Josh Charles to star in American version of Doc Martin

Following the breakthrough success of Doc, Fox is doubling down on medical procedurals with a series order for Best Medicine, starring The Good Wife's Josh Charles. The comedy series Best Medicine is based on the hugely popular British series Doc Martin. Josh Charles (The Good Wife) takes on the role of the iconic character played by Martin Clunes for almost twenty years.



Charles (pictured) stars as the quirky and brilliant Dr. Martin Best in Best Medicine, from writer/executive producer Liz Tuccillo (Sex and the City). The series, which is wholly owned by Fox Entertainment and produced by Fox Entertainment Studios, is expected to premiere in the 2025-26 season.

The Doc Martin adaptation at Fox had emerged as a frontrunner in the hour-long series category during its annual pilot season report in March. With the project likely to be greenlit to series, Fox recently approached Charles for the lead role, whose casting is considered crucial to the series’ success. He has just closed his deal, sealing the series buy for the comedy, whose title has likely been changed to avoid confusion with Fox’s drama Doc.

Best Medicine centers on Martin Best (Charles), a brilliant surgeon who abruptly abandons his illustrious career in Boston to become a family doctor in the quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent his childhood summers. Unfortunately, Martin's blunt and almost rude manner with patients irritates the quirky, needy locals, and he quickly alienates himself from the town, even though he is all they have.

Although Martin can expertly handle every medical condition and mystery in this peculiar town, what he really wants is to be left alone. Instead, he finds himself increasingly drawn into their personal chaos, quarrels and fantasies. Unbeknownst to the locals, Martin’s terse behavior masks a debilitating new phobia and deep-seated psychological issues that prevent him from experiencing true intimacy with anyone. But tenacity is the credo of everyone in their small town, and the people who live there may be just what the doctor ordered.

The Netherlands also had a Doc Martin version. From 2012 to 2017, Thom Hoffman played Doctor Tinus. The series was broadcast on SBS 6 and had a total of 72 episodes.

Charles is best known as Will Gardner in CBS's The Good Wife. He played other roles in Showtime's Masters of Sex, Netflix's Away, HBO's We Own This City and recently he was seen in the final season of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale.