Doc Martin – Going Bodmin

Doctor Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) has given up his career as an eminent London surgeon and retrained as a GP. A vacancy arises in the Cornish village of Portwenn following the death of the local doctor. Martin has fond memories of the little fishing port where he spent happy childhood holidays with his Aunt Joan, and makes the move south-west some 30 years since his last visit.

Flying down to interview for the post, Martin takes a close interest in a woman whom he is sitting opposite. His intense scrutiny unsettles the woman and she moves down the cabin, after a few annoyed words.

When he arrives to be interviewed, he finds the woman is schoolteacher Louisa Glasson, the lay member of the interviewing panel. Louisa is particularly tough in her questioning of Martin. As he leaves the interview Louisa begins to offer a stern warning on his conduct in the village – and Martin advises Louisa to see an eye specialist as he has detected acute glaucoma.

However, Martin quickly finds that the idyllic seaside life he had imagined is not forthcoming: the interview was the easy part. He is faced with hostile locals unwilling to play by his rules, a surgery out of the 1850s, crazed drivers, a stray dog, annoying youths – and a curious case of local men growing breasts. All before helping to wreck the marriage of two pillars of the community.

He’s not even formally opened his practice yet, and Doctor Ellingham has already had more than he can take of Portwenn…

Source: British Comedy Guide

Hugh Laurie, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Shappi Khorsandi at the Graham Norton Show

Watch the video and answer the following questions (from minute 01:00 to 05:10)

  1. Why does Hugh Laurie think his show (House, MD) is difficult to translate to other languages?
  2. Why did German fans start tearing up photographs and throwing them at his face?
  3. What is the German expression for “boo”?
  4. Why doesn’t Hugh Laurie agree with the idea that he’s losing his British accent?
  5. Does Robert Pattinson speak in American accent when he is in America? If so, why?
  6. What happens to Robert when he speaks in British accent in America? Give an example.
  7. What two things does Reese’s mother still think are true about Hugh Laurie?