Portwenn changed forever in 2011. Most people remember the scenery or the blood phobia, but Doc Martin series five was actually a massive tonal pivot for the show. It wasn't just another set of episodes where Martin Clunes scowled at a child with a runny nose. No, this was the year the show dealt with death, birth, and a kidnapping that felt more like a thriller than a cozy ITV drama.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a miracle the show survived the transition.
Series four had ended on such a high with the birth of the baby, but series five immediately yanked the rug out. Martin is basically packed and ready for London. He’s done. He’s going back to being a surgeon, or at least trying to. Then, life happens. Or rather, death happens.
The Death of Aunt Joan and the Arrival of Ruth
The premiere episode, "Preserve the Romance," starts with a gut punch. Aunt Joan—played by the legendary Stephanie Cole—is gone. She died behind the wheel of her car. For fans who had watched since 2004, Joan was the only person who could truly handle Martin. She was his tether to humanity.
Losing her felt like the show was losing its moral compass.
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But then we got Eileen Atkins as Aunt Ruth. She wasn’t a replacement; she was a revelation. Ruth is basically Martin with a better grasp of social cues but the same "suffer no fools" attitude. She’s a retired forensic psychiatrist, which makes her the perfect foil for a nephew who treats everyone like a biological specimen.
A New Dynamic in the Surgery
With Joan gone, Martin stays for the funeral and finds Portwenn in a state of medical anarchy. The new GP, Dr. Di Dibbs (Joanna Scanlan), is a disaster. She’s misdiagnosing herself with diabetes and handing out her own pills to patients. It’s chaotic. It’s funny in that dark, "people might actually die" way that the show excels at.
Martin, being Martin, can't just let it happen. He stays. He takes his old job back "temporarily," which we all know is TV code for "forever."
The James Henry Problem
Naming the baby took forever. For most of Doc Martin series five, the kid is just "the baby." It’s a running gag that actually highlights how unprepared Martin and Louisa are for parenthood. They aren't even living together properly at the start.
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Louisa’s mother, Eleanor, shows up too. She’s played by Louise Jameson and she is, frankly, a nightmare. She’s the exact opposite of Martin: flaky, "herbal," and irresponsible. In "Mother Knows Best," she actually puts alcohol in the baby’s feed to stop him crying. Martin’s reaction is exactly what you’d expect—total, righteous fury.
- The Baby's Name: They finally land on James Henry in the fifth episode, "Remember Me."
- The Conflict: Louisa wants a "normal" family life, but Martin is still a man who wants to run away to London the second a patient sneezes on him.
- The Work-Life Balance: Morwenna Newcross joins the surgery as the new receptionist. She’s quirky and high-energy, which provides a much-needed buffer between Martin’s grumpiness and the patients.
Mrs. Tishell’s Breakpoint
We have to talk about the finale, "Ever After." If you haven't seen it in a while, it’s genuinely stressful. Mrs. Tishell, the neck-brace-wearing pharmacist, finally snaps. Her obsession with Martin has been bubbling under the surface for years, fueled by a cocktail of self-prescribed drugs and a husband who just doesn't understand her.
She kidnaps James Henry.
She takes him to a castle on a cliff, convinced that she and Martin are meant to be together and that the baby is theirs. It’s a radical departure from the usual village antics. Seeing Martin have to feign love for her just to get his son back is one of the most intense scenes in the entire ten-season run. It showed a vulnerability in the Doc that we rarely saw. He wasn't just a doctor then; he was a terrified father.
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Ratings and Why It Worked
The numbers don't lie. The series five premiere pulled in over 8 million viewers on ITV. That’s a staggering amount of people for a show that is essentially about a man who is rude to his neighbors. People weren't just watching for the scenery; they were invested in the soap opera of Martin and Louisa's dysfunctional domesticity.
What You Should Do Next
If you’re revisiting the series or watching for the first time, don't just breeze through it. Look at the way the lighting and the "feel" of Portwenn shifts after Joan's death. It becomes a bit colder, a bit more clinical, reflecting Martin's internal state.
Your Action Plan:
- Watch the transition: Pay attention to the first ten minutes of episode one and the last ten minutes of episode two. The shift from "I'm leaving" to "I'm staying because of Ruth" is the core of the show’s longevity.
- Track the medical accuracy: The show uses real medical consultants. In "Born with a Shotgun," the arsenic poisoning subplot is surprisingly grounded in actual toxicology.
- Notice the silence: One of the best parts of this season is the quiet tension between Martin and Louisa. They often say more with a look than a paragraph of dialogue.
Forget the idea that this is just "comfort TV." Series five is where the show grew up and realized that even in a picturesque Cornish village, things can get pretty dark. Keep that in mind before you dismiss it as just another cozy procedural.