Latest news with #PortIsaac
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Doc Martin village plea to tourists to help NHS
A GP practice in Cornwall has issued leaflets explaining how tourists can keep pressure off NHS frontline services during the summer holidays. A GP from Port Isaac, the village made famous by its use as a location for the TV series Doc Martin, said in previous summers the practice was asked for hundreds of appointments by patients registered with different surgeries. The NHS said the emergency department at Cornwall's only major hospital, based in Truro, saw demand go up by 10% during August each year and the proportion of non residents that attended more than doubled. Port Isaac Practice has urged visitors to go to pharmacies, use minor injury units and call NHS 111. More news stories for Cornwall Listen to the latest news for Cornwall Nick Hearle, a GP at Port Isaac Surgery, said in previous years "nearly 1,000 appointments every year [were] taken up with temporary residents". He said he was not "anti-tourist" and added: "Being ill on holiday can be really bad but we always recommend to phone your own GP first because they know your history and have all your records." The leaflet was produced by John Quilter from the Port Isaac Practice Patient Participation Group. He said hundreds of thousands of visitors came to Cornwall in the peak season each week but "we only have limited healthcare facilities". "I wanted to make sure that if visitors do get sick they do have access to healthcare without overloading the facilities that we've already got." Susan Bracefield, who is the chief nursing officer at the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board, said: "It's fantastic what they're doing in Port Isaac and we'd like more GP practices to spread the message that you don't want to be waiting for hours in our emergency department in Truro. "We have a lot of visitors coming into our county and welcome they are too, so we plan for the summer to make sure everyone gets the healthcare they need when they come to the county." In 2023, NHS managers in Cornwall produced a video showing health professionals at some of Cornwall's best known tourist spots explaining the best way to access healthcare for people visiting. Dr Martin Ellingham was played by Martin Clunes in the Doc Martin TV series that was set in the fictional village of Portwenn, which was Port Isaac. Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ More on this story Work to save Doc Martin beach from disappearing Gearing up for bumper year as tourism hopes rise Busiest summer putting pressure on services Doc Martin village 'at risk' from damaged harbour Related internet links Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board
BBC News
21-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Doc Martin village plea to tourists to help Cornwall's NHS
A GP practice in Cornwall has issued leaflets explaining how tourists can keep pressure off NHS frontline services during the summer holidays. A GP from Port Isaac, the village made famous by its use as a location for the TV series Doc Martin, said in previous summers the practice was asked for hundreds of appointments by patients registered with different NHS said the emergency department at Cornwall's only major hospital, based in Truro, saw demand go up by 10% during August each year and the proportion of non residents that attended more than Isaac Practice has urged visitors to go to pharmacies, use minor injury units and call NHS 111. Nick Hearle, a GP at Port Isaac Surgery, said in previous years "nearly 1,000 appointments every year [were] taken up with temporary residents".He said he was not "anti-tourist" and added: "Being ill on holiday can be really bad but we always recommend to phone your own GP first because they know your history and have all your records." The leaflet was produced by John Quilter from the Port Isaac Practice Patient Participation said hundreds of thousands of visitors came to Cornwall in the peak season each week but "we only have limited healthcare facilities"."I wanted to make sure that if visitors do get sick they do have access to healthcare without overloading the facilities that we've already got." Susan Bracefield, who is the chief nursing officer at the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board, said: "It's fantastic what they're doing in Port Isaac and we'd like more GP practices to spread the message that you don't want to be waiting for hours in our emergency department in Truro."We have a lot of visitors coming into our county and welcome they are too, so we plan for the summer to make sure everyone gets the healthcare they need when they come to the county."In 2023, NHS managers in Cornwall produced a video showing health professionals at some of Cornwall's best known tourist spots explaining the best way to access healthcare for people visiting. Dr Martin Ellingham was played by Martin Clunes in the Doc Martin TV series that was set in the fictional village of Portwenn, which was Port Isaac.
