Caroline Catz

Haven't we been here, done this before? There's a strong sense of déjà-vu wafting in the sea breeze over Portwenn as wedding bells ring out for the second time to celebrate the happy union of Doc Martin (Martin Clunes) and the long-suffering Louisa (Caroline Catz).

As the sixth series opens for business, they're taking a second stab at tying the knot after their plans unravelled back in series three.

Quite why Louisa has shown such dogged devotion to miserable Martin is a bit of a mystery. Yes, he's got a certain inept charm but he's a grumpy old man before his time. Perhaps the prospect of Happy Ever After will put a smile on his face.

It's two years since we last saw flinty curmudgeon Dr Martin Ellingham and when we return to the pretty Cornish village of Portwenn nothing has changed - he's still a miserable git. Even the prospect of his much-anticipated wedding to his beloved Louisa doesn't put a song in his heart. The couple's first attempt at matrimony fell apart, but at last they are successful (this isn't a spoiler, the nuptials are in the opening minutes).

The ceremony is smartly dispatched by a very impatient groom and we spend the rest of the episode with the happy couple (Martin Clunes and Caroline Catz) as they confront a string of disasters on a hopeless honeymoon. There's not much of a story, just a series of increasingly weird and barely credible incidents. Back home Aunty Ruth (splendid Eileen Atkins) is babysitting, and has her fair share of troubles, too.

Martin Clunes and Caroline Catz shine

It's fair to say that Doc Martin will never be a critically acclaimed piece of work, but the drama is full of well-crafted characters and brilliant spots of comic timing.

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The Cornish whimsy continues tonight as Martin (Martin Clunes) and Louisa (Caroline Catz) discover that having a baby can actually cause a surprising number of arguments. They tackle his christening (Martin books it without consulting Louisa), who should return to work and whether the child should go to boarding school one day. Meanwhile PC Penhale (John Marquez) seeks to stop his recently unearthed wife Maggie (Julie Graham) leaving the village and school caretaker Mr Coley (Brian Pettifer) goes completely gaga.

Whilst the rest of Port Wenn gears up for the village fun run, the doc remains as curmudgeonly as ever ("sprains, tendonitis, dehydration, dislodged testicles, cardiac arrest, sounds like a lot of fun"). The event sparks culinary rivalry between local restaurant owners Bert (Ian McNeice) and Mark (Tom Goodman-Hill). Both battle it out to provide bargain meals for spectators. Meanwhile Louisa (Caroline Catz) gets a surprise visit from an unwelcome guest. Her hippyish mother Eleanor (Louise Jameson) turns up at the surgery and announces she's staying.

Mild shocks aplenty this episode. Doc (Martin Clunes) temporarily ditches his move to London and agrees to stay at the surgery. Louisa (Caroline Catz) finally agrees to move in with him. And the Doc uses his aunt's funeral to dish out a lecture on the dangers of fatty food. Even so, PC Penhale craves some proper crime action though. "I'd settle for a suicide," he sighs.

Cornwall's grumpiest GP moves to a new home on Monday night - but the big question is whether he'll be making good on his threat to move to London.

Of course he won't. The idea of the blood-phobic doctor taking up a post as a surgeon was laughable and now he has a baby with Louisa, (Caroline Catz) there's even more reason to stay.

Not that he sees it that way in the slightest. Oh no. As loyal fans of the show will know, the good doctor must always be gently chivvied into following the script for normal human behaviour - despite himself.

His brain simply hasn't been programmed for complex social ­interactions and the possibility that his grouchiness is in fact down to ­Asperger's syndrome is ­almost ­impossible to ignore tonight.

Just watch the way that he holds his baby son like an unexploded bomb, or hear how he refers to people by their ailments rather than by name and the diagnosis becomes clearly obvious.

But don't expect the new GP to spot it. The incoming Dr Dibbs (Getting On star Joanna Scanlan) has already installed herself in his surgery and she has enough ailments of her own to worry about him.

But as Martin Clunes stays put for series five, two other cast members won't be returning.

Katherine Parkinson (who played dippy ­receptionist Pauline) has moved on and there's some news about auntie Joan that's so shocking, the doctor almost registers a flicker of emotion. But it is almost.

Plans to quit Cornwall and resume his career as a consultant in London are put on hold by curmudgeonly family doctor Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) following the birth of the baby he fathered with his now estranged teacher partner Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz).

In the return of this popular drama for a fifth series, Dr Ellingham moves in with Louisa to help look after his son while Dr Diana Dibbs takes over his role at the surgery.

However it's not long before Dr Ellingham suspects that the nervous Dr Dibbs is not up to the job when she misdiagnoses a patient and prescribes inappropriate drugs.
What will his next step be?

The charmless, socially inept, emotionally disconnected, rude and unpleasant Dr Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) returns as a new dad for a fifth series of this much-loved chunk of escapism.

His dim schoolteacher lover Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz) has just given birth to a baby boy (we pick up exactly where we left off at the end of the previous series in 2009), temporarily halting the Doc's escape to a new job in London. Cradling the mite as if it's a missile that could go off at any moment, Martin finds he can't let go of Portwenn and his old job, particularly as his replacement, Dr Dibbs (The Thick of It's Joanna Scanlan) is nervous and her overbearing husband (Robert Dawes) is insufferable.

I suppose part of Doc Martin's charm is its predictability, so you'll be able to see exactly where all this is heading, as the episode, eschewing all the rules of drama (a plot, an engaging lead character), potters along in the Cornish sunshine.