The best thing we can say about Best Medicine, an adaptation of the UK show Doc Martin, is that it feels like a cup of hot tea you drink on a very cold afternoon. But not just any tea, either. It’s not just about it making you warm. It’s about the right combination of that, with a hint of sweetness and whatever flavor you might desire. Because Best Medicine has comfort for everyone. And if we’re being honest, there aren’t many shows like that on TV these days.
Fangirlish talked to showrunner Liz Tuccillo about crafting a comfort show, what she wants people to get out of it, where these characters are going, and even the process of casting these wonderful actors.
And if you’re wondering if everyone involved went into this trying to create a comfort show, the answer is very much yes. “That is literally what we think about and say all the time. The hope was that we weren’t creating… we’re not creating perfect people who all get along, but we’re creating quirky characters that when they don’t get along, they know that they’re still going to look out for each other.”
That very much ties into what Tucccillo hopes people get out of the show. “I want them to know that, in a way, there is nothing more important than community. And that even the grouchiest of us still deep down crave it.”
In order to showcase this, of course, Tuccillo and the writer’s room had to create the community around Dr. Martin Best (Josh Charles). And all the characters have their own journey. “Everybody is going to have something that they’re going to be working through, not just Martin.”
But Martin is definitely, obviously, he’s the lead, and he is the one who is going to be sort of facing multiple challenges from living there every week.”
If the show works, it’s because of the casting. And a lot of that has to do with Josh Charles, who absolutely embodies Martin Best. But how did he come to be Best Medicine’s lead? “I think that what we all felt right away, and I think what everybody can agree on with Josh, is that he’s a fine actor. I keep saying that all the time, but he’s a fine actor, and what people were saying when we checked in on him, because of course we were like: “What’s he like to work with?” And then all the people that we talked to that have worked with him in the past said the same thing, that he elevates the material.”
“That was from his work, his body of work. But then when I heard that, I was like, yeah, that’s right. He’s only going to make the writing and all the creative decisions better by his presence as a very classy, very smart, very fine, talented actor. Purely like, high quality, unbelievably gifted actor.”
But he still needed something else! “From there, it was like, would he be funny? And it was really fun to see him embrace the physical comedy, to see him front to right towards sort of the charm and the wisecrack. And it was a really fun experience having him come aboard and then writing to him, knowing who we were working with to be able to tailor the dialogue and the stories for him.”
Then there’s Abigail Spencer, who we already know can do everything, but who’s giving more Lucy in Timeless, though a tad more chaotic, than anything of what we saw of her on her guest appearance on 9-1-1. “It’s crazy to see her on set because she really can do everything. The week that we cast her, I saw her on a Law & Order: SVU episode, and she was playing this very deep character, dark story. And I was like, oh wow, she really can do everything that she can. She’s so, so funny in the show. And she just always hits the right tone every moment.”
Plus someone like Josh Segarra, who we recently saw doing comedy on Abott Elementary, but who is hitting very different notes on Best Medicine. “He was very clear from the beginning, he said, “I don’t want to repeat anything I’m doing on any of these other shows.” And I was like, okay, great. But I didn’t know what he was doing on these other shows because I didn’t want to know.”
“I knew he was going to be funny and hilarious. I didn’t know how many times I would be on the set that he has, like, moved me. That was a big surprise. He’s really a great actor. And he has brought me to tears on several occasions.”
All of this comes together for Best Medicine, and Liz Tuccillo promised it will continue to build during the season. “Once you learn about the actors playing these supporting characters, you can give them more and more to do. You’ll see in the season that our supporting characters have more and more fun stories. And then you’re going to have the guests, a lot of times the guests start coming with their crazy medical issues.”
“That’s getting the sort of quirky town problem. So, we kind of made a point to say in the writer’s room that there is a medical procedural investigative element to it, but it’s not just, you know, health, right? The medical element could be something that drags him into more of the town’s shenanigans. And so sometimes the medical stuff that happens, the town gets mad at him. Sometimes he’s mad at the town, but that’s another way into telling stories about the town.”
And that will, of course, involve the medical part, but also “we do have a lot of events.” You know, typical small town. “So, that’s the other thing that we really were having fun with is just that he [Doc Martin] is always faced with the town having some special events that he’s being dragged into or forced to care about, which is also a very easy way to get the town to feel very fenced up.”
Best Medicine feels like comfort, and that’s taken a lot of hard work. But also, perhaps, just building something that resembles Port Wenn behind the scenes. “We had these incredibly good sports, and we were doing a show about community and our crew and our actors, we also sort of created a microcosm of that as a community doing the show. So, there’s a lot of good feeling surrounding the show from everybody who’s been a part of it. And that we’re obviously hoping that that gets translated to the wider audience.”
We’re in. And we’re just saying, if you need a pick-me-up—and doesn’t every need one these days?—you should be too.
Best Medicine airs Tuesdays on FOX.
