Doc Martin joins the tourist trail

What looks like any other barn from the outside actually holds all the interiors for Doc Martin, from the doctor's office to his living room. The whole of the eternally grumpy Doc's interior world is under one steel roof.

Martin Clunes, who plays the Doc in the hugely popular series which attracted around nine million viewers each week during its first run is in fine spirits, despite the weather.

"This show is so nice to work on," says the 43-year-old, sitting in his character's office. "It's very different from filming in London - in London life just goes on around you when you're filming, but here we have Doc Martin tourists who come and see us, and then there are normal tourists who fit a bit of Doc Martin into their day.

"When we're out and about in Port Isaac we get some quite big crowds. But it never seems to be a problem. It's not like they're shouting obscenities at us. It just seems like the most natural thing in the world to get on and film around them.

"The villagers are fine with it as well. We negotiate our way through. By and large it's a good thing for the village, for the businesses, certainly. We're very sensitive to what they do and don't want and it's worked out really well, so far."

Filming the new series hasn't all been enjoyable, however. Earlier on during the shoot the crew's props man John Coleman, 58, was killed when he fell from a cliff during a walk with friends. Filming on the show was shut down for a day as a mark of respect.

"It affected us in all sorts of ways," says Clunes. "It was horrible, horrible. Still is. It was a huge shock in this lovely, gentle place where we come and make believe and then something so violent happens. It's appalling, and we reeled from it for a while."

The drama in front of the camera, however, is thankfully not as traumatic. Series two picks up where the first one left off and we see the doctor continuing with business as usual in his new home in the fictional village of Port Wenn.

"There's a kind of acceptance of him, I think, by the village, but still he can't set foot outside without being called a tosser," laughs Clunes. "Even the parrot calls him a tosser this series.

"But he's not going to change or take his suit off or lighten up. He considers what he does quite serious and thinks that largely people who aren't doctors are quite ignorant of it, so this makes him very insufferable."

Clunes loves putting the suit on and becoming the doctor for this show. He refuses to say it is his favourite character he has played, carefully saying: "My favourite is usually the one I'm doing". But it is obvious that it is in his comedy roles that the actor is most comfortable.

"I've got a feeling you're probably right, yeah," he says. "On this I like the balance of drama and comedy because we do try to keep it very real and keep the drama very real, although it's not a medical show. If it's just, ha ha he fell over, or, ha ha someone's banged their forehead, it's not that funny. But if an incredibly serious man walks into the edge of a door I think it's funnier than if a clown does it."

Another reason that Clunes loves the show so much is it means he gets to work with his wife, producer Philippa Braithwaite. The couple produce Doc Martin for ITV with their production company Buffalo Pictures and the actor says working and living together never gets to be too much.

"It means I get see her all the time, which suits me fine. I can't get enough of her, so it's great working with her. We're just really lucky.

"Before our daughter Emily was at school I'd come home from work and the last thing I would discuss was work, but it's quite nice that we have this shared thing now. At the end of the day we can sit down and bitch about the crew," he laughs.

The couple's daughter, who is five, is only now beginning to get her head around what her parents do, particularly her dad.

"Other kids tell her that her dad's famous so she goes to me: 'Daddy are you famous?', and I go: 'Well I suppose so yes'," grins Clunes.

"So she goes: 'So what's famous?', and I go: 'Well I work very hard'," he laughs. "She's seen me on GMTV and things like that. She tried talking to me on screen when I was on GMTV and Philippa was saying: 'He can't hear you', and she got quite upset that she couldn't get my attention.

"There I was sitting on this brightly coloured sofa and they said to me: 'Will Emily be watching this?', and I said: 'Yes. Hello Emily!' She looked at Philippa very confused, obviously thinking, but you said he couldn't talk to me," he laughs.

"She's a bit too young to think about whether she wants to do what I do yet. I'd beat it out of her if she showed any signs of it," he jokes. "She wants to be a horse at the moment. She is a horse for most of the day, galloping around."

Next for Clunes is a return to one-off drama, something he purposely concentrated on doing after Men Behaving Badly ended. The past few years, however, have been taken up by long-running series, both Doc Martin and the now-no-more William And Mary, and he is is keen to get back to something less time consuming.

Losing It, which will be shown on ITV, is based on real-life events and tells the tale of an advertising executive who is diagnosed with testicular cancer.

"He's a family man," explains Clunes, "quite humble, quite neurotic, and then suddenly this terrifying thing happens and it's all about how it affects him, his family, his work, and his bollocks.

"But I don't start filming that until next spring. I've got about six months of real life and being a father and mucking about before that."

Doc Martin, Scottish TV, Thursday, 9pm

Daniella and Derek turn ghostbusters in Blackpool theatre

BLACKPOOL on a Friday night is a scary place. There are packs of lads scouring the streets for a good time and similarly-minded hordes of mini-skirted girls, braving the cold autumn winds in their skimpy attire.

But it's a crowd of other restless spirits who have been giving the town's residents sleepless nights. Ghosts are lurking in the dark spaces of even its brightest places - a homely B&B, the illuminations depot, the Blackpool Grand Theatre - waiting to appear unannounced to any that dare to linger after hours.

At least that's what Danniella Westbrook is hoping. Years ago the former EastEnder would have been spending her Friday night indulging in less spiritual and more spirited activities.

These days the mum of two is happier at home with her family, but she has been persuaded out of what she says is a kind of semi-retirement to present Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns for LIVINGtv.

"We have such a great time, Derek and Angus Purden and I," says Westbrook. "Angus and I just laugh. We have to be separated like naughty children. When we're down to work we're serious, but between the links and stuff we tend to have a bit of a laugh."

She's not wrong. Before we head out to the Grand for some serious ghost-hunting, Westbrook and Purden treat the crew to an impromptu karaoke session in the trailer.

And in Acorah, the medium previously best known for his ghost-hunting on Most Haunted, she has found another like-minded soul. Neither of them can stop laughing at one of the theatre's oldest employees who looks uncannily like Uncle Albert from Only Fools And Horses.

It's soon down to work, however. Acorah starts trying to contact the theatre's resident spirits. Noises are heard from above the stage and so they go up to the rafters. By the time we see them again they are in one of the circle seating areas and Acorah is channelling a spirit.

Westbrook starts forcefully questioning the spirit, but he (or Acorah, depending on what you believe) keeps deflecting the questions. A clever ploy by Acorah, possibly? "I think Derek's amazingly gifted," disagrees Westbrook later. "The first few times he channelled I freaked out. But I've learnt a lot from him. I find the channelling thing amazing because you find out the last moments of people's lives.

"When the historians retrace the history, nine out of ten times Derek has been spot on. I think he's totally and utterly genuine. I think he's a legend," she grins.

Westbrook's interest in spirituality grew as she went through her well-documented battle with drug addiction. Now she has overcome it and settled into family life with her second husband Kevin Jenkins, her son Kai, eight, from a previous relationship, and her daughter with Jenkins, four-year-old Jodie.

"I think since my recovery I've become very spiritual because you have to have a spiritual awakening to get clean and sober," she says.

Westbrook's own house is haunted. She lives in a mansion in Kent with Jenkins, a successful businessman. But the family are unperturbed by their fellow residents.

Westbrook says she's going to get Acorah round for the next series of Ghost Towns, should there be one. It will be the only job she takes for the foreseeable future, aside from promoting her forthcoming autobiography The Other Side Of Nowhere next year.

Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns, LIVINGtv, Monday, 9pm