Doc Martin an Aspie?

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Somebody has told me that the UK TV character Doc Martin has AS, i watched the programme and is acted to be odd,aloof, any thoughts?

I think he might do.

There was someone who mentioned it to him either last week or the week before. I think it was that new person who moved in near the head teacher.

I'm a HUGE fan of Doc Martin and I have thought about this quite a bit and I wouldn't say that Martin Ellingham is an aspie. In episode 3 of series 3 the character Antony Oakwood, who unbelievably considering his approach to parenting, has a Phd. in psychology, approaches Martin attempting to include Martin in a paper he is writing about professionals with Aspergers.

Martin Ellingham was born the son of a professional surgeon, Christopher Ellingham and a self absorbed woman, Margaret Elligham. In episode 6 of series 2 his parents make an appearence into Martin's life for the first time in 7 years (Right there is an indication as to the cause to Martin's demeanour). In this episode, we learn a lot about Martin's childhood and his relationship with his parents. When his mother finally manages to say more than two words she reveals that Martin's birth was in her mind the cause of the breakdown of her marriage. She states that before he was born, her and Christopher were happy and content. However when he was born, she states that his father ceised to see her as a woman and instead merely as a mother, and therefore much less sexually attractive. As their sex life began to suffer, the marriage itself began to change into a farce. And desperate to feel valued again, Margaret sought the sexual attentions of another man and blames Martin for being born and in turn being an "inconvenience" to her marriage and her life. This deep held resentment of the effect of Martin's birth is the main reason that Martin spent his childhood being sent off to boarding schools and Portwenn to live with his Aunt Joan.

I believe this childhood is the reason for Martin being the way he is. He was ignored by his father, apart from the violent beatings as reprimands, and hated by his mother who feels that his birth and continued life was the thing that split his parents up. He received no love or affection whatsoever during his formative years and instead was sent from pillar to post, inevitably forming a strong, (however somewhat conditional depending on Martin's moods)relationship with his Aunt Joan. These conditions of raising a child would inevitably result in the kind of personality Martin has. I would admit that he does have autistic traits, however I don't believe that he actually is autistic.

This description might actually suggest a scriptwriter who thinks he is writing an autistic character but who is approaching it from the outmoded Kannerian "refrigerator parent" model

A good theory, but not likely, since the majority of the character and setting were already mapped out in the film "Saving Grace" in the form of the character Dr. Martin Bamford. Martin Clunes approached ITV to see if they could green-light it as a series, however they initially declined on the grounds that it was simply another "fish out of water" story. So Clunes took it upon himself to put an extra edge onto the character, making him more grumpy and blunt. So the result of Ellingham's character is Clunes' own creation.

The only reference to Aspergers in the entire series comes from Dr. Oakwood, a notion that rather annoyed Ellingham since all he wanted was Oakwood's full name and date of birth. Also, considering the ineptitude of his parenting skills, I wouldn't bank on the accuracy of his preliminary diagnoses. I believe he looked at Martin wanting to find autism, and he found it. Martin is not really the sort of person to give anything away to anyone, let alone a self-important pompously richeous character like Oakwood.

Things like this are very subjective, and I believe since neither Clunes nor any of the writers, directors etc. of the programme have described Ellingham as autistic, I wouldn't think he would be. Audience interpretation is not however invalidated, since we can see anything and come to some subjective judgement about it, however I hasten to not make these kind of judgements, because, If it were proved that Ellingham is in fact autistic, What kind of statement does this make about autism?

Narrow-minded people, of which in this world, very unfortunately there are many, will draw the conclusion that Martin Ellingham is an example of autism, and he is, lets face it, not a great role model. Rather like trying to say that Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Melvin Udall in the film "As Good As It Gets" is an example of what people with Obssessive Compulsive Disorder are like, or that Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of Raymond Babbit is an example of what people with autism are like. Because first off, Melvin Udall is an anomoly, I don't know anyone with OCD that is anything like him, and Raymond Babbit is an Autistic Savant. The amount of times I have heard people hear the word autism then immediately say something like "ahhh, you must have some really really special skill like speed arithmatic or something". It's absurd.

People are however permitted to come to their own conclusions about Dr. Martin Ellingham, and I do admit, there are quite a few signs of autism, his hobby of building clocks, his ineptitude of social interation, his preference for professionalism over compassion, his avoidance of any over exposing expression of emotion, other than anger or richeousness, his tendency to be blunt, and forthright, his tendency to always spoil a romantic moment with a comment relating to medicine that is always misconstrued (A possible defense mechanism for when he feels too exposed, or maybe he can't help bringing work into everything) but to me, in my own opinion, this doesn't paint a complete picture of an aspie man.

I don't think he is, he's just a miserable old fart

Hahaha pretty true - yeah I think the rumour of his Aspieness was mentioned in the program by a nature loving psychiatrist with an out of control son ( only because of bad parenting) who was trying to get one over Doc Martin, who refused to diagnose the son with ADHD. So the psychiatrist tried to make it look like he knew more than Doc Martin.

I hope Doc Martin isn't because it's a bad outlook for me becoming a doctor, hehe, he is soo grumpy it's funny

But an excellence doc at that

Even if you set out to create a genuine Aspie TV character, you would have to fail. Some Aspie traits would make good television and inevitably be emphasized; some wouldn't and wouldn't. The important thing is that Doc Martin's writers created a character with serious social adjustment difficulties who is nonetheless portrayed with empathy and respect. That's got to be good for anyone who is not standard issue.

Even though I'm not afraid of blood, I do see a lot of myself in the character.

I've only probably seen seven or eight episodes but I very much got the impression that he just plain doesn't like most people and doesn't expect to like anyone, and feels uncomfortable expressing positive feelings towards people. I never saw him misunderstand other people's words or intentions in ways that most people don't, or be rude accidentally in ways most people don't. He just doesn't care whether he offends people or not, and sometimes does it to let his irritation out, just like House, in my opinion.

I have to concur. The character and the whole series are better conceived, better written and better acted than for example Big Bang Theory.

I personally have a soft spot for the Doc - whatever the precise diagnosis - and God knows some diagnostic work is not far beyond consulting I Ching - I can relate to him.

I just saw this for the first time ever (not a big TV fan). I thought he was totally aspie. The episode I watched seemed to have a few odd characters, most of them seem a bit socially inept, and that's as observed by me! In this fictional world, no one seems to mind that he's brusque to the point of rudeness.

I just caught on to this series. I love it! I heard that the next season is in production. Does anybody have any updates? (I'm in the US so I could be completely out of the loop)

I'm sure he is bein portrayed as Aspie; the clincher was a couple of weeks ago he was 'stimming' with his left hand when annoyed in a scene in the surgery.

Enthralled with Doc Martin.. was introduced to the show a few years ago, and am just now watching season 5. He has traits of ASD but then he doesn't avoid others' eyes. We don't know how his sensitivities to sound, touch, ect are. I'd say he's on the spectrum somewhere. Without knowing more of Clune's character it's hard to say exactly.

<<Moved from GAD to TV, Film & Video>>

I really enjoy watching Doc Martin, such a refreshing change from most of the boring junk on TV.
He definitely displays more than a few AS traits, but just like Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory, it appears that the producers of each show do not want to label them as AS characters.