Martin Clunes plays one of my favourite TV characters in Doc Martin, the successful vascular surgeon who develops haemophobia (fear of blood) forcing him to stop practicing surgery. He obtains a GP position in the sleepy Cornish village of Portwenn.

He won a BAFTA TV award playing Gary Strang in the British sitcom Men Behaving Badly alongside Neil Morrissey who played Tony Smart, Leslie Ash and Caroline Quentin.

The beer-swilling, burping, foul-mouthed house mates Tony and Gary reunited for the first time in fifteen years this month as part of a night to raise funds for testicular cancer research in a one off comedy skit “Feeling Nuts”.

He was a really nice guy to meet and happily signed my sketch after the London premiere of Nativity 3: Dude Where’s My Donkey?!, at the Vue in Leicester Square on Sunday. I asked Martin what he was working on and he said “Arthur and George,” a three part TV adaption of Julian Barnes novel of the same title, based on an intriguing series of genuine events in the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the celebrated novelist and physician who created Sherlock Holmes.

By the way, ‘Doc’ Martin actually has a doctorate – an honorary one from Bournemouth University.