After his sinister role on The Handmaid’s Tale, Josh Charles is switching gears to Fox’s upcoming small town show Best Medicine, a remake of the British hit Doc Martin.
The network released the official trailer for the series on Friday, December 12, which introduces Dr. Martin Best (Charles) as he moves from the big city of Boston to a small practice in Port Wenn.
“I take people who are sick and I make them well,” Martin explains in the sneak peek. “Should I buy a litter of puppies and hand them out at every visit?”
The adjustment isn’t easy for Martin, who explains, “I find the people here demanding, irrational and far too chatty at supermarkets.”
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Life in Port Wenn isn’t Martin’s only concern. Despite being a doctor, it turns out Martin has a fear of blood that he hides from his patients.
“I came here hoping I can still practice medicine. Other than that, I will be keeping my own company,” he says. “My only responsibility is to keep everyone safe. I will be examining, diagnosing and treating the ill.”
Before expanding their roster with Best Medicine, Fox found success with The Resident, which ran for six seasons before its conclusion in 2023. The network then ordered another medical drama, Doc, to series.
“Comedy isn’t one genre for us. We don’t just look at it as, like, half-hour live-action comedy,” President of Fox Television Network Michael Thorn told reporters in May. “We look at it as animation, of course comedy, but we look at it, like, with a one-hour comedy like Best Medicine. Even our game shows like The 1% Club, we look at as a comedy first and a game show second. And so this just felt like it was kind of a perfect opportunity for us to expand the way that we talk to our audience through comedy.”
He continued, referring to the success of Doc Martin: “We love this story for its humor, charm, optimism, and edge, not to mention its standing as a proven 10 season global hit out of the U.K. It’s been almost a decade since we’ve had a one hour comedy on Fox. So introducing this signature Fox character and his story is the perfect fit for us. There really is nothing like Best Medicine on broadcast TV today.”
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Thorn expressed excitement at developing a more comedic medical series.
“A couple things we love about the original format that Liz Tuccillo, who’s adapting the American version, just captured so well is the original has this old, funny, surprising, flawed, no filter character who happens to be a brilliant doctor. And that kind of messy characters work so well for our audience on our air,” he added. “And we think Liz did a great job capturing it and how lucky are we’d have Josh Charles to embody the American version. And then the other thing about the original that we love, it’s really this kind of wonderful, quirky ensemble of supporting characters. There’s a great romance, it’s an aspirational small town setting, and it just feels like all of those qualities put to the typewriter of Liz just really works so well for us.”
In addition to Charles, Best Medicine stars Abigail Spencer, Josh Segarra, Cree, Annie Potts, Didi Conn, Clea Lewis, Stephen Spinella, Jason Veasey, Cindy De La Cru, John DiMaggio, Carter Shimp and dog cast member Wattson.
Best Medicine premieres on Fox Tuesday, January 6, at 8 p.m. ET.
