Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2015 / January 2016 | Page 29

INTERVIEW Clunes country Twenty years on from the testosterone-fuelled idiocy which filled his London flat in Men Behaving Badly, actor Martin Clunes, much like his eponymous Doc Martin character, has swapped the city for the pleasures of rural life K nown best for his portrayal of Doc Martin’s irritable Dr Martin Ellingham, who abruptly leaves his London practice to become a general practitioner in the sleepy fishing village of Portwenn, Martin Clunes, at first look, shares more than just his name with the good doctor. But while the idiosyncratic focus of the popular comedy drama settled rather awkwardly into Cornish village life, Clunes himself feels very much at home in the rural south-west. Now 53-years-old, Clunes grew up in London, attending boarding school for much of his childhood. Deciding to up sticks to the Devon countryside years ago with his second wife, producer Philippa Braithwaite, and their young daughter Emily, the family swapped the stresses of the capital for the West Dorset countryside and never looked back. Now the owner of a farm, with over 130 acres of his own land, you’d be forgiven for thinking that while Clunes may enjoy the rural life, juggling filming, farm work, a family and with over 30 horses to tend to, it must be hard work. His days may be busier than ever, but Clunes protests that he’s lost the stresses associated with city life; rather, country life has changed him. “Totally,” he smiles. And a world away from his Men Behaving in the Badly character, who would refuse to commit to anyone or anything beyond a couple pints down the pub, it’s easy to imagine the actor rolling up his sleeves and getting his hands dirty. “Living on a farm is totally engaging and completely absorbing,” he says. “There are animals everywhere. It just defines who we are.” An enduring small screen success story and prolific presenter, Clunes has firmly laid down roots. Filming Doc Martin in Cornwall, his commute from Devon and back again is arguably longer than a trip on the Tube, but still gives him time to feed the horses, dogs and the assortment of four-legged friends he shares his land with. That said, the actor does admit that long www.visitilife.com 29