DOC Martin fans were left horrified after Martin Clunes’ titular character was left fighting for his life in a horror car crash in the final ever episode.
The ITV series came to an end a few weeks ago, but fans were treated to one last hoorah with the Christmas Special.
The Doc Martin Christmas Special aired tonight, its last ever episode
It saw Doc close down the local Santa’s Grotto when he was concerned Saint Nick had a contagious skin infection.
It left his son James upset with his dad, and Martin’s woes continued when he received a call to say his mother had died of a heart attack in London.
The doc ploughed on and soon had the results of Santa’s tests, but when he called him, he heard the man fall over and reveal he had badly cut his leg.
Martin explained how he was anemic and couldn’t afford to lose a lot of blood and raced over to his house, but got caught in a snow blizzard.
Martin swerved to dodge the turkey Morwenna had set free and crashed into a tree.
He started to head to his patient’s home on foot but stumbled and fell badly in the snow, passing out.
When he came to, he realised he potentially had the onset of hypothermia setting in, especially when a vision of his late mother joined him in the car and said some nasty things to him.
Determined to help his patient despite his own health problems, the GP set out once again and eventually found the farm.
After warming up, he was able to tend to Santa’s wounds, before the local Saint Nick gave him a talking to and told him how important it was for him to be with his family at Christmas and for the lantern parade his wife Louise had organised to cheer up James.
As the parade got underway, the residents got a shock when Martin and Santa arrived on a motorised sleigh, before the doc brought his delighted son in on the passenger seat and drove him further into the town.
Despite the near death experience, the show had a happy ending – apart from the Christmas tree catching fire – as Morwenna told Al she was pregnant.
And despite his proposal plans going a bit awry, PC Joe was finally able to pop the question to Janice, who said yes.
Doc Martin took to Twitter in tears at the final ever episode being over.
One wrote: “I’m going to miss this show”
Another added: “Now that was an unbelievably wholesome ending. #DocMartin“
A third tweeted: “Final ever episode of #DocMartin. Gutted. Loved every minute of it”
“Really enjoyed the final episode of Doc Martin. Poignant, hilarious and heartwarming, the Christmas special was the perfect end to the show.” said a fourth.
Doc Martin is available on ITVX.
