Doc Martin star Martin Clunes lays into Labour as his £3m farm faces inheritance tax raid | UK | News | EUROtoday

It’s not simple being critical if you’re chatting with Martin Clunes. There is an innate humour to the person which is, in fact, why he’s made so successful of comedy creations, together with beer-guzzling loafer Gary within the nineties sitcom Men Behaving Badly and crotchety Dr Martin Ellingham in drama-comedy Doc Martin.

But he can do critical, too, as he proved when he took on the function of real-life Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton in two collection of crime drama Manhunt.

And it’s the intense stuff we occur to be mulling over – farming, to be exact. Martin and his TV producer spouse Philippa Braithwaite purchased their 130-acre farm in Dorset 18 years in the past for £3million, which means it will likely be accountable for inheritance tax underneath new authorities laws.

Unlike some in his career, Martin’s not recognized for wading into politics however this difficulty is just too private, too uncooked, for him to remain silent.

When requested for his ideas in regards to the Government’s controversial measure, which the Daily Express has been campaigning in opposition to in our Save Britain’s Family Farms campaign, there’s a pause, adopted by a sigh.

“It’s sad that many farms that have been in the same family for generations will have to be sold,” he says. “Farming is basically missed.

“I’m not sure how focused this Government is on matters rural, or ever has been. Traditionally farming has not been that important to Labour. There’s something else that upsets me more than the inheritance tax thing, though.”

Politically or just in general? It turns out it’s the former.

“It’s the impact of national insurance rises on employers,” he continues. “I’m involved with the Weldmar Hospice down here in Dorset, and I’m a patron of our Julia’s House children’s hospice. That’s about a quarter of a million pounds they’ve now got to take away from their services to pay the contributions, and money is tight as it is.

“I’d love to have heard the conversations where people thought that was OK in a sector that only gets 30% of its support from the NHS. Coupled with the farming inheritance tax issue, it all looks a bit ‘f-off and die’. Anyway… sorry, where were we?”

Farming! It kinds the backdrop of his newest ITV drama Out There, set within the stunning Welsh countryside. Martin performs a widowed farmer who takes on the county traces drug sellers exploiting susceptible youngsters in his neighborhood.

The time period county traces refers back to the transportation of unlawful medicine throughout native authority boundaries by gangs who coerce kids or susceptible folks into doing it to evade detection by police.

Martin’s on-screen son Johnny – performed by Louis Ashbourne Serkis, the son of actor Andy Serkis – is sucked into this harmful world.

Martin confesses he didn’t know loads in regards to the worrying follow till tv bosses requested him to doc it on display in a drama.

“I’d heard about the phenomenon, of course, but when Ed Whitmore, the writer, and Marc Evans, the director, approached us with it as an idea, it seemed like a story worth telling,” he says. “We researched the whole county lines problem together.

“While Out There is a work of fiction, the way that business model operates is represented accurately because the research was so thorough. It’s shocking – especially the stabbings.

“There is a story of at least one county lines-connected stabbing every day in the news, and the way these kids are used as a disposable workforce is chilling and very frightening. It’s a very well thought out, very nasty business – and it’s hidden in plain sight.”

Can he elaborate?

“It’s a kid in a hoodie on a bicycle. That’s what it looks like. That’s why it’s so clever. Almost subliminal. Unless you sit in a car and watch the movements of that kid on a bike, you presume it’s just a kid on a bike – but it might not be,” he says.

“Many of the kids who are recruited are vulnerable and, or, have conditions like autism. What I didn’t realise – and what many people may not know – is that these kids aren’t seduced by the ‘glamour’ of crime. They get tricked and trapped – like they do in our story – and then worse goes on.”

He references the practice of cuckooing, where a gang takes over the home of a vulnerable person who is living independently. “It’s endemic across the country and it’s terrifying,” he says.

Martin hopes Out There will bring the county lines phenomenon to the forefront of people’s minds. But it’s clear from talking to him that he’s just as passionate about standing up for farmers.

And that’s because he knows from first-hand experience how tough an existence it is. When he first bought his farm, he tried to run it as a proper working concern.

“We had loads of sheep and cattle and I loved it, but I just couldn’t do it and still have my day job,” he admits with a glum face.

“I had to face the economics of it, square-on. What you see on Jeremy Clarkson’s Clarkson’s Farm programme is pretty much on the money.

“His portrayal of farming makes farmers feel they’ve been heard, but I wish more people were listening to them. There’s not a huge appetite for understanding rural life.”

Martin was born and bred in London but has found contentment in the countryside, especially on his own land.

“It’s my favourite place in the world. I can go for weeks without leaving the farm,” he says.

“I like being connected to the seasons in a real way. Making hay, worrying about the grass, watching the leaves come and go, caring for the animals. I am really happy there and never get lonely. I like travelling, and am lucky enough to have been to and worked in some amazing places but I’ve always got an eye on coming home.”

He and Philippa are parents to Emily, 25, an event horse rider who is studying to become an equine vet. But he also has a growing brood of four-legged and feathered friends running free at home. He lists them all.

“I’ve got five dogs, two cats, nine hens, seven horses and three cattle on the farm. We’re going to get some more cattle soon. I really enjoy producing – as well as eating – beef and I’ll be going to market and getting more cows. Proper cattle farming makes me feel like part of the community down here.”

When Martin moved to Bridgport, one of the first people he met was local butcher Phil Frampton. Farming relies on a healthy eco-system to thrive, to which Martin enjoys being a contributor.

“I know my cattle are well looked after,” he explains. “They get a vet when they’re sick, and they’ve got a lovely view and we grow nice grass for them to eat, too. So, they have a really, really great life. Then one bad day riding in a trailer.”

Martin and Philippa married in 1997 and have an equally fruitful relationship away from the farm.

All of Martin’s TV dramas and travelogues are made by the couple’s production company Buffalo Pictures. For some couples, working together causes problems within their relationship but Martin seems to thrive on it.

“That’s because I just do what she tells me,” he laughs.

“Seriously, it’s the way it’s always been for us and it’s fine. We met because we were working together. All I know is that I’m happiest when Philippa’s by my side. The subject of work does crop up at home at times but we do very different things on the shows we work on and we’re also partners in so many other things.”

He adds: “There’s so much else that goes on between us to talk about – our grown-up daughter Emily, the farm, our animals.”

Martin will, of course, be forever remembered for the perennially popular Doc Martin. Over a period of 18 years, ten series of the Cornwall-based comedy drama were made, plus a Christmas episode.

Considering the runaway success of the recent Gavin and Stacey festive episode, is he at all tempted to bring the Doc back? Even if it’s just for a seasonal special.

He shakes his head.

“It was probably the best job I’ve ever had but it was time to end it when we did. We cancelled it ourselves. We didn’t want to start repeating story lines,” he smiles.

However, Martin tells us he’s lately revisited Men Behaving Badly “in a roundabout way”. What? He’s made an “Old Men Behaving Badly?”

“God no!” he exclaims. “We can never ever go back there. I’m 63! It would be tragic. No, Neil Morrissey and I have made a three-part travel show for U&Gold called Neil and Martin’s Bon Voyage.”

It seems Neil lives in France and, within the present, he exhibits Martin round.

“We travelled around south west France and did all kinds of cool things – met a Pyrenees Mountain Dog in the Pyrenees, ate in Michelin starred restaurants, fished for tuna, rode horses in the Camargue, and drove around in a car trying to make each other laugh,” he continues.

“We succeeded. We always make each other laugh. Always did. When we see each other, we just pick up where we left off. It was also great complaining about our aches and pains and what we can and can’t do.”

There’s additionally one other travelogue within the can, The Islands of the Atlantic, which is able to broadcast in some unspecified time in the future this 12 months. And, await it… he’s additionally about to start out work on a big-budget film!

“I’m very excited. I can’t say anything about it yet but it’s a massive production and to think that this old bloke off the telly is in it is just brilliant,” he enthuses.

“One of the biggest stars in the world at the moment is in it, too. And, er, I don’t mean me!”

• Out There begins at 9pm on January 19 on ITV and ITV X