Full cast revealed for Netflix’s 'Best Medicine,' the 'Doc Martin' adaptation

A cranky surgeon washed up on the Maine coast with a brand-new fear of blood is the starting point for Best Medicine, and the show leans into the clash right away. Josh Charles plays Dr. Martin Best, a Harvard-trained vascular star who flames out in Boston after a sudden blood phobia and lands back in the small town where he spent childhood summers. He’s brilliant, blunt, and allergic to small talk — not ideal when your waiting room is full of neighbors who all know each other’s business.

The town won’t let him brood in peace. Abigail Spencer turns up the heat as Louisa Gavin, a sharp schoolteacher who challenges Martin at every turn and quietly becomes the one person who can get through to him. That dynamic gets messier thanks to Josh Segarra as Sheriff Mark Mylow — warm-hearted, not always eagle-eyed — who also happens to be Louisa’s ex-fiancé, a wrinkle that colors nearly every scene they share with the new doctor.

The clinic itself is barely held together by Cree as Elaine Denton, Martin’s tech-savvy, chronically online assistant who dreams of going viral while keeping the exam rooms running. She’s exasperated, ambitious and, somehow, fiercely loyal to a boss who gives out praise like it ’s a controlled substance.

Family pulls at Martin from another direction via Annie Potts as Aunt Sarah, a no-nonsense lobsterwoman who still heads out on the water every day. She’s the show’s steady pulse — blunt, dryly funny, and the keeper of family history Martin would rather leave buried.

Beyond the clinic, the town’s heartbeat runs through The Salty Breeze, the beloved seafood joint co-owned by Stephen Spinella and Jason Veasey as husbands Greg Garrison and George Brady. Trouble — or at least colorful chaos — tends to arrive with the Large family: John DiMaggio is Bert, a gruff handyman who keeps crashing into Martin’s cases, and Carter Shimp is Al, the son who somehow finds the same scrapes his dad does. Meanwhile, order (or opinions about it) comes courtesy of Clea Lewis as pharmacist Sally Mylow and Didi Conn as councilwoman Geneva Potter, both fixtures in a town where nobody is shy about telling the doctor how to do his job.

Original Doc Martin star Martin Clunes appears here as Dr. Robert Best — the new doctor’s father.

That full-circle casting is a sly wink to fans of the British original. Clunes plays Robert as a headstrong gastroenterologist whose visit forces Martin to drop his defenses and confront a past he’s sidestepped for years — a sharp, dry counterpoint to Charles that threads through the season.

Who plays who

• Josh Charles — Dr. Martin Best, a Harvard-trained vascular surgeon sidelined by a sudden blood phobia
• Abigail Spencer — Louisa Gavin, a quick-witted schoolteacher and Martin’s most persistent foil
• Josh Segarra — Sheriff Mark Mylow, warm-hearted lawman and Louisa’s former fiancé
• Cree — Elaine Denton, Martin’s ambitious, internet-obsessed clinic assistant
• Annie Potts — Aunt Sarah, a working lobsterwoman with family secrets
• Stephen Spinella — Greg Garrison, co-owner of The Salty Breeze
• Jason Veasey — George Brady, Greg’s husband and co-owner of The Salty Breeze
• John DiMaggio — Bert Large, blunt local handyman
• Carter Shimp — Al, Bert’s son and frequent trouble magnet
• Clea Lewis — Sally Mylow, the town pharmacist
• Didi Conn — Geneva Potter, a councilwoman with very firm opinions
• Martin Clunes — Dr. Robert Best, Martin’s headstrong gastroenterologist father

The series borrows the bones of Doc Martin’s fish-out-of-water setup, but this Maine reset — and this ensemble — give it a distinctly American tide. Clunes’ father-son showdown with Charles rolls out across the season on Netflix .