Embedded Files
The Garden of Paradise. Well the film is called Saving Grace and spawned Doc Martin which is very popular with Australians for some reason. Not many people know that three years after the success of Saving Grace they made a film for TV called Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie 2003.
One of my favourite scenes from the brilliantly funny British movie "Saving Grace" (2000) features Brenda Blethyn and Craig Ferguson sitting on the cliffs right here completely stoned and roaring with laughter as they look out over this view.
This is the magical view of Port Isaac Bay from just above the Tintagel Youth Hostel; looking down the coast towards Port Isaac and The Rumps (far left). Park at the church for free and walk across to it! A friend was out in a small rib a couple of years ago just by the island and joined a pod of about 100 dolphins which he followed for an hour or so. His was the only boat in the bay and I didn't believe him until he showed me the footage on his phone of his daughter swimming with them
Leslie Philips who played the vicar in Saving Grace (2000) died 7 November 2022, aged 98. Saving Grace was not his last last acting role and he featured in at least three Harry Potter films as the Sorting Hat's voice up until 2012. The Sorting Hat selected which of the four Hogwarts' houses students were assigned – Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin.
May 2017
Yesterday Doc Martin was in Pentireglaze Haven filming right by the North Cornwall Coast Path. So close that walkers had to stop while cameras rolled.
The Cornwall air ambulance dropped by in the morning too and may be part of a storyline.
The film units are currently seen mostly around Port Isaac but have even been down to Falmouth this year as the tides and currents in the Camel estuary round the corner are always a bit fast and tricky.
The south coast was used as an easier stand-in for some shots of the Doc out in an estuary and use was made of some WW2 D-day embarkation zones to get the filming done on calm and quiet water.
This is the eighth series and based on the classic British comedy film Saving Grace. The Doctor, played by Martin Clunes in both, is called Dr. Martin Bamford in the film and Dr. Martin Ellingham in the series. Doc Martin will be filmed until 2019 and brings many people to North Cornwall from all over the world...even Australians!
Martin Clunes looking smart outside the house at Baby Bay. His entire wardrobe consists of suits and shirts; the only time he is not in a suit is at bedtime.
Jan 2022
I was sitting with Mark Crowdy, of Doc Martin fame, on the wall outside Anne's Cottage at the weekend wondering at the amazing changes we have seen in the last few years. The low wall we sat on used to be part of the old Polzeath petrol station but now even that is long gone. Rob Harris, who sadly died in October 2021, used to work at the filling station between 1964-1966 and then, with his wife, started the shop that now is famous among surfers all over the country.
Polzeath lovers will know that The Spar and shops have become multi-storey and the original old Ann's Cottage itself, centre of this photo, is now glass fronted multi storey houses overlooking the newly tarmacked carpark which fronts onto the Lifeguards' building at the edge of the old sand dunes.
Everything else now is housing, shops, car parks, and more housing and caravan parks.
A friend of mine thinks that we should build a pier out to sea and introduce slot machines but I think he might have been joking.
Mark tells me that Doc Martin is starting filming next month and that this really is for the very last time!
Dec 2022
The Doc Martin Christmas special will be broadcast on ITV1 at 9:05pm on Christmas Day. Today!
That’ll finally bring down the curtain on the show that somehow started and ended in New Polzeath.
Started perhaps by my mother growing this plant in her back garden in New Polzeath and inviting all her WI friends around to see it.
I was In Australia at the time and had sent her some seeds to try out. I only heard about it when my brother in law put it on the bonfire and told her what it was. That’s the legal profession for you, he’s a solicitor.
At the start of the year, just before my inspirational mother passed away, the film crews were back in New Polzeath using the house Medla on Baby Bay for the Christmas special…which you can see tonight.
Happy viewing!
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