Martin Clunes

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Alexander Martin Clunes (born 28 November 1961) is an English actor, director and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Martin Ellingham in the ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin, Gary Strang in the BBC sitcom Men Behaving Badly, and William Shawcross in William and Mary. Clunes has narrated a number of documentaries for ITV, the first of which was Islands of Britain in 2009. He has since presented a number of documentaries centred on animals. He has also voiced Kipper the Dog in the preschool animated series Kipper.

Clunes was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours for services to drama, charity, and the community in Dorset.

Early life

Clunes was born on 28 November 1961 in Wimbledon (then in Surrey, now in Greater London), the son of actor Alec Clunes and his second wife, Daphne (Template:Nee Acott) Clunes (4 July 1928 – 17 September 2007).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Clunes was educated at the Royal Russell School in Croydon, and later at the Arts Educational Schools, London. He has an older sister, Amanda.<ref name=SH2002>Template:Cite news</ref> Clunes is related to actor Jeremy Brett, who was variously described as either Clunes's uncle<ref name=Guardian2014>Template:Cite news</ref> or cousin.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Clunes played his first role in rep at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester,<ref name="NatTheatre">Between The Sheets – No More Mr Nice Guy Template:Webarchive National Theatre</ref> and his first television appearance was in an adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's The White Guard for the BBC Play of the Month in 1982,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> followed by the Doctor Who story Snakedance in 1983.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref> A sporadic career led to his supplementing his income as a photo model for Gilbert and George, and he can be seen in their 1983 work World.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He got his first regular television role as one of the sons in the BBC sitcom No Place Like Home,<ref>Martin Clunes Playlist Template:Webarchive itv.com</ref> and then starred in two series of the sitcom All at No 20.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

While Clunes was appearing on stage at the Hampstead Theatre, Harry Enfield came to see him; the acquaintanceship developed into a friendship where Clunes played characters in Enfield's sketch shows (most notably one of the Rugby Players).<ref>Template:YouTube</ref> Enfield then recommended Clunes for the role of Gary in the sitcom Men Behaving Badly,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> written for Enfield by Simon Nye, for which Clunes won a British Academy Television Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1996.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He played the part of Group Captain Barker in the two-part TV mini-series Over Here that same year. In 1993, he played Dick Dobson in Demob about a pair of demobilised soldiers who have to adjust to civilian life after entertaining Second World War troops with a raunchy cabaret act.

Since 1994, Clunes has frequently appeared on the BBC One panel show Have I Got News for You as a panelist or a guest presenter.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Clunes has since appeared in films and television shows such as An Evening with Gary Lineker, Staggered (starred and directed), Hunting Venus, The Booze Cruise, Saving Grace and Jeeves and Wooster. In 1998, he was featured in Sweet Revenge and appeared as Richard Burbage in the film Shakespeare in Love. Clunes has also acted frequently for the radio, including a guest appearance in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi.

In 2001, he played Captain Stickles in the BBC adaptation of R. D. Blackmore's Lorna Doone. In 2002, Clunes played serial killer John George Haigh in a Yorkshire TV production A Is for Acid, and took the lead in ITV's production of Goodbye, Mr. Chips.<ref name=SH2002/> Clunes was one of the eponymous leads in the 2004 ITV comedy-drama William and Mary, with Julie Graham. Clunes had worked with Julie Graham previously on Dirty Tricks (2000).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From 2004 until the conclusion in 2022 Clunes played the lead role of Dr Martin Ellingham in the ITV comedy drama series Doc Martin. In August 2007, Clunes starred in the ITV/TVNZ co-production The Man Who Lost His Head.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Clunes is a regular voice-over artist and is the voice of Kipper in the animated children's series Kipper the Dog, and Stripy in Little Robots, another animated children's series. For six years (1993–1999) he also did voice acting for Safeway adverts; he provided the voice of Harry in Safeway's 'When Harry Met Molly' advertising campaign during said years. Clunes appeared in a television dramatisation of Fungus the Bogeyman playing Jessica White's father. Between 2009 and 2010, Clunes starred on BBC One television in the title role of Reggie Perrin, a re-make of classic 1970s British situation comedy The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. In 2015, Clunes played the role of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the ITV mini-series Arthur & George. In 2018, Clunes played the role of DCI Colin Sutton in the ITV drama Manhunt (first screened in 2019).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2019, Clunes returned to sitcom with the BBC1 series Warren, saying "It was just so funny, I couldn't turn it down".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2025, Clunes played the part of a farmer affected by County Lines drug gangs on a Welsh farm in the ITV drama Out There.

