Martin Clunes announces death of 'fantastic' Doc Martin co-star live on air

Actor announced the death of a co-star from whilst live on air tonight. He spoke about his "fantastic" former colleague during an interview after having worked together for a decade on the show.

Martin, 63, starred alongside the likes of dog Dodger - who played his character Martin Ellingham's canine companion Buddy - on Doc Martin, which ran for ten series from 2007 to 2022. Dodger made his debut in the fourth series of the medical comedy-drama, which was broadcast in 2009. He's understood to have remained on the show until the ninth series in 2019.

It was later announced that Dodger had retired, due to having , and that he wouldn't be in the tenth and final series, which aired in 2022.

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Whilst on this evening, Martin revealed to hosts and that Dodger has since died. He paid tribute to the dog - whose trainer announced his death on social media in 2023 - on the talk show.

Host Roman said in the interview: "Your character was always irritated by his dog but you had quite a good way of getting around that." Martin replied: "Oh Dodger, oh yeah! He was fantastic that boy. Sadly no longer with us."

Martin went on to discuss his character, who wasn't particularly keen on dogs. The actor said: "That was the joke I thought ... 'Who hates ?' ... that someone who hates dogs, but they all love him, and they just hang out with him."

Speaking about Dodger, he shared with the One Show's two presenters: "So I had to yell at him, throw him around, do all sorts of things but I never shouted really at him. I just waved my lips around and added in the shouting later."

He continued: "Me and Sonia Turner, his trainer, and Dodger, we just had such fun on that, y'know? Pushing the limits of what we could do with him and he was fabulous."

Sonia is understood to have announced Dodger's death on in 2023. She later expressed gratitude for condolences that she had received over the news.

She wrote in a post on the platform: "A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to remember Dodger and send their condolences. Tom and I are truly touched and amazed that our little chap had been taken to heart by so many people, both here and abroad. Bless you Dodger."

Martin had previously confirmed that Dodger had retired. Speaking to in 2022, he said that the character Buddy had been replaced in the final season of Doc Martin. The actor shared: "Dodger who played Buddy is still with us and he's happy. It's just that his trainer Sonia decided to retire him because he has doggy dementia."

The One Show continues tomorrow night on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 7pm.

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