapters featuring characters whose lives were more often tragic than funny.
Clunes and his team of ace writers, directors, and producers seemed to know tragedy makes good comedy, because without young Martin Ellingham being raised by his aunt after his shitty mother’s rejection, he’d never have become the deeply ill-at ease doctor who recognized his social failings, yet transcended most of his flaws by being utterly brilliant at his job. The fact Portwenn’s tosser could marry the town’s most beloved (and socially adept) schoolteacher is a coup, and their odd paring has guaranteed some sublimely awkward moments that have kept the show running for 11 years.
It’s a credit to the cast and crew that if fans demand more, time is set aside to carefully work out a tight 8-episode season. It’s also a credit to the British film & TV industry that its esteemed members can bounced between shows, mediums, and reunite seemingly with ease, committing to a series order that isn’t indulgent nor filled with padding.
I’ve also added a review of the original soundtrack album, released in 2007, which for some (daft) reason never got ported over from the old site. There are a number of soundtrack reviews that remain orphaned, and I’ll be doing an overhaul of the soundtrack section this Xmas, so everything’s up to date in the indexes.
Coming next are a quartet of horror score reviews recently published in Rue Morgue, followed by reviews of two seventies spy films: Michael Winner’s Scorpio (1973) on Blu from Twilight Time + Peter Collinson’s Innocent Bystanders (1972) from Olive.
Cheers,
Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com
Category: EDITOR'S BLOG
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