Where was Doc Martin filmed?

How Port Isaac became Portwenn

Doc Martin follows Dr Martin Ellingham, a brilliant London surgeon who develops a fear of blood and retreats to a Cornish village as its GP. ITV broadcast ten series between September 2004 and October 2022, ending with a Christmas special that December. Buffalo Pictures made the series, and from the start it was built around one real place: Port Isaac on the north Cornish coast, which plays the fictional village of Portwenn.

Port Isaac does almost all of the work. Its harbour, the open square above the slipway known as the Platt, and the steep lanes of slate-hung cottages are in nearly every episode. Fern Cottage on Roscarrock Hill, looking across the harbour, is the outside of Martin's home and surgery. The Golden Lion on the harbour front is the Crab & Lobster pub. Ordinary buildings were dressed with temporary signs to become the village shop, Mrs Tishell's chemist and the fruit and veg shop, and private houses in the village played the homes of Louisa and Aunt Ruth.

The rooms are another matter. Most interiors, including the surgery, were built as sets in a converted barn at Roscarrock Manor Farm outside the village. That farm is private and has no tour, so there is no Doc Martin set to visit. The good news is that the outside world of the series has changed very little: you can stand on the Platt, walk up Roscarrock Hill and recognise the view at once.

A few stories take the series beyond the village. Half a mile east, the cove at Port Gaverne supplied coastal scenes, and a National Trust cottage there played the Police House. To the west, the folly of Doyden Castle above Port Quin is where Mrs Tishell hides with baby James in the Series 5 finale. Inland, Pencarrow near Bodmin is the country house where Martin and Louisa's first date goes wrong in Series 3, and St Nonna's Church in Altarnun is where they finally marry at the start of Series 6.

Port Isaac is a working fishing village and a busy one in summer. The best visit starts early or late in the day, parks at the top of the village and walks down. Several of the screen buildings are homes or holiday lets: look from the street, keep doorways clear and move on. This guide does not pin or name the private homes used for Louisa's and Aunt Ruth's houses, and residents can ask for anything here to be corrected or removed.