Doc Martin - Series 2 presents nine 51-minute episodes, which are 16:9 enhanced widescreen and look and sound quite nice. There are minimal extras, but the show's high quality is enough.

Martin Ellingham doesn't suffer fools or just about anyone else gladly. As Portwenn's only doctor he sees a lot of patients, but his bedside manner is appalling, and he simply doesn't like people. Except, that is, for local primary school teacher Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz), who isn't intimidated by Martin's aloofness and sarcasm; he's in love with her and she's attracted to him, but also repelled by his persistent rudeness.

Also prominent in the series are Martin's Aunt Joan (Stephanie Cole), a salt of the earth character to contrast Martin; Mark Mylow (Stewart Wright), the local constable with little crime to occupy his time; aptly-named Bert Large (Ian McNeice), an obese, well-meaning but bumbling plumber and single father whose handsome but insecure adult son, Al (Joe Absolom), is dating Martin's uncultured but efficient receptionist (Katherine Parkinson).

Clunes's fish-out-of-water character was loosely adapted from a role he played in the film Saving Grace (2000), though it was altered somewhat for television, first in two 2003 television movies and then the series, which reworked the material even further. It's an intriguing character if low-key and sympathetic; he's not as scurrilous as some of the best-remembered characters from British comedy: Wilfred Brambell's Albert Steptoe, John Cleese's Basil Fawlty, Leonard Rossiter's Rupert Rigsby, though like the latter two similarly self-loathing and self-destructive. (Intriguingly, earlier this year Clunes played Rossiter's other famous TV character, Reginald Perrin, in a new revival series.)

Mainly, Doc Martin is the kind of show that works on the viewer gradually. It doesn't seem exceptional at first, until like Doc Martin himself one becomes acclimated to its setting and its peripheral characters become familiar. Though much more a gentle comedy than a drama, the series takes a few surprising turns, partly because of its little, knowing glimpses into human behavior, particularly into the dark secrets many people keep between themselves and their doctor, revelations that are surprising and which seem to come out of nowhere.

A good example of this is in the set first's episode, with Margaret Tyzack excellent as an old woman lucid and witty one minute, but showing signs of advanced senility the next; the medical/psychological explanation for this offers a good deal of insight into the fears of the elderly, and is dramatized well.

Video & Audio

Doc Martin - Series 2 is presented in 16:9 enhanced widescreen, which shows the picturesque locations to good advantage. (The series is filmed on location in the fishing village of Port Isaac; no doubt the series has increased the tourist trade there.) The nine shows are on three single-sided discs. The Dolby Digital Stereo is up to contemporary television standards, and the shows include optional English subtitles.

Extra Features

The only extras are the usual sort of thing Acorn include on its TV titles: brief, not particularly helpful cast filmographies and a photo gallery.

Parting Thoughts

Doc Martin is the kind of show that builds up steam very slowly; there's nothing flashy to grab viewers by the neck and make them want to orgy on it like many high-concept shows. But, gradually, it works its magic and its characters ingratiate themselves in these slight but sweet stories. Recommended.

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