Returning: Doc Martin

Season 9 of Doc Martin begins on ABC in early February.

This season screened in the UK from September. Yet while ITV has not announced whether the show has been cancelled, immediately after airing the finale it said publicly, “Goodbye, Doc! We’ll miss you.”

Martin Clunes returns to play the nation’s favourite grumpy medic in a brand new series of Doc Martin. He stars as Dr Martin Ellingham, the GP with a brusque bedside manner and a phobia of blood, in eight new episodes of the successful drama produced by Buffalo Pictures, and set in the idyllic hamlet of Portwenn in Cornwall.

Picturesque Port Isaac provides the beautiful backdrop for the popular series, with all regular members of the cast reprising their roles.

Caroline Catz plays Doc Martin’s wife, Louisa Ellingham, who has resigned from her job as headmistress at the local school to pursue a new career in child counselling.

Returning to this ninth series, Dame Eileen Atkins plays Doc Martin’s formidable Aunt Ruth. Ian McNeice is back to play Bert Large, with Joe Absolom as his son Al . John Marquez is PC Joe Penhale, Jessica Ransom is the doctor’s receptionist Morwenna Newcross and Selina Cadell is pharmacist Mrs Tishell.

They are joined by special guest stars Danny Huston, Conleth Hill, Caroline Quentin and Tom Conti. Danny plays Robert Brooke, a man who is shot by a farmer who thinks he is stealing eggs. Caroline returns to the series to star as vet Angela Sim, Conleth plays a GP who comes to assess Martin and Tom Conti plays Bernard Newton, an eminent surgeon who is also assessing the Doc.

In the first episode of this new series Dr Martin Ellingham’s (Martin Clunes) career is hanging in the balance. His future as a GP is under scrutiny from the General Medical Council following complaints about his irascible approach to patients, and his blood phobia.

7.30pm Saturday 8 February on ABC.