Martin Clunes may be 2026’s most unexpected Hollywood breakout star.
Fresh from the juggernaut of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, in which he plays Cathy Earnshaw’s cruel father, Martin is complimentary about his A-list co-star Margot Robbie, who portrays his daughter.
“Margot’s pretty impressive,” he tells HELLO! in this exclusive interview. “She’d only had her first baby 11 weeks before we started shooting… she’s really sweet.”
His portrayal of Mr Earnshaw was praised by critics, and now, a new film role is in the works for the star, whose acting breakthrough came in the Nineties sitcom Men Behaving Badly.
“I’m about to start doing a film set in the time of Jack the Ripper, when one of the suspects was the Queen’s grandson – it’s a thriller,” he says of the production, which is described as a 19th-century crime story set in Buckingham Palace. “At the moment, it’s called Black Palace.”
One of the UK’s best-loved actors, Martin, 64, has amassed a huge fanbase thanks to his TV roles.
© Getty ImagesA-List friend
He starred as Doc Martin in the popular ITV series from 2004 until 2022, and the actor Sir Anthony Hopkins revealed in his memoir last year that watching the comedy-drama, in which Martin’s character is thought to be on the spectrum, had made him believe that he could be autistic himself.
“We’ve been emailing each other for about five or six years,” Martin says of Anthony. “And then we met [last] New Year’s Eve at his birthday party, which was lovely. He sends me pictures of the dogs he rescues in California.”
Recently, Martin won plaudits for his performance in Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards. In 2024, the disgraced former BBC newsreader received a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for possessing indecent images of children.
“It felt like a challenge,” Martin says of the role. “[Michael Samuels] was a director I had wanted to work with for a long time. I thought it was a story worth telling, in the way it was told.”
Farm life
Martin is talking to us from his 135-acre farm in Beaminster, Dorset, where he has lived with his wife, the producer Philippa Braithwaite, since 2007. They married in 1997 following Martin’s divorce from his first wife, the actress Lucy Aston.
The couple run a production company, Buffalo Pictures, together – in fact, Philippa produced Doc Martin – so they must get along well. “We do,” Martin says. “We don’t do the same thing, so we’ve never had a conflict in that sense. It’s how we met; we’ve always worked together.”
© Getty ImagesMartin and Philippa have one daughter, Emily, 27, who now lives in Gloucester, where she’s studying to be an equine vet. She certainly grew up in the right place.
“I’ve got four dogs, about six horses, a couple of cows, one cat and seven hens.”
Horse riding is a shared family passion; Martin, who rode as a teenager, returned to the sport when Emily first began taking lessons. His wife enjoys dressage, his daughter takes part in eventing and Martin’s hobby is carriage driving.
Dogs are close to the family’s heart, too – in particular, their two spirited two-year-old Jack Russells, who inspired Martin to write a book called Training John and Murray, documenting his experience of puppy training.
© Martin Clunes“They’re a real delight,” Martin says. “They haven’t really calmed down, but they come back, which is all we needed them to do.”
This month, Martin and Philippa are off to Goodwoof, a two-day dog festival on the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex that Martin is supporting this year.
And as for the future? “I just have to keep busy. I’ve got too many animals to feed – I can’t get picky,” he laughs.
Goodwoof runs from 16 to 17 May; visit goodwood.com
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