The Sun
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Our UK seaside village is inundated with tourists after TV show made us globally famous – it's forcing us out our home
A POPULAR TV show is forcing residents to leave their picturesque coastal village - because it has become a mecca for tourists. Residents in the Cornish village of Port Isaac have fumed that droves of Doc Martin fans arriving each year have made their town unlivable. 9 9 9 Tens of thousands of 'Clunatics' - the nickname for fans of the show and star Martin Clunes - flock to the peaceful fishing village annually. During the summer months, the town's narrow winding lanes are so crowded that locals steer clear of the historic harbour. Fans from the UK, USA, Australia and mainland Europe has turned the once quiet village into an international tourism hub. To some in Port Isaac, this has brought new opportunities including walking tours, cafes and merchandise shops. 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. But locals have suggested that their home has become a "victim of its popularity". Over the past two decades, house prices in the area - renamed Port Wenn on the show - have quadrupled. Mum-of-two Anne Wilce, 44, a lifelong Port Isaac resident, told how it had become "unrecognisable". She fumed: 'It is horrific, there is no affordable housing available for anybody now. 'My sons are 19 and 22 and they won't ever be able to afford to buy a house at this rate. 'Without more affordable housing in the village the younger generation will move away because there is nothing here for them. 'My house is 30 years old and it's part of the last affordable housing that has been built here. 'I don't go down to the village centre, I have no reason to because it's all second homes. "Even when something does come up for sale it's ridiculously priced - nobody around here can afford it. 'Doc Martin brought a whole load of money into the village which has created jobs for people and helped this community. "But it is also a victim of its popularity and it doesn't feel like our village any more.' Tourism has long since overtaken fishing as Port Isaac's main industry. Local businesses have thrived as a result of the town's worldwide fame. 9 9 9 John Cleave, who was brought up in the village and 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. "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." The British comedy-drama first aired in 2004. On the outer edge of the village - next to Port Isaac's real GP surgery - sits a small housing estate containing some of the village's only affordable homes. They were constructed around 30 years ago and according to residents they were the last affordable homes built in the village. There are now just two active fishing boats remaining in the village - compared with 174 holiday lets on Airbnb alone. In the past year, semi-detached properties in Port Isaac sold for an average of £810,000, with terraced properties fetching £616,250, according to Rightmove. Shop worker Elisha Scott, 19, and her family have lived in the area for 10 years. She said: 'Nobody my age can afford to rent let alone buy a house here, all my friends still live with their parents. 'I'm not really thinking about house prices though because I don't think I'll stay here for a long time, there just aren't the job opportunities. 'Doc Martin definitely made a difference to Port Isaac, there are always fans of the show looking around the village. "What has come with that is a lot of people buying second homes here which has made it too expensive for locals.' Earlier this month a new plan was unveiled to build more affordable homes for local people. Tre Haven Community Land Trust (CLT) has started negotiations with Cornwall Council to purchase land for 25 affordable housing developments. The proposal has support from the area's Lib Dem MP Ben Maguire and local celebrity chef Nathan Outlaw. But critics point out the site sits on a main road several miles from the village - with almost no public transport links to shops or schools. Unemployed Ciaran Patching, 20, said: 'It took me two years of searching and I feel incredibly lucky to be here, before that I was living with my mum in the town. 'I would love to be able to buy my own house here but it doesn't feel like that will ever be an option at the moment. 'Port Isaac is definitely very popular in summer but in winter it can be dead. "The popularity of Doc Martin has helped a lot of businesses around here but it has made it hard for year round residents.' 9 9 9
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Fisherman's Friends to host new festival in Cornwall
Fisherman's Friends are set to stage their own festival next year - as their popularity now makes it impossible for them to perform in their home village in Cornish folk group has announced plans to host the first Fisherman's Friends Festival in May sea shanty band from Port Isaac, who have been performing together since 1995, can no longer perform in the village as "too many people turn up for it to be safe".But, having previously played the main stage at Glastonbury and the Royal Albert Hall, they said a festival seemed "like a natural progression" for them. A spokesman for the band said: "The guys are no longer able to perform on The Platt in Port Isaac because of health and safety - too many people turn up - and every show they headline in their home county sells out really fast. "Creating their own festival seems like a good way to give people an authentic taste of the authentic FF vibe, while showcasing the Cornwall they love."Fisherman's Friends went from singing in their local pub to having a top 10 UK album, a movie made about them and also a member Jon Cleave said it would be a "brand new festival down in the very heart of our wondrous county at Stithians, in what promises to be a Cornish occasion for all friends you've known for years and for all those you've yet to meet."Jools Holland OBE and his 20 piece Rhythm & Blues Orchestra will perform as well as Mercury Prize winner Kate Rusby, Celtic band Skipinnish and will be able to camp and enjoy local foods, drinks and festival will take place at the Stithians Showground on Friday 22 until Sunday 24 May 2026.
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Beloved British drama is getting a US remake with Emmy nominated actor set to take over iconic role as fumbling practitioner
Hit ITV drama Doc Martin is set for a US remake without Martin Clunes, who played the grumpy GP for nearly two decades. Instead Emmy nominated actor Josh Charles, famous for TV series The Handmaid's Tale and The Good Wife, will take over as the miserable medic. The Fox network will remake the iconic show, but set it on the east coast of the US instead of Cornwall. It will also change its name to Best Medicine. Nevertheless Clunes, 63, who featured in all ten seasons of the primetime hit – which regularly drew in over eight million viewers – is already well known and popular in the US as the UK show is a huge hit on the PBS Network. In the UK version – filmed in Port Isaac – Clunes plays the character of Doctor Martin Ellingham, a surgeon who quits his glittering career in London to inexplicably take up the role of GP in the fictional village of Portwenn, where he enjoyed childhood holidays. His cold and unemotional manner alienates locals while they are impressed by his medical expertise. He gradually comes to be accepted in Portwenn as more is revealed about his past – including his phobia of blood which has blighted his stellar career. In Best Medicine, the identical plot centres on Doctor Martin Best, played by Charles and described as 'a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child'. The tagline continues: 'Martin's blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, and he quickly alienates the town, even though he's all they've got.' In the UK version of the popular show – filmed in Port Isaac, Cornwall – Martin Clunes, 63, plays the character of Doctor Martin Ellingham (pictured), a surgeon who quits his glittering career in London to inexplicably take up the role of GP in the fictional village of Portwenn As fans of the original show will know, the locals don't know that the doctor's frosty demeanour masks a 'debilitating new phobia and deep-seated psychological issues that prevent him from experiencing true intimacy with anyone'. Best Medicine will mark the seventh international adaptation of the British series, which has 'resonated worldwide with its humanity, originality and humour', according to President of Fox Television Network Michael Thorn. Doc Martin ran on ITV between 2004 and 2022. Clunes recently refused to reveal if he would return to the role, suggesting: 'I'm almost at the age where a GP has to retire, you see. Eighteen years of private medicine!'
