May 9, 2025 "Josh Charles To Star In Fox Adaptation Of British Hit ‘Doc Martin’ Ordered To Series For 2025-26": Today I found this article by Nellie Andreeva on Deadline:
EXCLUSIVE: Doc, meat Doc Martin. On the heels of Doc‘s breakout success,
Fox is doubling down on medical procedurals with a series order to one-hour comedy Best Medicine, based on the hugely popular British series Doc Martin.
Josh Charles (The Good Wife, Sports Night) will take on the iconic character famously played by Martin Clunes for almost two decades.
Charles is set as the lead, the peculiar and brilliant Doctor Martin Best, in Best Medicine, from writer/executive producer Liz Tuccillo (Sex and the City). Wholly owned by Fox Entertainment, the series, produced by Fox Entertainment Studios, is slated to premiere during the 2025-26 season.
As Deadline noted in its annual pilot season report this past March, the Doc Martin adaptation had emerged as a frontrunner on the hourlong side at Fox.
With the project headed to a likely series green light, Fox recently approached Charles for the lead whose casting is considered key to the show’s success.
He just closed his deal, cementing the series pickup for the comedy, whose title likely was changed to avoid confusion with Fox’s drama Doc.
Best Medicine centers on Martin Best (Charles),
a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner
in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child.
Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, and he quickly alienates the town, even though he’s all they’ve got.
Although Martin can expertly address any medical ailment or mystery in this idiosyncratic town, he’s really just desperate to be left the hell alone.
Instead, he keeps getting dragged right smack into the middle of their
personal chaos,
feuds
and fantasies.
What the locals don’t know is that Martin’s terse demeanor masks
a debilitating new phobia
and deep-seated psychological issues
that prevent him from experiencing true intimacy with anyone.
But tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village,
and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Executive producing the series are Tuccillo, Ben Silverman and Rodney Ferrell (Stick) of Propagate Content as well as the original series’ producers Mark Crowdy and Philippa Braithwaite.
The original Doc Martin, starring Clunes as Dr Martin Ellingham, premiered on ITV in 2004 and ran for 10 seasons. A global hit, which was available in the U.S. on PBS and Acorn TV, it turned the seaside village of Port Isaac, Cornwall where the series was filmed, into a popular tourist destination.
This marks the seventh international adaptation of the British series,
which was created by Dominic Minghella and produced by Buffalo Pictures in association with Homerun Film Productions.
Its format rights are being held by All3Media International, with France, Germany and Spain among the territories that have launched their own Doc Martin series.
It also marks the second hourlong series fully owned by Fox Entertainment after Monarch.
Finding a wholly owned drama hit to complement live-action comedy Animal Control and animated half-hours Krapopolis and Grimsburg has been a goal of the Fox leadership.
On the network’s schedule, Best Medicine will join popular new drama Doc, starring Molly Parker, which received a rare 22-episode Season 2 renewal.
“The story of Doc Martin has resonated worldwide with its
humanity,
originality,
and humor,
and with Best Medicine coming to Fox,
that eccentricity gets a small-town America spin,
complete with idyllic charm
and absurdity,”
said Michael Thorn, President of Fox Television Network. “Liz, Mark, Philippa, Ben, and Rodney have done a terrific job adapting this signature character for the Fox audience, especially in casting the terrifically talented Josh Charles as our lead.”
Doc Martin was brought to the U.S. by Propagate Content, alongside All3Media International, taking Silverman back to his roots as an agent and then-producer focused on British format adaptations, including The Office, whose acclaimed NBC version he executive produced.
“The entire Propagate team is thrilled to be working with Fox Entertainment on this extraordinary adaptation by Liz Tuccillo of the global hit Doc Martin,” Silverman said.
“Josh Charles is the perfect lead for this brilliantly character-driven comedic procedural. Best Medicine is a world we’ll all want to be part of.”
In TV, Charles is best known as Dan Rydell on Sports Night and as Will Gardner on The Good Wife, which earned him two Primetime Emmy nominations.
He appeared in Taylor Swift’s Fortnight music video and is currently recurring on the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale. He is repped by UTA.
Tuccillo, whose series credits also include Divorce and Alaska Daily, is repped by UTA and Felker Toczek Suddleson McGinnis Ryan LLP.
https://deadline.com/2025/05/josh-charles-doc-martin-remake-fox-1236391628/
Here's a comment:
Anonymous
on May 9, 2025 5:16 pm
Not sure what you’ve been watching, but “quirky” characters are all over TV. Practically every show Chuck Lorre has done involves a collection of oddballs.
