Martin Clunes is set to play a driving instructor in a new sitcom.
The ‘Doc Martin’ star – who hasn’t starred in a sitcom since the ‘Reggie Perrin’ remake seven years ago – was slapped with a six-month driving ban back in 2012 after he racked up 12 points for speeding offences, but that hasn’t stopped him from bagging the titular role in the forthcoming BBC One pilot ‘Warren’.
The show, which was written by the stand-up and writer Jimmy Donny Cosgrove and Paul McKenna, was filmed in Cardiff this month but is not intended for broadcast.
Despite his driving ban, the 55-year-old actor – who passed his test first time without any lessons – is a car enthusiast, but he isn’t able to sit behind the wheel for prolonged periods of time because he suffers from a degenerative back condition.
Martin certainly has a busy year coming up as his show ‘Doc Martin’ has just been recommissioned for a ninth series, which will hit screens next autumn, and he’ll be expected to start filming for the new instalment early on in 2018.
And, although the comedy – which sees Martin play surgeon Dr. Martin Ellingham, who abruptly leaves his London practice to become general practitioner in the sleepy fishing village of Portwenn in Cornwall – is a huge hit with fans, the star has revealed that the ninth series will be the last to ever grace screens.
He said previously: "We start making [series 8] in spring and it’ll probably be on air in the autumn. So [series 8] is the second to last."
However, although viewers are no doubt devastated, the cast are over the moon as they believed series seven was the last after they were thrown a lavish wrap party.
Ian McNeice – who plays café owner Bert Large in the show – said at the time: "At the end of the series we had a wrap party with the best drinks and food ever and we were thinking this is looking pretty – is this a goodbye?
"We were getting a little nervous. Then we had a cast and crew photograph and we had never had that before, and it was slightly unnerving that the end of this series we wrap things up nicely. But it is not over and we are thrilled."
Martin Clunes to play driving instructor in new sitcom
