Go __top__ | Martin Clunes Touch And

When Touch and Go aired on ITV in 1998 (with a second series in 1999), it received strong critical acclaim but moderate ratings. Critics praised the "kitchen-sink noir" aesthetic—the use of real industrial locations, the lack of a musical score in tense moments, and the unflinching direction by John Woods.

In the landscape of British television, few actors have maintained such a consistent, if understated, presence as Martin Clunes. To the casual viewer, he is simply the irascible yet lovable Doc Martin, striding through the cobbled streets of Portwenn with a perpetual scowl. To others, he remains the genial, flustered Gary from Men Behaving Badly . Yet, to invoke the phrase "Touch and Go" in relation to Clunes is to recognize the precarious tightrope his entire career has walked. It is a phrase that captures both the narrative tension of his most famous roles and the razor-thin margin between the persona he projects—grumpy, awkward, emotionally constipated—and the warm, vulnerable humanity that lies just beneath the surface. Martin Clunes Touch And Go