Also, “Hart of Dixie” was similar to “Doc Martin” in that it involved a big-city doctor moving to a rural community populated by quirky characters. It did a respectable 76 episodes across 4 seasons on a broadcast TV network (The CW).
No one cares if the setting of a TV show is rural, suburban, or urban. They just care that it’s interesting, well-written, and well-acted.
My opinion: I didn't think of Hart of Dixie. I only saw a few episodes and thought it was average. I don't like medical dramas or TV shows.
I saw the Best Medicine pilot and thought it was average. I then never watched it again. It was mildly funny. I don't like medical TV shows or sitcoms.
May 7, 2026 "‘Murder In A Small Town’ Renewed For Season 3 By Fox; Peter Gallagher Joins Cast": Today I found this article by Nellie Andreeva on Deadline:
EXCLUSIVE: Fox is staying in the cozy crime space with a Season 3 renewal for Murder in a Small Town.
In the new 10-episode installment, returning leads Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk are being joined by Peter Gallagher (The O.C., Grace and Frankie) who has been tapped as a series regular. Filming on Season 3 is already underway.
While Murder In a Small Town has been under the radar after wrapping its second season in early December,
its renewal for another limited run had been expected as the mystery drama has emerged as a reliable utility player for Fox,
a sturdy performer at a very appealing price point.
Season 2 of Murder In a Small Town improved on Season 1’s 7-day multiplatform audience by +11%,
and saw series highs in both 7-day total multiplatform and streaming with solid showing in Hulu
and a rare year-to-year linear viewership increase.
Additionally, the Canadian-made series, produced by Sepia Films in association with Fox Entertainment and Future Shack Entertainment,
is made under a lower-cost production model, falling under Fox’s cost-effective international content strategy.
Based on the nine-book series by L.R. Wright, Murder In a Small Town follows Karl Alberg (Sutherland), who moves to a quiet, coastal town to soothe a psyche that has been battered by big-city police work and starts a relationship with the local librarian Cassandra (Kreuk).
In a season-long arc,
Gallagher will play Rod Finlayson, a charismatic, uber-independent, capable yet unreliable figure, whose arrival at the Gibsons’ marina on his beloved boat sets up a sequence of upheavals that Alberg and Cassandra will have to grapple with.
Gallagher’s casting is part of a strategy Fox has employed on two of its dramas with a lighter, optimistic tone by bringing
a big name each season as a new series regular
with a one-year deal to keep viewers’ interest by
adding a familiar face
and fresh storylines.
Murder In a Small Town did it with Marcia Gay Harden in Season 2;
Doc has done it with Felicity Huffman in Season 2
and Blair Underwood in the upcoming third season.
“We love bringing this cozy and delightful mystery to Fox fans,
and we’re thrilled Murder in a Small Town has continued to resonate with our audience,”
said Brooke Bowman, EVP of Drama Programming & Development, Fox Television Network.
“We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Sepia Films and Future Shack on Season 3, alongside our exceptional cast led by Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk and soon to include the incomparable talent of Peter Gallagher as their newest adversary.”
Murder in a Small Town is executive produced by Ian Weir, Amanda Tapping, Morris Ruskin and Sharon Wisnia (Mojo Global Arts), Tina Pehme and Kim Roberts (Sepia Films) and Jeff Wachtel and Jared Berenholz (Future Shack). Nick Orchard of Soapbox Productions, which originally optioned the book series, also serves as producer on the series.
While it started off as a straight book adaptation,
the TV series is now largely relying on original material with the characters from the novels.
On Fox’s 2026-27 schedule, Murder In a Small Town joins recently renewed dramas Doc, Best Medicine and Memory of a Killer, returning comedy Animal Control as well as the network’s animated contingent.
Gallagher’s feature credits include American Beauty and Short Cuts for which he shared a SAG Award and Gloden Globe Award, respectively. His television work includes Grace and Frankie, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Grey’s Anatomy, Law & Order SVU, Togetherness, Covert Affairs, New Girl and The OC. He is repped by Gersh.
https://deadline.com/2026/05/murder-in-a-small-town-renewed-season-3-peter-gallagher-1236882059/
My opinion: I like this show. There is good writing with the mysteries.
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