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CLUNACY
FOR almost 20 years Doc Martin super-fans have descended in their droves on the quaint Cornish fishing village of Port Isaac – desperate to explore the real-life version of TV’s Portwenn.
To some businesses, it has been a welcome cash-cow, while local good causes have received more than £134,000 from a share of the show’s global royalties.
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However, critics claim it has hampered traditional trade, pushed house prices beyond the reach of local families and caused mayhem on the streets.
Rubber-necking tourists reportedly flock to view iconic landmarks such as the home of Martin Clunes’ character Dr Martin Ellingham, and Aunty Ruth’s cottage above Squeezy Belly Alley.
Filming on the narrow lanes during the summer season "killed" trade for weeks on end, and the programme's legacy has left a feeling of "have and have-nots" among some villagers.
There are also dark mutterings about how, on social media, Doc Martin enthusiasts are "over-protective" of Port Isaac and tell locals they should be grateful that visitors want to come at all.
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With its tenth and final series airing last year, it might seem that the "Clunatics", as locals call them, will gradually drift away.
But according to 77-year-old Mike Meakins, who jointly runs the Doc Martin Walk And Talk Tour, Port Isaac is on the verge of a massive new influx of foreign visitors.
"The show is just getting going in America," he said. "They’ve only had five years of it.
"It’s being rolled out across dozens of different states and channels and the public out there clearly love it.
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"We already have five coachloads of Americans booked on to our tour this summer and we’re expecting plenty more.
"There’s also a big increase in the number of Canadian and Australian visitors and now the Germans are coming - they all love Cornwall anyway because of the Rosamunde Pilcher novels.
"I’m convinced interest from abroad will build and build over the next 50 years. I see no let-up."
Mike, who appeared regularly as an extra in Doc Martin – "they call us supporting artists" – accepts that images of Port Isaac’s rugged coastline, pretty harbour and winding lanes have pushed up property prices.
Fern Cottage, Dr Ellingham’s modest cliffside home, sold in 2022 after going on the market at £1.25million.
"It’s amazing because during filming all the actors ever did was step in and out of the front door," Mike said.
"Yet because it is so prominent in the show, it has made a fortune in the past as a holiday let.
"It cost anything up to £2,500 per week to stay there, and it’s the same with Louisa’s cottage.
"Nothing much happens there – it only features in a few episodes – but because of her romance with Martin, and their baby, everyone wants to stay there.
"Overall, Doc Martin has been great for Port Isaac because businesses are making so much more money.
"But there will always be the odd one or two saying, 'Thank God, they’ve gone'. That’s inevitable."
It has been absolute chaos
John Collins
Among those more critical of the comedy-drama's impact is fishmonger John Collins, 52, whose shop stands just above the harbour.
His slab includes fresh crab and lobster caught by the village’s two remaining full-time boats.
"When they’ve filmed outside this place it has been absolute chaos," he said. "It killed my business dead.
"They would stop all the traffic and sales would drop by anything up to 90 per cent.
"The filmmakers compensated me for that but I’d rather have my customers. You don’t want them to think they can’t get to me.
"Some days we get three or four coaches arriving at once and the passengers all descend on us.
"They might have an ice cream or a cup of tea but, sure as anything, they aren’t here to buy fish."
Over at Noah’s Café on Fore Street, where Dr Ellingham is often seen striding grumpily en route to a patient, staff member Dan Lanyon reckons the ITV hit has hastened a big change in village life.
The 26-year-old, who was born and bred in Port Isaac, said: "It feels like there are haves and have-nots.
"Some visitors see us as one big film set and in the height of summer you don’t leave Port Isaac because you’d never get back in.
"You dread it. It takes four times as long to get anywhere."
'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'
He added: "The American and Australian super-fans are the most obsessed.
"We get them every single day asking where all the actors live. It can feel like an interrogation.
"They don’t even spend that much money. The big winners have been self-catering holiday-home owners.
"I’d say the show has been a factor in killing off traditional businesses like the butcher’s and the bakery.
"People see our beautiful village on the TV and want to buy here. The rise in demand for all types of properties has been huge and that affects rents and prices.
"For pretty much everyone in my generation there’s no point in looking for a house because you’ll be out-bid by a holiday home buyer.
"It doesn’t matter if it’s an ancient old bungalow – they’ll just knock it down and build something with a lot of glass in its place."
Sarah Taylor, who can trace her Port Isaac family roots back three centuries, is among residents pushing for affordable housing.
"Nobody local can afford to buy here unless they win the lottery," said Sarah, 50.
"That has a knock-on effect on businesses needing staff.
"People don’t earn high wages and you need half-a-million to get a look in.
"It’s atrocious that even former council houses have been sold off as second homes. That’s a wrong ‘un.
"Doc Martin has been lovely for Port Isaac in some ways but it has pushed property prices up even further.
"The show has been going 18 years and we’ve enjoyed having them here. But that’s enough."
Thanks to Doc Martin we now have all-year-round trade
John Cleave
John Cleave, who was brought up in the village and now runs the Boathouse fashion and gift shop, agrees that the show has changed village life.
"The locals talk about BDM – that’s Before Doc Martin," he said.
"It was always favoured by comparatively few people who simply saw it as a beautiful, typical Cornish fishing village.
"As a business you could close your doors from October to Easter and it wouldn’t make a lot of difference.
"Thanks to Doc Martin we now have all-year-round trade.
"We’ve got used to a certain type of visitor, perhaps an American or Canadian lady walking around with poles and a ski jacket and loving the idea of this grudging, curmudgeonly doctor pounding the streets."
John, 63, who sings with Port Isaac’s celebrated sea shanty group Fishermen’s Friends, agrees that the show has encouraged more holiday-home buyers.
Of the three dozen properties he can see from his shop, only five have permanent residents.
"But we’ve also had some positives out of it," he added.
"The filmmakers set up the Doc Martin Fund to support local causes and that has been really good – particularly for the school."
Fellow trader Kathryn Thomas, 35, who runs the Peapod gift shop, says the show has boosted her business by bringing in fans.
But she feels a minority of Clunatics don’t endear themselves to locals.
"Some are quite protective of Port Isaac, she said.
"They are completely obsessed and talk about it on social media as though it belongs them.
"I’ve seen messages suggesting we should all be grateful they have given us their money.
"In fairness, only about one per cent are numpties. Others are just massively enthusiastic.
"One family flew from Australia to Heathrow, drove straight here, spent barely a week looking around and then immediately flew home without bothering to go anywhere else in the UK."
During the final series of Doc Martin, ITV screened a documentary in which super-fans were interviewed at 56-year-old Harry Singer’s café.
"It was quite an experience," he said. "Especially when I had to explain to one of them that Martin Clunes wasn’t actually a real doctor. There were tears.
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"Good luck to the actors and producers. They did a brilliant job and creating a worldwide hit.
"But Port Isaac was a tourist attraction long before they ever came and it will be long afterwards."
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