Film

Clunes played Brock in the 1990 film The Russia House. He played a character called Martin in the 1992 film Carry On Columbus; Richard Burbage in the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love; and Anthony Staxton-Billing in Sweet Revenge the same year. In 2000, Clunes played the role of Dr. Martin Bamford in the film Saving Grace, and the follow-up to that film Doc Martin the following year (2001), he played James Chancellor in Global Heresy.

In 2011, Clunes voiced the mischievous dog Dudley in the short film Me or the Dog, starring Edward Hogg and directed by Abner Pastoll. Clunes then starred in the 2014 film Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?.

Documentaries

In 2008, Clunes presented Martin Clunes: A Man and his Dogs, which was aired on 24 August 2008.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2009, Clunes presented a three-part ITV series Islands of Britain, which saw him travelling around several of the country's lesser known islands. In 2010 Clunes presented ITV mini-series Horsepower about man's relationship over time with the horse. This was followed by Heavy Horsepower which aired in 2013.<ref>"Horsepower With Martin Clunes" Template:Webarchive ITV web site, 22 August 2010</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In January 2011, Clunes presented documentary Martin Clunes: Man to Manta.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In June 2012, Clunes presented a documentary series on ITV about the lemurs of Madagascar called Martin Clunes: The Lemurs of Madagascar.

On 31 January 2013, Clunes narrated ITV documentary Secret Life of Dogs. Then, on 2 and 3 June 2014, he narrated two more follow-up documentaries, Secret Life of Cats and Secret Life of Babies.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 4 April 2014 Clunes hosted a one-off ITV documentary called Martin Clunes & A Lion Called Mugie, following the work of conservationists in Kenya as well as tracking the progress of a lion called Mugie. The documentary was filmed over three years.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In August 2014 Clunes narrated ITV's three-part documentary series Kids with Cameras: Diary of a Children's Ward which saw Newcastle's children's ward through the eyes of its patients.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In April 2015, Clunes narrated Carry on Forever, a three part documentary series for ITV3. It was shown over the Easter weekend.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In May 2015, Clunes presented Man & Beast with Martin Clunes, a two-part factual series for ITV, which looked at the relationship between humans and animals.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2016, he narrated Rising Damp Forever, a two-part documentary series for ITV3. He also voiced ITV programmes Secrets of Growing Old, Secrets of Growing Up and Britain's Favourite Dogs. Also in 2016, Martin Clunes: Islands of Australia (also known as Islands of Oz) was released as a three-part Australian documentary television series produced by Prospero Productions for the Seven Network that "follows acclaimed actor and comedian Martin Clunes as he explores the most diverse, intriguing, remote and spectacular islands that surround Australia."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2019, Martin Clunes: Islands of America was released as a four-part documentary where he travelled to remote islands across the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Clunes's first marriage was to actress Lucy Aston in 1990.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They divorced in 1997 and Clunes married future Doc Martin producer Philippa Braithwaite later that year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1999, Braithwaite gave birth to their daughter.<ref>Chloe Scott-Moncrieff in conversation with… Martin Clunes.(Interview) Geographical, April 2005 by Scott-Moncrieff, Chloe</ref><ref>Template:Usurped SouthwestTrains.com</ref> Template:As of, Clunes and his family live in Beaminster, Dorset, where they run a farm with heavy horses.<ref>Around Dorset: Martin Clunes BBC Dorset – 11 October 2004</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Charity

