The Man Who Lost His Head

"A fish out of water” is how Martin Clunes (Doc Martin) describes his character Ian Bennet in tonight’s Saturday movie, The Man Who Lost His Head.

In real life, the actor went through a similar fish-out-of-water experience, travelling to New Zealand from the United Kingdom to shoot the NZ/ UK co-production. But flying halfway around the world and learning about Maori culture was a major part of the appeal for Clunes when he decided to take on the role.

Clunes plays repressed British museum curator Ian, who is about to marry his boss's daughter, Fiona (Caroline Harker).

So when a repatriation claim comes into the museum for a Maori carving to be returned to a fictional community in a remote corner of New Zealand, he isn't keen to be given the job of assessing the claim, particularly when he understands what a delicate case it is.

However, once he travels to New Zealand and meets Lollie [Nicola Kawana], his attitudes change.

Clunes, who spent six weeks filming on the North Island's west coast, says when he first arrived to film The Man Who Lost His Head, he found it easy to relate to Ian's ignorance of Maori culture. "When I came to New Zealand I was ignorant of all things Maori and there's a lot to take on board."

And like his character in the film, Clunes fell in love with New Zealand. "It's really lovely and is also a great place to work," he says, comparing much of the countryside he's seen so far with that of Cornwall where he films Doc Martin. "Well", he laughs, "it's a bit like that, just with more reggae".