INTERVIEW
Dog Martin
Best known as the emotionless, pooch-loathing Doc Martin, in real life, actor Martin Clunes, 63, has a passion for all creatures great and small – especially those of the canine variety, as he told us when we visited him on his Dorset farm
by GABY HUDDART
W
ithin minutes of meeting actor Martin Clunes, it’s clear that his personality could not be more diametrically opposed to his long-time fictional persona Martin Ellingham from much-loved ITV series
Doc Martin.
In the show, which ended two years ago, that Martin was characterised by grouchiness and lack of empathy – and a deep antipathy towards dogs. In contrast, real-life Martin is garrulous, and his emotions are always bubbling near the surface, often sparked by, you’ve guessed it, his canine companions.
Conversation is regularly punctuated by laughter. As, for instance, when 14-year-old black Labrador and retired guide dog Laura – who was recently adopted by Martin and his wife, TV producer Philippa Braithwaite – passes wind, then gets up and casually quits her spot underneath Martin’s kitchen chair in their remote Dorset farmhouse. ‘Thanks, Laura. In her dotage, the dog is blaming her farts on the man!’ he giggles, comically wafting at the air under his nose.
Conversely, it turns out that Martin’s heightened emotions also mean he’s a crier and scarcely a day goes by without him shedding a tear. This emerges soon after he introduces me to his current entourage of dogs: as well as Laura, there’s cocker spaniel Heidi Mae and her son Bob Jackson, plus two six-month-old Jack Russell pups, John and Murray, who are new following the recent deaths of Jackahuahua Penelope and elderly Jack Russell, James Henry.