A sponsor of numerous charities, Clunes made a short on-line film with Stephen Fry about HIV discrimination for the Terrence Higgins Trust.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Clunes supports Weldmar Hospicecare Trust in Dorset and is a Patron of Julia's House, the Dorset and Wiltshire children's hospice.<ref>Weldmar Hospicecare Trust, weld-hospice.org.uk. Accessed 14 October 2022.</ref> The Buckham Fair is organised in support of these charities.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In January 2011, Clunes became a patron of Animal Care in Egypt (ACE).<ref>Animal Care in Egypt web site</ref>Template:Clarify

Clunes was a patron of the Born Free Foundation, and had filmed several adverts for the charity. However, he was dropped by the foundation in May 2019, after he was filmed riding an elephant in an episode of the ITV documentary series My Travels with Other Animals.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He has also been involved in the Comic Relief charity which funds Survival International and African Initiatives, two organisations working with the Maasai on indigenous land rights issues. He is a supporter of The Dog Rescue Federation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	The White Guard	Unknown
1983	Doctor Who Serial: Snakedance	Lon
1983–86	No Place Like Home	Nigel Crabtree
1986–87	All at No 20	Henry
1990	Never Come Back	Luke
1990–94	Harry Enfield's Television Programme	Various characters
1991	Jeeves and Wooster	Barmy Fotheringay Phipps
1992	Inspector Morse	James Balcombe	S6 E2 "Happy Families"
1992–98	Men Behaving Badly	Gary Strang	British Comedy Award for Top TV Comedy Actor (1995) BAFTA Award for Best Comedy Performance (1996)
1993	Demob	Dick Dobson
	Lovejoy	Anthony Drury
1994	Under the Hammer	Hector Bovington
	Have I Got News for You	Guest presenter/panellist
1995	Moving Story	Earl Pangbourne
1996	Over Here	RAF Commanding Officer
1996–2000	Roger and the Rottentrolls	Narrator
1997–2000	Kipper	Kipper (voice)
1998	Touch and Go	Nick Wood	TV film
1998	Neville's Island	Angus	TV film
2001	Merlin the Magical Puppy	Merlin (voice)
2002	A Is for Acid	John Haigh
2003	Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie	Martin Bamford
2003–05	William and Mary	William Shawcross
	Little Robots	Stripy Robot (voice)
2004–22	Doc Martin	Martin Ellingham	British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Drama (2004)
2006	Losing It	Phil MacNaughton	TV film
2007	The Man Who Lost His Head	Ian Bennett
2008	Martin Clunes: A Man and His Dogs	Presenter
2009	Islands of Britain	Presenter	Three-part series
2009–10	Reggie Perrin	Reginald "Reggie" Perrin
2010	Martin Clunes: Horsepower	Presenter	Mini-series
2011	Martin Clunes: Man to Manta
2012	Martin Clunes: The Lemurs of Madagascar		Mini-series
	A Mother's Son	Ben<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 2404029	match|1=2404029|2=^tt}}	Template:Trim/	tt2404029/ }}	from=}}	title/Template:First word/	find?q=%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D&s=tt }} }}{{#ifeq: {{#invoke:If any equal|main|Q618779|Q67325957|Q33999|value=Template:Wikidata}} | yes	{{#switch: Template:Wikidata	Q618779	Q67325957 = awards Awards for	Q33999 = fullcredits Full cast and crew of }}	{{#if: Template:Wikidata	{{#switch: Template:Wikidata	Q63032896	Q66763446 = fullcredits Full cast and crew of	Q107974527	Q482994 = soundtrack Soundtrack of }} }} }} Template:Trim] at {{#if: | IMDb | IMDb }}Template:EditAtWikidata{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb title with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | 3 | description | id | link_hide | qid | quotes | title }}{{#switch: {{#invoke:String2|matchAny|^tt.........|^tt.......|tt|.........|source=2404029|plain=false}}| 1 | 3 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning| 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning}}{{#if: 2404029 {{#property:P345}} || Template:Preview warningTemplate:Main other }}{{#switch: Template:Wikidata	Q21191270	Q21664088	Q50062923	Q50914552	Q99079902	Q123186929	Q55422400	Q61220733 =Template:Preview warning	Q3464665 =Template:Preview warning }}{{#ifeq: Template:Wikidata | Q21191270 |Template:Preview warning }}{{#if: 2404029 | Template:WikidataCheck }}</ref>
	The Town	Len Robson
	Room on the Broom	Dog (voice)
2013	Strike Back: Shadow Warfare	Sebastian Grey
	Martin Clunes: Heavy Horsepower	Presenter	One-off episode
2013–17	Secret Life of	Narrator
2014	Kids with Cameras: Diary of a Children's Ward		Three-part series
	Martin Clunes & A Lion Called Mugie	Presenter	One-off episode
2015	Arthur & George	Arthur Conan Doyle	Drama series
	Carry On Forever	Narrator	Three-part series
	Man & Beast with Martin Clunes	Presenter	Two-part series
2016	Rising Damp Forever	Narrator
	Secrets of Growing Old		One-off episode
	Secrets of Growing Up
	Britain's Favourite Dogs
	Les Dawson Forever		Two-part series
2017	Martin Clunes: Islands of Australia	Presenter	Mini-series
	Morecambe & Wise Forever	Narrator	Two-part series
	Tommy Cooper Forever
2018	Vanity Fair<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Sir Pitt Crawley	Drama series
2019–2021	Manhunt<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	DCI Colin Sutton
2019	Martin Clunes: Islands of America	Presenter	Four part series
	Warren<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Warren Thompson	Sitcom
2021	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Himself	Episode one of series
2022	Farewell to Doc Martin<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>		One-off special
2022, 2024	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Two series; six episodes
2023	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>		One-off travelogue special with Mel Giedroyc
	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>		One-off documentary
2025	Out There<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Nathan
	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Himself	Travelogue miniseries with Neil Morrissey
	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>		Travelogue miniseries

