Last week when I was scrolling through Facebook, one post caught my eye:

As readers of my blog may know, I’m a HUGE fan of the television show, Doc Martin, which I discovered only about three years ago. I saw this post on Thursday and thought about it all day. That night, I couldn’t sleep and whipped off a message to Glen Bartlett.

Dear Glen Bartlett: I am a  huge Doc Martin fan living in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. I only discovered the show about three years ago, sometime after my husband died from pancreatic cancer. I’m so sorry we didn’t find the show before he died. We were married for thirty-seven years and did everything together—we were both musicians and presented many concerts and church services together. When he died, I was left with a huge void , and Doc Martin filled my lonely heart with a fullness. In many ways, Martin reminded me of my husband: crusty and gruff on the outside, but a softy on the inside. I was determined to visit Port Isaac, and did so this past April.

It truly was a dream come true: to see the Doc’s surgery, Mrs Tishell’s pharmacy, the lifeboat station, Louisa’s school, and many other familiar landmarks. Before I visited Port Isaac, I had already seen all 63 episodes complete a total of four times. After my visit, I watched the series another five times through new eyes, knowing how the village was laid out. “Oh, I know what’s around that corner!” Although we visited at a time when filming was going on, we unfortunately didn’t see any of the cast.

…Hawaii is a very long long way from Port Isaac, but for this rabid Doc Martin fan, no distance is too far to see my hero. -Katherine Crosier

Glen Bartlett replied right away, with this message:

Hi, Katherine! I’m Glen, an assistant producer on The One Show, a BBC magazine/talk show here in the UK. On Wednesday’s show, we have Doc Martin himself, Martin Clunes, and his on-screen wife, Caroline Catz (Louisa Ellingham) on the sofa to promote the new series.

As part of the show, we’d like loads of international Doc Martin fans to send a video message to Martin and Caroline. In the video, we’d like for you to introduce yourself and say where you’re from — to say a quick hello to Martin and Caroline and explain that you’re a big fan, and then end the video with a question you’ve always wanted to know. The video must be roughly 20 to 30 seconds!

…Let me know if you’re interested! Thanks so much! Glen

The next day was Friday, and I enlisted the help of my “production crew,” Bill Potter and Jieun Kim Newland, to help film my video. It was Jieun who suggested that we try filming at Calvary by the Sea Lutheran Church, as it was right on the water, and serendipitously, there were no weddings scheduled that day.

I called the church office to ask permission, and the secretary asked me, “What’s the BBC?”

“The British Broadcasting Corporation.” [As I am a huge fan of British TV, I couldn’t imagine anyone that has not heard of the BBC!]

We got to the church, and Jieun went to look for a hibiscus for my hair, which she found right on the church grounds. It only took two takes, and here’s what I came up with:

I quickly sent it off to Glen Bartlett, and got this answer:

Thank you so much, Katherine! This is brilliant. Hello from London! As you can imagine, there is quite a lot of interest in this item so we’ll try and play as many as we can to Martin and Caroline, but I wanted to let you know that we won’t be able to play everyone’s so that you’re not disappointed in case we don’t have time to play yours. I’ll let you know if we play yours to Martin and Caroline!

And so I waited.. and waited… until today I saw this on the Martin Clunes Fan Group Facebook page.

Wait! THAT’S MY PHOTO, THERE!

The page administrator, Gaby Otterbach, posted this video link. Mine was the very first video shown, and I guess Martin Clunes and Caroline Catz got a kick out of hearing that I was “an insanely, rabid Doc Martin fan!” If you click the video link, the segment about international Doc Martin fans comes on about 28:10.

You can also try clicking this link, which shows only my video and Martin and Carolyn’s reaction.

Woo Hoo!

If you’d like to see my posts about my visit to Port Isaac, aka Portwenn, the fictional village where Doc Martin and a colorful cast of characters reside, check these links:

• Churches in Port Isaac
• Portwenn: A dream come true
• Jamaica Inn, Padstow and Doyden Castle
• St. Nonna’s Church, Altarnun
• Spectacular scenery in Cornwall
• In love with Cornwall

We hope to revisit Port Isaac in 2021 when the tenth and final season will be filmed!

https://vimeo.com/360894467/1748594ef1