Oh, Martin... What have you done?
As it’s revealed Martin Clunes tried to claim tax back on cosmetic work he wanted to keep secret
THERE’S nothing new in the revelation that actors feel they have to look good in order to win roles — and that some even go under the knife to preserve their film-star charm.
What’s more surprising, perhaps, is that Martin Clunes is the latest celebrity to succumb to the lure of cosmetic enhancement.
The 55- year- old has, after all, built his impressive TV career in hits such as Doc Martin and Men Behaving Badly on his characterful, rubbery features and famous jug-ears.
Yet it emerged this weekend that Clunes has gone to court to argue for the cost of a mystery treatment set against his income tax, insisting he needed it ‘for the purposes of his acting trade’. he added that it was ‘ intimately connected with his work’.
The embarrassing story came out after hMrC disallowed the expense, and a judge dismissed Clunes’s application to keep his identity secret to spare his blushes.
But what on earth, everyone is asking, has he had done? There’s no doubt his appearance today is somewhat different to just two years ago, with smoother skin, a trimmer waist and whiter teeth, but could that just be down to good maintenance?
Although he once said that he feared he would lose work because of his appearance, he had seemingly grown to love his quirky looks.
‘I never intended to be a leading man because I’m tall and odd-looking,’ he said. ‘And I’m certainly no sex symbol. I’ve always played oddballs or an undertaker or a nasty doctor or a silly flatmate — but not Mr handsome saves The Day.’
he’s also professed himself to be no fan of cosmetic surgery in the past, saying: ‘I don’t know what the pressure is, it is weird, isn’t it? It is always the prettiest actresses who go and butcher themselves.’
Perhaps he’s been tempted by the astonishing rise in the number of men having cosmetic surgery — procedures have doubled in a decade, from eye lifts to nose jobs. Or maybe he’s been inspired by celebrities such as simon Cowell, who has made no secret of his love of Botox.
so can you spot what he’s had done? And what do our panel of experts think? here, we examine the evidence . . .
BRING ON THE BOTOX
IN A photo taken last month, the actor certainly looked fresher in the face than he once did. In 2015, he was beset with deep forehead lines thanks to his habit of dramatically raising his eyebrows, which causes the skin surface to form trenches. he has also admitted to smoking, which accelerates ageing of the skin.
But fast forward two years and Clunes’ forehead is wrinkle-free, if somewhat shiny.
‘The most striking thing is that his forehead, which was lined in previous pictures, is now very smooth. It makes him look rejuvenated,’ says Dr Ali soueid, consultant aesthetic plastic surgeon for the skin and Follicle Clinic in Birmingham. ‘This suggests he’s had Botox.’
A course of the treatment — which smooths wrinkles by temporarily paralysing the underlying muscles — can cost up to £500.
Dr David Jack, a harley street aesthetic doctor, agrees, adding: ‘It may be Botox, or it could be a dermal filler to plump out the skin there and fill deep wrinkles.’ LIKELIHOOD: 5/5
STUFF THE TURKEY NECK
As We age, loose skin around the neck often starts to droop and sag — yet Martin’s jawline is astonishingly youthful and firm.
‘he may have had a neck lift,’ says Dr soueid. ‘In previous pictures you can see neck laxity and platysmal excess — that’s the bit of loose skin that hangs down that is often called “turkey neck”.
‘But in these new pictures, it seems that the excess platysma has been removed and the neck looks tighter.
‘It’s a complicated procedure that usually costs around £6,000 and takes a week or so of recovery. But the results can immediately make you look more rejuvenated.’
Cosmetic specialist Dr Natalie Blakely, who founded the Light Touch clinic in surrey, suggests that he could have achieved this result
with a non- invasive process called Ultracel, which costs around £3,500.
‘This is a combination of radio frequency and ultrasound that he could have had on his jawline and double chin. He now has a nicely defined jawline and less heaviness around the chin,’ she says. LIKELIHOOD: 3/5
LIFT THOSE BAGS
WHile Martin still has some wrinkles and crow’s feet around his eyes, they appear somewhat minimised in the latest pictures.
Dr David Jack says it possibly suggests that he could have had a gentle treatment here to lift the look of under- eye bags without ruining his cheery, familiar look. ‘i suspect he may have had some Botox and volume replacement using fillers in his midface,’ he explains. ‘ Definitely the lines round his eyes look softer.
‘However, the eyelids look the same so blepharoplasty — eye lift — is unlikely.’ LIKELIHOOD: 3/5
LEAVE THE EARS
THey’re the feature that makes him one of the most recognisable faces on television, so surely there’s no way the actor would mess about with those flapping ears.
He may once have considered it — when he was just starting out his cousin, the actor Jeremy Brett, offered to pay for surgery to have his ears pinned back. luckily, the young Clunes refused.
His wide, fleshy lips, too, look almost exactly the same as they did when he was just starting out. All the doctors agree there’s no change here: ‘His lips and ears are the same,’ says Dr Soueid. LIKELIHOOD: 0/5
SKIN’S A WINNER
Dr JACk believes that Clunes’s skin looks smoother and fresher now than it did just a few years ago, when the actor had started to look blotchy and red-faced as well as a little jowly.
He says: ‘His skin in general looks better, so perhaps he has done a skin resurfacing treatment like a laser treatment or even a skin peel.’
These burn off the top layer of the skin, allowing fresh, line-free skin in shine through.
Dr Blakely adds: ‘i think his skin looks brighter. He may well have achieved this through peels or using retinoids or glycolics or vitamin C to brighten the skin. Good skincare is vital to improve skin texture and quality.’ LIKELIHOOD: 4/5
GRACEFULLY GREY
HiS hair may look very different from the floppy blonde shag of his Men Behaving Badly days, but experts agree that’s because he’s left his hair to age naturally.
‘ Martin’s hair has definitely changed over the years, getting thinner and lighter with the hairline receding at the front, but i don’t think he’s had any cosmetic procedures done to it,’ says trichologist iain Sallis.
‘Overall, 50 per cent of men will have lost half of their hair by the time they are 50, so it’s no surprise to see that his hair seems much thinner. it’s also become more grey over the past decade.
‘Again this is very natural, and would be better served by a hairdresser and a tint brush.’
So far, it seems Martin is avoiding even that touch of artifice, preferring to go grey gracefully. LIKELIHOOD: 1/5