Popular U.K. dramedy “Doc Martin” is coming stateside. Fox has given a series order to “Best Medicine,” a one-hour comedy series starring Josh Charles as doctor Martin Best, which will debut during the 2025-2026 season.
Per the official series description, Martin is “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. Unfortunately, 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. Although Martin can expertly address any medical ailment or mystery in this idiosyncratic town, he’s really just desperate to be left the hell alone. Instead, he keeps getting dragged right smack into the middle of their personal chaos, feuds and fantasies. What the locals don’t know is that Martin’s terse demeanor masks a debilitating new phobia and deep-seated psychological issues that prevent him from experiencing true intimacy with anyone. But tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered.”
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“Best Medicine” is executive produced by Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens, Rodney Ferrell, Liz Tuccillo, Mark Crowdy and Philippa Braithwaite. In the U.K., “Doc Martin” was produced by Buffalo Pictures in association with Homerun Film Productions. The format, from All3Media International, was brought to the U.S. by Propagate Content.
“The story of Doc Martin has resonated worldwide with its humanity, originality and humor, and with ‘Best Medicine’ coming to FOX, that eccentricity gets a smalltown America spin, complete with idyllic charm and absurdity,” said Michael Thorn, president of Fox Television Network. “Liz, Mark, Philippa, Ben and Rodney have done a terrific job adapting this signature character for the Fox audience, especially in casting the terrifically talented Josh Charles as our lead.”
“The entire Propagate team is thrilled to be working with Fox Entertainment on this extraordinary adaptation by Liz Tuccillo of the global hit Doc Martin,” said Silverman. “Josh Charles is the perfect lead for this brilliantly character-driven comedic procedural. ‘Best Medicine’ is a world we’ll all want to be part of.”
News of “Best Medicine” comes ahead of Fox’s upfront presentation to ad buyers in New York next week. Deadline was first to report on the greenlight.
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