Best Medicine
| Best Medicine | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Based on | Doc Martin by Dominic Minghella |
| Developed by | Liz Tuccillo |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Jeff Cardoni |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Cinematography |
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| Editors |
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| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | Fox |
| Release | January 4, 2026 – present |
Best Medicine is an American medical comedy drama television series based on the British television series Doc Martin created by Dominic Minghella. The show premiered on Fox on January 4, 2026. In March 2026, Fox renewed the series for a second season.[1]
Premise
Brilliant but brusque Dr. Martin Best moves from a prestigious hospital position in Boston to a private practice in the small fishing village of Port Wenn, Maine where he vacationed as a child. As he solves mysteries behind unusual health conditions affecting the townsfolk, he struggles to integrate with them as well as a pathological blood phobia resulting from an operation on a young girl that reminded him of losing his older sister Rosemary as a child, while reconnecting with his aunt, a local lobster woman.[2]
Cast
Main
- Josh Charles as Martin Best, MD, a successful and brilliant Harvard Medical School-educated heart surgeon with a lack of bedside manner and a severe blood phobia. He is straightforward with patients, delivering diagnoses and advice without protecting their feelings, though he is no less concerned about their health. He had an older sister named Rosemary who died in a car crash when they were children, inspiring him to pursue medicine, and developed his phobia when operating on a young girl who reminded him of Rosemary.
- Abigail Spencer as Louisa Gavin, a schoolteacher
- Josh Segarra as Mark Mylow, the town's sheriff and Louisa's ex-fiancé
- Cree as Elaine Denton, Dr. Best's administrative assistant who wants to become a YouTube influencer
- Annie Potts as Aunt Sarah, Dr. Best's aunt and the local lobster woman
Recurring
- Stephen Spinella as Greg Garrison, the proprietor of The Salty Breeze, the village's seafood restaurant, who refers to himself and his significant other, with whom he owns a pet pig named Brisket, as the "Dynamic Duo"
- Jason Veasey as George Brady, Greg's significant other and the executive chef of The Salty Breeze
- Carter Shimp as Al Large, Bert's son and coworker who becomes interested in Elaine
- John DiMaggio as Bert Large, a local contractor
- Clea Lewis as Sally Mylow, the town's pharmacist and Mark's mother
- Michael Potts as Gilbert Carlisle, Dr. Best's first patient upon arrival in town
- Didi Conn as Geneva Potter, a senior Port Wenn resident
- Ben Lewis Doherty as Peter Cronk, one of Louisa's students who loves astronomy and with whom Dr. Best has much in common
- Cindy De La Cruz as Jeannie
- Wattson as Copernicus, an initially unnamed stray dog who repeatedly enters Dr. Best's house against his wishes, causing locals to mistake him as Dr. Best's pet. He is given the name Copernicus by Peter.
- Martin Clunes as Robert Best, MD, Martin's father and fellow physician. Clunes portrayed Dr. Martin Ellingham in Doc Martin.
