6. Martin Clunes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi_YGMM9NY8 These days it seems hard to imagine Martin Clunes outside of the role of a put-upon straight man after his career-making role as Gary Strang in Simon Nye's (writer of the Series 5 episode Amy's Choice) sitcom Men Behaving Badly, and his ongoing role as Cornwalls most ill-tempered GP in ITV's Doc Martin. But his first television role thirty-one years ago was a character in an entirely different mould. Clunes made his television debut in the Fifth Doctor story Snakedance (1983) as Lon, the lazy and insolent son of the planet Manussas federator and effectively its prince. A firm believer that the Mara (a snakelike creature previously seen in 1982s Kinda) was destroyed; Lon unwittingly came under its control after the Doctors companion Tegan (carrying the Mara inside her head) passed it over to him, enabling it to control him. His attempts to fully resurrect the Mara were ultimately prevented by the Doctor destroying it in a battle of wills. Clunes has recently filmed a documentary series titled Islands Of Oz for Australian television and work will begin on a seventh series of Doc Martin in 2015, which is likely to be the last.
JG Moore
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JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
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