The dogs of Doc Martin
We’re thrilled that our favourite grumpy medic is returning to TV with a new series. Here, we find out all about the show’s adorable canine friends
We find out about the show’s cute canines
The shaggy stars
Buddy (real name Dodger) is a Jack Russell cross who the Doc reluctantly adopted and Shelly, (real name Widget) is a terrier cross owned by the village caretaker. Their trainer, Sonia Turner, 63, chats bad fur days and doggy diva moments…
Being a dog trainer is the best job in the world. I get to travel, hang out on film and TV sets and spend my days with my beloved dogs. I worked with dogs for many years before joining Stunt Dogs & Animals around 19 years ago, when they needed extra help for the movie 102 Dalmatians. It was like a production line of puppies because they could only use each litter for a few weeks before the size difference became obvious!
Both Dodger and Widget were rescue dogs. It’s often hard to find the right dog for a job as they have to tick so many boxes. They can’t be aggressive, and have to be completely unfazed by loud noises. It helps if they’re greedy as hell, too, as that’s the way we reward them! I have to keep a firm hold of Dodger at break times because he always makes a beeline for the sandwiches.
In the show, Martin Clunes’s character [Dr Martin Ellingham] doesn’t like dogs, but that couldn’t be further from the truth in real life. Dodger always follows Martin around, asking for cuddles. When he first appeared, in series four, he was much younger and Martin refused to shout at him, even when it was in the script. He would mime it all and put the words in afterwards. Dodger doesn’t give a hoot now, though. He knows that if Martin raises his voice, he’ll be getting a snuggle afterwards!
Caroline Catz [Louisa Glasson] adores the dogs, too. She’s always fiddling with Dodger’s bad-hair-day fur (yes, dogs do have them!) and I’m forever having to flatten it down.
The dogs are now so used to being on set that they’re displaying diva behaviour. Especially Dodger: he thinks the show is his. When he’s in his basket, waiting for filming to start, he’ll sit up and wave his paws as if to say, ‘Excuse me! I’m on set, can we begin?’ It never fails to make Martin laugh.
In the new series, the two dogs have puppies together, so I had to find a suitable litter. I thought it would be easy, but people don’t tend to advertise dogs until they’re around six weeks old and that was the age we needed them. In the end we came up trumps and found a small litter online that could have been a mixture of the two lovebirds.