Fox’s ‘Best Medicine’ Adds ‘Doc Martin’ Star in Guest Role

Fox’s midseason series Best Medicine is based on the beloved British show Doc Martin. The show’s latest casting will make the connection even more concrete.

Martin Clunes, who played the title character on Doc Martin, has signed on for a guest role in Best Medicine — though not as the British doctor he played for 10 seasons spanning almost 20 years. Instead, Clunes will play Dr. Robert Best, the father of lead character Dr. Martin Best (Josh Charles).

Robert is an accomplished but headstrong gastroenterologist whose demeanor makes Martin’s prickly bedside manner seem warm by comparison. He arrives in the New England town where Martin has moved after giving up his surgical career in Boston and puts everyone on edge, including his estranged sister and Martin’s aunt (Annie Potts). “But underneath his snobby, stone-cold exterior,” the character descripition reads, “Robert is hiding a few secrets of his own that could turn Martin’s new life upside down, and force him to confront his past.”

The Best Medicine cast also includes Abigail Spencer, Josh Segarra, Cree, Didi Conn, Clea Lewis, Stephen Spinella, Jason Veasey, John DiMaggio, Carter Shimp and Cindy De La Cruz.

Fox Entertainment studios produces Best Medicine. Liz Tuccillo executive produces with Ben Silverman, Rodney Ferrell and Howard T. Owens of Propagate Content and Doc Martin EPs Marc Crowdy and Philippa Braithwaite.

Along with Doc Martin, Clunes’ credits include the BBC’s Men Behaving Badly, ITV’s Manhunt (which streamed on Acorn TV in the U.S.) and a 2018 miniseries adaptation of Vanity Fair. He’ll next be seen in Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights feature film.