Martin Clunes’ popular ITV drama Doc Martin will return with series nine in 2019.


The actor had previously said that the show would finish its run with its eighth series which finished in November 2017. But it appears he was jumping the gun (or stethoscope in his case) and has now promised a series every other year.

Clunes told RadioTimes.com that he is filming a new run of episodes featuring the uptight but brilliant GP in 2019.

“I’m un-ending it,” he laughed when we asked him to explain the confusion. “We probably plan to do one every other year now….”

The news will be welcomed by fans of the show, which is one of ITV’s most popular dramas, regularly pulling in audiences of more than six million per episode.

It stars Clunes as the eponymous Doc, a brilliant surgeon who has been forced to move to Cornwall and work as a GP because he developed a fear of blood.

His abrupt manner has led to various run-ins with the locals, but his medical brilliance has earned him their grudging respect. A recurrent thread also involves his on-off relationship with local primary school teacher Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz, see picture below) with whom his character has a child.

The series started in 2004 and eight series, plus a 2006 film, have aired so far. It is made by Buffalo Pictures, the independent production company run by Clunes and his wife Philippa Braithwaite.