Film

Year	Title	Role	Awards	Notes
1990	The Russia House	Brock		Film debut
1992	Carry On Columbus	Martin
1993	Dancing Queen	Donald
	Swing Kids	Bannführer
1994	Staggered	Neil Price		Also director
1998	The Acid House	Rory
	Shakespeare in Love	Richard Burbage
	The Revengers' Comedies (a.k.a. Sweet Revenge)	Anthony Staxton-Billing
1999	Hunting Venus	Simon Delancy		TV film
	Sex 'n' Death	Ben Black
2000	Saving Grace	Martin Bamford
2002	Global Heresy	James Chancellor
	Goodbye, Mr. Chips	Mr Chipping
2014	Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Jeremy Shepherd
TBA	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	TBA

Books

• A Dog's Life (Hodder & Stoughton, 2009) Template:ISBN
• Meetings With Remarkable Animals (Penguin, 2024) Template:ISBN

Awards

• 1995 – British Comedy Awards, Top TV Comedy Actor : Men Behaving Badly – Gary Strang
• 1996 – British Academy Television Awards, Best Comedy Performance : Men Behaving Badly – Gary Strang
• 1999 – Screen Actors Guild Awards, Outstanding Performance by a Cast : Shakespeare in Love – Richard Burbage

Honours

Clunes was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Civil Division on 13 June 2015 in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours List.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of the County of Dorset on 19 June 2019.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bournemouth University awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts (D.Arts) on 9 November 2007.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He has been president of the British Horse Society since 1 June 2011.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2024, Clunes was named as the inaugural Chancellor for Hartpury University and Hartpury College.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0167340

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=0167340|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm0167340/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+Martin+Clunes%0A++++++%7C+Martin+Clunes%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if:  0167340 {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: Martin Clunes
 | Martin Clunes
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: 0167340{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=0167340|plain=false}}

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}