- Judith Ivey as Vanessa Best, Martin’s mother
Episodes
| No. | Title [3] | Directed by | Written by [4] | Original air date [3] | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Docked" | Jamie Babbit | Teleplay by : Liz Tuccillo | January 4, 2026 | 101 | 3.69[5] |
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Martin Best, MD, leaves his hospital job in Boston to begin a home private practice in the small fishing village of Port Wenn, Maine, where he vacationed as a child. Most of the locals are friendly, though schoolteacher Louisa Gavin finds his lack of bedside manner off-putting. Martin learns he has inherited receptionist and would-be influencer Elaine Denton from the late Dr. Reese, the previous town doctor; and his first patient, Gilbert, has gynecomastia. At the supermarket, Gilbert's wife, Susan, makes Martin faint when she asks him to help with their son's scraped knee, revealing his blood phobia that cost him his former position. He deduces that Gilbert has been absorbing estrogen cream used by Susan during sex. Martin's aunt Sarah, the local lobster woman, fakes an emergency to get her nephew to visit so she can ask about his move; he flees when a lobster clips her finger. Later, Louisa informs him that she recently left her fiancé, Sheriff Mark Mylow, at the altar. Martin and Gilbert then witness Susan kissing a younger gynecomastia patient on his houseboat. Incensed, Martin prepares to drive away, only to be deliberately stopped by Sarah's oncoming truck. He admits that he froze during a heart operation on an eight-year-old girl who had been in a car accident but refuses to talk further when Sarah mentions "Rosemary". On his way into The Salty Breeze, the village's restaurant, Susan punches his nose during a scuffle, and he retreats to the bathroom, where Elaine, whom he had earlier fired, promises to keep his secret. Mark opens up to Martin about Louisa leaving him and expresses hope that Martin changes his mind, which he does. As Martin removes the "For Rent" sign outside his house, a stray dog he has been trying to keep out runs inside yet again. | ||||||
| 2 | "Bean There Done That" | Jamie Babbit | Liz Tuccillo | January 13, 2026 | 102 | N/A |
| 3 | "Take Me Out of the Ballgame" | Jaffar Mahmood | Cindy Chupack | January 20, 2026 | 103 | N/A |
| 4 | "All the World's Ablaze" | Jaffar Mahmood | Elizabeth Evans | January 27, 2026 | 104 | N/A |
| 5 | "Hello Darkness, My Port Wenn" | Jaime Eliezer Karas | Matt Ward | February 3, 2026 | 105 | N/A |
| 6 | "Eyewitness Blues" | Jaime Eliezer Karas | Scott Prendergast | February 10, 2026 | 106 | N/A |
| 7 | "There Might Be Blood" | Jason Winer | Peter Ackerman | February 17, 2026 | 107 | N/A |
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The town prepares for its annual festival themed around Blood Factory, a poorly-written but popular vampire novel set in Port Wenn. Martin struggles to keep his blood phobia private upon being invited while responding to routine medical requests. Louisa suddenly becomes ill, but Martin cannot deduce her condition based on her symptoms. The citizens protest his efforts to shut down the Blood Factory event on suspicion of a faulty HVAC, and Louisa fires him as her doctor. Martin briefly considers whether Louisa might be pregnant by Mark but figures out she has hemochromatosis. Though he knows the blood in the Blood Factory exhibit is fake, he braves traveling through it and faints as he reaches Louisa. They wake up about to be rolled into ambulances, and Martin rises from his bed and almost declares his feelings for Louisa before she rehires him as her doctor. Meanwhile, Elaine talks to Al about her plans to eventually leave Port Wenn. He tries to create a perfect romantic meeting that leads to their first kiss, but her plans remain unchanged. | ||||||
| 8 | "The Bogfather" | Jason Winer | Ria Tobaccowala | February 24, 2026 | 108 | TBD |
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Mark, George, and Bert are reenacting an early part of Port Wenn's history when a corpse with a bullet wound in its chest surfaces from below the bog. As the townsfolk rally to solve the mystery, Martin starts acting uncharacteristically kind, realizing that operating on this type of corpse is like operating on a living body without the risk of drawing blood. He uses the excuse that his patients have been failing to follow his medical advice and enjoys working on a patient that will not give him any problems. Geneva claims to a suspicious Mark that the corpse was her husband and tries to turn herself in for murdering him, but evidence mounts that the corpse dates back to colonial America. Martin panics while attempting to draw blood from Louisa's arm and rants about the problems his patients have caused for him; she denounces him as the town doctor. A DNA analysis proves that the victim was an ancestor of Martin's, a recluse shot and killed in a duel by a man with support from the entire town. Meanwhile, another DNA test reveals that Al is not Bert's biological son; he hides the truth from Elaine, claiming the test indicated that he is double-jointed, but confirms with her that they are now officially a romantic couple. Martin finally admits his blood phobia to Louisa, who consoles him. | ||||||
