Written by David May for Perth Now
Half hidden in a narrow valley on the north coast of Cornwall, Port Isaac had been a prosperous fishing village since the Middle Ages until rising competition, declining fish stocks and EU quotas sent its economy into free fall. Then, along came television.
Port Isaac has to be a candidate for Britain’s most photogenic village. In 2004 it was chosen by the British TV network ITV as the fictional village Portwenn in Doc Martin, in which Martin Clunes plays fractious quack Doc Martin and Caroline Catz his long-suffering girlfriend, Louisa Glasson.
The show has become a hit in the UK and more than a dozen other countries, including Australia and the US. The seventh series finished filming in July.