I'm not a great TV watcher or fan of anything. I have NEVER EVER in my life dropped everything to make sure I was sitting in front of the TV to watch a programme. But one night I happened to tune into Doc Martin and that was it. I even set the alarm on my phone to tell me when the programme was on. This is entertainment like no other. Doctor Who fans eat your heart out. Doc Martin has what it takes. He's ordinary in a strange sort of way. He's strong yet vulnerable and has that air of the unloved child about him - don't you just want to get hold of his mother and firmly wring her neck? As for Auntie Joan, well Thank God for Auntie Joan is all I can say. Martin actually DOES have a caring female role model to bond with even if she's not his biological mother - she's his MOTHER in every sense of the word. And Louisa ... hang in there! He's worth it. He's smitten. He loves you. And you KNOW it. Yes this is definitely an unusual programme. The whole cast has something special that I can't quite put my finger on but I think I could probably call it believability. I'd even go so far as to say I empathise with the characters. It's your basic, ordinary boy meets girl but with so many unusual facets that it's actually given me withdrawal symptoms now that this series has ended and I'm waiting for the next. It's not quite what I'd call a 'soap'. It doesn't seem to need to bring into it all the ills of today's society in order to make it watchable and enjoyable. So it will never be your standard 'soap' but I hope it continues for many, many years. This doesn't end with Doc Martin falling in love and living happily ever after. I see this storyline evolving to include the Doc learning to overcome his own experience of poor parents by learning to love and cherish his own wife and child, complete with Auntie Joan in the background. Oh I love it!