| 9 | "Doc Martin" | Todd Holland | Elizabeth Evans | March 3, 2026 | 109 | TBD |
| 10 | "Port Wenn-ings and a Funeral" | Todd Holland | Scott Prendergast | March 10, 2026 | 110 | TBD |
| 11 | "Mind Your Own Buboes" | TBA | Matt Ward | March 24, 2026 | TBA | TBD |
| 12 | "A Tale of Two Sister Cities" | TBA | Cindy Chupack | March 31, 2026 | TBA | TBD |
| 13 | "Norway No How" | TBA | Liz Tuccillo | April 7, 2026 | TBA | TBD |
Production
Development
On May 9, 2025, Best Medicine received a straight-to-series order from Fox. The series is wholly owned and produced by Fox Entertainment. Doc Martin was brought to the United States by Propagate Content, alongside All3Media. The American adaptation is written and executive produced by Liz Tuccillo. Propagate's Ben Silverman is an executive producer with Rodney Ferrell, Tuccillo, and Doc Martin executive producers Mark Crowdy and Philippa Braithwaite.[6][2]
On March 2, 2026, Fox renewed the series for a 12-episode second season.[1]
Casting
The cast is led by Josh Charles as Dr. Martin Best.[6] In July 2025, Abigail Spencer, Josh Segarra, Annie Potts, and Cree joined the main cast.[7][8][9][10] In September 2025, Didi Conn, Clea Lewis, Stephen Spinella, Jason Veasey, John DiMaggio, Carter Shimp, Cindy De La Cruz, and Wattson (a dog) were cast in recurring roles.[11] In October, it was announced that original Doc Martin star Martin Clunes would appear in the role of Martin Best's father.[12]
Filming
On August 5, 2025, it was reported that the series began filming in Cornwall, New York.[13]
Broadcast
The series premiered on Fox on January 4, 2026.[14]
Reception
The series holds a 77% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 13 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Best Medicine may not refine the medical procedural genre, but it does offer something far more enchanting; compassion, heart and a charming lead that graces all."[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 56 out of 100 based on five critics, indicating "mixed or average".[16]
References
- ^ a b Andreeva, Nellie; Cordero, Rosy (March 2, 2026). "'Best Medicine' Renewed For Season 2 At Fox". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
- ^ a b Andreeva, Nellie (May 9, 2025). "Josh Charles To Star In Fox Adaptation Of British Hit 'Doc Martin' Ordered To Series For 2025-26". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
- ^ a b "Shows A-Z – best medicine on fox". The Futon Critic. Retrieved March 20, 2026.
- ^ "Best Medicine". Writers Guild of America West. Retrieved December 10, 2025.
- ^ Vulture, Telly (February 27, 2026). "Best Medicine: Season One Ratings + Viewer Votes".
- ^ a b Porter, Rick (May 9, 2025). "Josh Charles to Star in 'Doc Martin' Adaptation at Fox". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 9, 2025. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
- ^ Cordero, Rosy (July 7, 2025). "Abigail Spencer Joins Cast Of Fox Medical Comedy 'Best Medicine'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 8, 2025. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
- ^ Cordero, Rosy. "Josh Segarra Joins Fox's Medical Comedy 'Best Medicine' As Series Regular". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 8, 2025. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
- ^ Cordero, Rosy (July 10, 2025). "Annie Potts Joins Fox Medical Comedy 'Best Medicine'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 10, 2025. Retrieved July 10, 2025.
- ^ Otterson, Joe (July 22, 2025). "Fox Comedy 'Best Medicine' Adds 'Turtles All the Way Down' Star Cree (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on July 23, 2025. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
- ^ Petski, Denise (September 4, 2025). "Fox Medical Comedy 'Best Medicine' Adds 8 To Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 4, 2025.
- ^ Garner, Glenn (October 13, 2025). "'Doc Martin's Martin Clunes Joins Fox's U.S. Remake 'Best Medicine'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
- ^ Gomez, Blaise (August 5, 2025). "Fox medical dramedy 'Best Medicine' films in Cornwall-on-Hudson and New Hamburg, Wappinger Falls NY". News 12 Westchester. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (December 9, 2025). "Fox Sets Special Premieres For 'Best Medicine', 'Animal Control' & 'Memory Of A Killer' Behind NFL Games". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
- ^ "Best Medicine: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 27, 2026.
- ^ "Best Medicine: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved January 5, 2026.