It’s no “Doc Martin,” maybe, but it’s a fun show

The news was greeted with understandable skepticism.
Fox was planning a reboot of “Doc Martin.” A British gem — droll and dry, quiet and clever — was being remade by the network of Gronk, Ken Jeong, screaming chefs, bulky lifeguards and “Krapopolis.”
The result? This new version (shown here) called “Best Medicine,” doesn’t match the original, but it’s surprisingly good.
You can catch the opener twice — after football (about 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) on Sunday, Jan. 4, then at 8 p.m. Tuesday, which becomes its regular spot.
“Doc Martin” ran for 10 seasons (sprawled over 18 years) and 79 episodes. You’ll find most of them at www.acorn.tv, or on Pluto and Roku and such. It had a big-city surgeon — stern, smart, devoid of people skills — hired as the only doctor in a seaside village.
That’s a notion that evolved slowly, always with Martin Clunes as the doctor. At first, he was Dr. Martin Bamford — a supporting character in “Saving Grace” (a 2000 movie starring and co-written by Craig Ferguson) and the central character in two TV movies. He was a genial chap then and, at times, a pot-smoker.
Then Clunes and his wife (producer Philippa Braithwaite) made the doc the center of a TV series, written by Dominic Minghella (younger brother of Anthony Minghella, the “English Patient” Oscar-winner). Now he was Dr. Martin Ellingham — that’s an anagram of Minghella — a different sort.
Forever in suit and tie, this doctor stomped through life, immune to the easygoing people around him. Clunes later said the role fit easily, partly because “I’m funny-looking.”
(Well, sort of. He’s 6-foot-3, with a stern face and King Charles ears.)
The show was an instant success in England and a gradual one in the U.S. Then Clunes and Braithwaite decided to end it … and Fox swooped in.
American TV has had a shaky record with modern British classics. Fox toyed with “Doctor Who,” but ended up making only one movie, a so-so one. NBC tried “Coupling,” but it barely lasted a season. Two versions of “Fawlty Towers,” with Harvey Korman and then Bea Arthur, failed.
Still, these adaptations sometimes work.
Norman Lear heard about a British series with a bigoted dad. “I was flooded with ideas and I knew I had to do an American version,” he wrote in “Even This I Get to Experience” (Penguin, 2014),. “In a few days, I wrote about 70 pages of notes.” It would take three years and many delays, but “All in the Family” became a huge hit.
Lear succeeded partly by making the characters — especially the mom — far more likable. That’s worked for other Americanizations.
In the American “The Office,” Jim and Pam (both of them sweet and telegenic) get more of the focus. In the American “Ghosts,” each ghost — especially the matriarch — is more benign.
And the American version “Doc Martin”?
The plot in the opening episode is virtually identical to the British one. The execution isn’t.
Josh Charles is neither “funny-looking” nor British. He’s an excellent actor — as we saw in “Sports Night” and “The Good Wife” — and he does a solid-enough job as this Martin.
But the villagers are all cranked up a few notches. Sometimes, that’s a good thing; the doctor’s non-helpful assistant is a delight. And sometimes it’s not; the local cop seems to have wandering in from a 1970s comedy.
A few of the people are familiar. Abigail Spencer plays the local teacher; Annie Potts plays the doc’s aunt. Even Clunes will show up eventually.
Others are not, but they fill this fictional Maine village with life and with stories. After the opener, the stories veer away from the “Doc Martin” ones, but they provide a pleasant blend of comedy and drama.
TV is now overrun with shows about crime, courts or hospitals. “Best Medicine” is about people.
Its villagers and visitors bring appealing little stories. This isn’t as good as “Doc Martin,” but it’s still better than most shows.