The New Season of the Acclaimed English Comedy-Drama Doc Martin Returns to American Audiences in 2012

BOSTON (Dec. 14, 2011) – American Public Television (APT), the longest operating national content distributor to U.S. public television stations, continues to bring one of the England's most acclaimed and popular programs, DOC MARTIN, to United States audiences in 2012. APT first presented DOC MARTIN to America in 2007, and the program has quickly become a viewer favorite. Local public television stations are already building their schedule to include the latest season of DOC MARTIN, named the top-rated series in the U.K. in September. To feed the interest of a devoted fan base, APT will redistribute the first four seasons of the popular comedy-drama and more in 2012, allowing American viewers time to catch up before the highly-anticipated fifth season of releases to U.S. public television stations in March.

DOC MARTIN stars Martin Clunes (Men Behaving Badly) as the brash doctor Martin Ellingham, whose blunt opinions and tactless manner cause mayhem in a small Cornish community. Ellingham – once a celebrated London surgeon – flees from his position after developing a phobia to blood. After retraining as a general practitioner, Ellingham gets a job in the beautiful but sleepy village of Portwenn replacing their deceased local doctor. But his abrasive personality doesn’t exactly mesh with the pace of life in Cornwall. Caroline Katz (The Bill) co-stars as Portwenn's beautiful schoolteacher and the object of Ellingham's awkward affections, and Stephanie Cole (Coronation Street) plays Ellingham's supportive aunt Joan.

In addition, in January APT will release DOC MARTIN: THE MOVIE, the film that sparked the TV phenomenon. The "Doc Martin" character originated in a theatrical film called Saving Grace, which featured an unforgettable supporting character named Dr. Martin Bamford (Clunes). In between that film and the DOC MARTIN series came the two television movies. DOC MARTIN: THE MOVIE follows Dr. Bamford, chronicling the good doctor's journey to the small fishing town of Port Isaac as he tries to figure out the big questions in his life.

The first four seasons of DOC MARTIN are currently airing on local public television stations around the nation; the fifth season will release on March 1, 2012. DOC MARTIN: THE MOVIE will release on January 15, 2012.

For more information on DOC MARTIN, including screeners and images, contact Mike_Nadeau@APTonline.org.

About APT
American Public Television (APT) has been a leading distributor of high-quality, top-rated programming to America’s public television stations since 1961. Since 2004, APT has distributed approximately half of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles. Among its 300 new program titles per year are prominent documentaries, news and current affairs programs, dramatic series, how-to programs, children’s series and classic movies, including For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots, Rick Steves' Europe, Newsline, Globe Trekker, Simply Ming, Joseph Rosendo's Travelscope, America's Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated, Lidia's Italy, Nightly Business Report, P. Allen Smith's Garden Home, Midsomer Murders, Moyers & Company, Doc Martin, Rosemary & Thyme, BBC World News, The Rat Pack: Live and Swingin’, Johnny Mathis: Wonderful, Wonderful! and John Denver: The Wildlife Concert. APT also licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service. In 2006, APT launched and nationally distributed Create® – the TV channel featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming. APT is also a partner in the WORLD™ channel expansion project including its web presence at WORLDcompass.org. For more information about APT’s programs and services, visit APTonline.org. For more information on Create, visit CreateTV.com.