Interview with Martin Clunes; Arthur and George (ITV)

Martin Clunes plays the celebrated novelist and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a
three-part adaptation of Julian Barnes’ acclaimed novel, Arthur & George, for ITV.

Written by Ed Whitmore, the drama is based on true events in the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who famously created the detective Sherlock Holmes, in which he pursues a notorious miscarriage of 
justice. 

We caught up with a clearly excited Martin Clunes as filing concluded and he admits he was daunted by the idea of playing one of Britain’s most celebrated authors.

“I was quite terrified by the thought of playing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but my wife,
Philippa, had spent a great deal of time optioning the book and doing deals with agents,
writers and ITV,” Martin says. “Arthur and George is a hugely successful book, and Julian Barnes didn’t need us to make a television programme of it. Philippa very patiently and persistently pursued the idea. She swears there was no pressure, but there was pressure!” Martin jokes.

“I am sure if somebody else had said: ‘why don’t you do this’ I would have said: ‘I’m a bit
scared’.It is quite outside my comfort zone in a way. My comfort zone has been Doc Martin or documentaries about animals. That has been my life for so long, with little bits of acting along the way but never in the title role. This is quite big. Conan Doyle is a very famous Scotsman, so I had to speak with an authentic Scottish accent as well"

“At the time we find him in the story his wife has been dying of consumption for about nine years. They have all known it was going to come. She dies right at the beginning of our story, which puts him in a strange place because he had been seeing Jean Leckie - you couldn’t say he had been having an affair because we are pretty certain it hadn’t been consummated. His relationship with Jean was quite openly known about, even his wife knew, and the whole family knew too. They all gave the friendship their blessing. But when his wife died he went into a spiral of guilt and became fed up with his own invention, Sherlock Holmes. He couldn’t get his other books published, couldn’t get people interested in them and they weren’t shifting"



“Having said that there was an enormous appetite for Sherlock Holmes stories, as there
still is today. In his mail one morning, in this strange state, he gets a letter from George
Edalji with press cuttings telling the story of how he had been wrongfully imprisoned for
these ghastly crimes against livestock"

“It triggers something in his imagination, and he gets fired up, and tries to use Sherlock
Holmes’ forensic methods to solve the case. It is kind of frustrating for him, because it is
the real world, it is not fiction, and he can’t write what is going to happen, so things come and trip him up and surprise him. I think he’s seized on this case as a distraction and something to occupy his mind. I think when you are very, very sad and you have nothing to do it makes you sadder"

“I think he becomes aware of that so he throws himself wholeheartedly into this, with great energy, and quite single mindedly. That does seem to nourish him as the story unfolds, even though it doesn’t necessarily go as he’d like it to go, it is still the whole act of doing it which invigorates him"

“What I love about the story is he had this tortured seven year relationship. Then when Sir
Arthur’s wife did die he went on this massive guilt trip. Working on this case sort of
allowed him to marry Jean Leckie, and they did live happily ever after. Then they had three children. It was a tremendous love, and I like that. It could have fallen by the wayside, but it didn’t.”

Martin is full of admiration for the character he plays.
“I like his application. I like his sense of empowerment, his confidence and the fact he
wasn’t born to enormous wealth. They weren’t terribly poor, but he wasn’t born to wealth. In all the photographs of him he is quite a dandy. Les Lansdowne, the costume designer noticed that other gentleman of the age would have just one watch chain, but Sir Arthur had two and so did the King.”

Martin had read Julian Barnes book, and prepared for his leading role in the drama by
researching Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the internet.

“I know the true story from Julian Barnes’ book, but you can never just televise a book,
everything has to be translated. That is why Ed Whitmore, who has written the adaptation, has done so brilliantly because he writes contemporary crime thrillers. He has given that sort of spin to it.”

Spending time in Scotland, and knowing many Scottish people helped Martin to cultivate
an East coast/Edinburgh accent for the role.He also worked with a dialect coach, and
maintained the accent during breaks in filming.
He jokes: “ I have two Scottish horses at home, but they were of no help.”
One member of the Clunes family of animals was of great help to the production, however.
Five year old Jack Russell terrier, James Henry - the baby in Doc Martin is named after
him - made his television debut as Sir Arthur’s dog.
“There never had to be a second take because Jim had wandered off. He gazed up at the
hairy microphone as if it might squeak. But he was very good.
“I had been teaching him various commands with a Scottish accent in case this helped on
set. I needed him to be obedient around sheep, and I have been at him, and at him. Then I took him into this environment, and I was surprised at how attentive he was to me,
because he knows the trouble he would get into.”

Some of Martin’s favourite moments during the shoot came when they were filming in
central London early on Sunday mornings with horses and carriages.
“One day we were filming at Somerset House. We had horses and carriages, a car from
the period, gentlemen and ladies in hats all in front of that building. It was terribly exciting and magical.”
Martin has learnt to drive a cart and horses on his own Dorset farm and sneaked into the
driving seat of a cart during filming.
“One day when nobody was looking there were two working horses with a big old wagon of straw on set. I got to drive that back and it was really exciting. The horses are all film
horses and are really well behaved, and they all know the word ‘action’. My boys would
cause chaos on a set.”

Martin enjoyed a great rapport with Charles Edwards who plays his trusted secretary,
Woodie. “Charles is great. Alfred Wood was referred to as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s manservant, which I am sure is the right word for it at the time. But for our ears it doesn’t sound enough because he also performed secretarial duties and dealt with his mail. He was his complete right hand man. Alfred Wood is every inch the English gent as he was in real life. He was a great cricketer, great soldier and a great school teacher and very bright. I like to think there’s a part of him that Sir Arthur looks up to. He doesn’t treat him just as staff. Although when he is being quite spoilt and petulant he pulls rank on him, but he always listens to him. The relationship has been effortless and Charles is superb as Woodie.”

Martin says he would be more than happy to explore the possibility of bringing more
Conan Doyle stories to the screen.
“Historically this wasn’t the only investigation Sir Arthur Conan Doyle became involved in.
If people enjoy watching this and ITV are happy with that, then I am sure we could adapt
some more of those cases.”

Arthur and George starts Monday 2 March at 9pm on ITV