When Al and Martin rescue an injured bird egg thief from a cliff, Jonathan believes the eggs were transmitting the radio signals.

After the disastrous lobster fest at Bert's restaurant, he is given notice of foreclosure on his property.The Portwenn Surgery is open again but things aren’t running as smoothly with new receptionist, Max Foreman. Martin is not impressed and Louisa takes it personally when Martin says there is something wrong with Tina. Auntie Joan, accompanied by her neighbor's dog Buddy, drops a pie off for Martin and suggests her friend Barbara ( Georgie Glen) can help him with his fear of blood.

Aunt Ruth demands he provide her with documentation of expenses and sales on their whiskey enterprise, and finds the business is losing money. Tishell gives him a loud yellow sweater with his name in large letters across the front, which he buries in a bin. Penhale does his best to issue formal warnings to keep the Doc away from a woman who is constantly tired and winds up in a car crash. McLynn has been losing her sight for years due to macular degeneration, but she drives anyway, and later hits PC Penhale with her car.

Meanwhile, he hopes to literally keep off the radar of the eagerly helpful PC Penhale, who tries to impress babysitter Janice Bone with his radar gun. Due to his difficulty in expressing feelings and his insensitive nature, the relationship has many ups and downs, though they eventually have a baby and later marry.

Martin has agreed to be the special guest at the school Sports Day, which ends up in disaster, because he discourages participation in sports. Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes), a London-based surgeon, relocates to the picturesque seaside village of Port Wenn, where he establishes himself as the area’s general practitioner.The original deal had been to produce two television films per year for three years, but Sky Pictures folded after the first two episodes were made, so Clunes's company tried to sell the franchise to ITV. Series 1, 2 and 3 and "On the Edge" were released separately in Region 1 and 2 and in the "complete Series 1 to 3" box set. Auntie Joan is accidentally shot in her foot by Colonel Gilbert Spencer, who is excited about the rare birds nesting in the cliffs above her home. The villagers eventually discover his fear of blood and the frequent and debilitating bouts of nausea and vomiting it causes.

Selkirk ( Gwen Taylor) believes she sees and talks to her husband, who keeps telling her to visit Martin. The doc encounters park ranger Stewart James on a home visit to a local farmer, and invites him for a long-awaited check-up, where Morwenna coerces Al and Joe into attending one of his survival courses, which Stewart is becoming stressed over ensuring the success of, and Al is reluctant based on Stewart's past mental health problems.However, Portwenn is fighting off the cold and frost with a period of determined revelry before it heads into its deep winter sleep, and his patients are even more exasperating than usual. Inside are photos and newspaper clippings of Auntie Ruth, as well as diary entries that are alarming signs of an obsession with Ruth. Two Royal Military policemen are trying to track down Mike Pruddy for being AWOL (Absent Without Leave) from the army. Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of the Congo, Reunion, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (U. John Marquez as Joe Penhale (series 3–10) – police officer Penhale greatly admires Ellingham, and believes they have a great working relationship, an optimistic assessment not shared by the doctor.