Martin Clunes announces death of Doc Martin co-star as he pays tribute to 'fantastic' colleague
'Doc Martin' star Martin Clunes has paid tribute to his colleague, pet pooch Dodger - who played his character Martin Ellingham's dog Buddy - and admitted he was a "fantastic" co-star.
Martin Clunes has confirmed the passing of his 'Doc Martin' co-star Dodger.
The 63-year-old star has paid tribute to his "fantastic" colleague, who played his character Martin Ellingham's pet pooch Buddy, after revealing he is “no longer with us”.
Dodger couldn't appear as Buddy in the final series, in 2022, because he was suffering from dementia.
During Martin's appearance on 'The One Show', host Roman Kemp said to him: "Your character was always irritated by his dog but you had quite a good way of getting around that," and the actor replied: "Oh Dodger, oh yeah!
"He was fantastic that boy. Sadly no longer with us.
"That was the joke I thought ... 'Who hates dogs ... that someone who hates dogs, but they all love him, and they just hang out with him."
Martin has recalled having "such fun" with Dodger on the set, and he enjoyed "pushing the limits" of what the canine star could achieve.
He added: "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.
"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."
In 2022, Martin admitted it felt right to end 'Doc Martin' after 10 series, because he didn't want the show to become "repetitive".
He told Woman's Weekly magazine: "Because we'd only start getting repetitive.
"We were very conscious of wanting to close the circle rather than allowing it to drift into being an ongoing soap opera."
