The worst has to be the local radio station DJ.
I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned Caroline! She pretty much tops the list for me. Just unnecessarily nasty to everyone she meets.
Others recurring characters who annoy me:
- Pauline. So annoying and basically no redeeming qualities. I've noticed everyone seems to think Elaine was worse, but I actually found Elaine to be pretty funny, and her whole drama with her dad getting married made me feel bad for her and sort of understand why she is the way she is. Pauline's sob story of her mom being a biotch still didn't speak to me, for some reason. She's just so damn annoying and thinks so unjustly high of herself.
- Auntie Joan. So self-righteous and - ironically, given that she boasts how she cared for Martin when no one did - cold to Martin at times. Like when she kept insisting Danny's mother not go to a home because it was her worst fear. She walked into the ocean and Joan still won't get off her high horse about how it's wrong to put her in a home. Then when Martin and Louisa broke up after the symphony, she was so heartless to Martin even though he was there for her over her ex-lover drama. It had been, like, a day, and Martin was actually letting himself be emotional, which is probably a good thing, and she comes over to tell him to cut his losses and stop moping because they're "chalk and cheese." That was just harsh.
- Mrs. Cronk. I know this is heartless, but her constant panicking - to the point that it puts her child in danger - just really gets on my nerves. I've struggled with anxiety attacks before, and they're not necessarily outright incapacitating like she lets them be, though I suppose everyone experiences symptoms differently. It's just annoying how she acts like more of child than her boy does. She also reacts overly emotionally even when not having an actual panic attack in a way that I feel would make life harder for her son (like when she was freaking out about Burt ruining her fish shop. Like, I get that she's supposed to be this stressed-out single mom, but I just have a hard time respecting her seeming lack of ability to get her act together and put on at least a hint of a brave face for her son).
- Roger Fenn was kind of a jerk. I guess he was supposed to have a chip on his shoulder about various things, as Martin said, but I still felt like they could have given him a few more redeeming qualities.
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ShannonTriumphant
9 years ago
I agree 100% with your assessment of Mrs Cronk! The person who wrote below you said they wanted to slap her. That's just what I was thinking when I watched an ep. on DVD recently--her son was sick (isn't he always?) and she immediately whips herself into a panic attack before she has a clue what's wrong with him!
Also, her "attacks" just aren't realistic (I've see a few--they run in my family), they're just annoying. If you compare the way Doc's attacks (he tells Roger Fenn that he has panic attacks due to the smell of cauterized flesh and the sight of blood), they're night and day. HIS seem very realistic--they just hit him out of the blue. Whereas Mrs Cronk seems to work at them, hyperventilating, running around frantically, like Skyler White's fake attacks (to get what she wants) in "Breaking Bad". No wonder that her kid is so messed up when he returns to Portwenn as a teen. Good point about her not trying to put a brave face on for her son.
I want to know why she NEVER tries to get help--counseling, medication, etc., to deal with these attacks. `
You mentioned Roger Fenn; in season 1, he and Doc kind of hit it off when he was having surgery, and that could have been a nice twist for the show--for Doc to have ONE sympathetic person besides just Aunt Joan (who, as you pointed out) could be rather harsh with him at times. I had never really noticed that before.
The other local who ended up as quite annoying was Danny Steel (Tristan Sturrock), who was so great in the two Doc Martin films. Then he becomes pushy, whiny, constantly says "Bless You" (even to Martin's parents, when they give him a ride--it was hilarious). He also hits on Louisa and degenerates into a near paralytic state when one of his church group kids runs off. He's not funny, just pathetic.
Don't get me wrong...
It might be unbelievable,
But let's not say so long
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number9-4
9 years ago
Also, her "attacks" just aren't realistic (I've see a few--they run in my family), they're just annoying. If you compare the way Doc's attacks (he tells Roger Fenn that he has panic attacks due to the smell of cauterized flesh and the sight of blood), they're night and day.
That is a very interesting point. Maybe that's why it bothered me so much - she seems very self-indulgent with her attacks. Now, I think that's probably just a poor writing of an anxiety-ridden character and not something we're supposed to read into as "Mrs. Cronk is faking it," but that does help to explain why a lot of us find her so annoying. Usually when someone feels an anxiety attack coming on, they try to calm themselves down (and then THAT makes it worse, a lot of the time, the "Don't panic! Don't panic!" pressure). But Mrs. Cronk just acts like a child. The second any adverse news comes up, she just overreacts and works herself into a panic based on her seeming inability to even slightly cope with adult life. The fact that they basically had her devolve into agoraphobia later in the series is not surprising.
I also liked the relationship between Roger and Martin, and it bummed me out a little that, when he and Louisa were about to get married for the first time, he dismissed Roger with something to the effect of, "Don't insult both of us by pretending that you care about me." Maybe that was just supposed to be a sign that they have a sort of love-hate, bantering relationship, but it seemed pretty genuine.
And yeah, Danny is pretty awful. His character in the movies was so much better! But he did make for some comic moments with his annoying preachiness. I loved how Louisa finally told him that her name isn't "Lou." Seemed very symbolic, because it's like Danny never really "got" her, he just wanted the pretty girl he'd known since childhood. She's Louisa, not Lou. And it hearkened back to when Martin first saw the two of them together way back in Series 2 and said, "Hello,
Lou," kind of sarcastically. And how he would correct his mother when she called her "Louise." I think those were both supposed to be subtle showings of how Martin really does care about Louisa and understands her (She's Louisa, not the personas of "Louise" and "Lou" that some assign to her).
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chewtoy45
9 years ago
I, too, want to slap Mrs. Cronk. I mean, s***, chill the f_** out!!!
I think I'll have a large order of prognosis negative.
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