Martin Clunes on his role at Hartpury University and College

‘People say, “what do you mean you’re the chancellor of the university?”,’ reveals Martin Clunes OBE during the official opening ceremony for Hartpury’s new Veterinary Nursing and Technical Skills Centre.

‘What I do is this: I turn up and get gob-smacked by lots of things that have been added here and the incredible way they deliver education.’

Martin is clearly relishing his honorary role as chancellor of Hartpury University and College, which he’s held since February 2024 and involves representing the institution in a ceremonial and ambassadorial capacity.

It’s a great fit for the 63-year-old actor, who keeps horses, cattle, dogs and cats on his 130-acre farm in Dorset. He’s president of the British Horse Society – a post he’s held since 2011 – and has narrated several documentaries on animals and their welfare over the years.

Martin Clunes inspires vetinary students at Hartpury. Photo: Hartpury

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There’s also a personal reason for him to be interested in Hartpury, with his daughter, Emily, studying veterinary nursing here. Now into her second year, she’s currently undertaking a placement with a local vet and isn’t around to join in the laughter when, alluding to his role as the grouchy and abrupt medic Dr Martin Ellingham in the long-running TV series Doc Martin, Clunes tells students:

‘As a GP of over 18 years, I am only too aware that the glamour boys in this game are the doctors and the vets who come and apply and distribute the medicine. But I think the most important thing is the care that you guys are going to deliver.

‘You just care. It’s so valuable. I am proud of you all. You will never stop with the qualification you get here.’

Looking smart but understated in a checked shirt, warm waistcoat, casual trousers and brown brogues, with his blond-grey hair somewhat longer than Doc Martin would tolerate, Martin combines the familiarity of a favourite teddy bear with the energy and enthusiasm of a puppy.

Martin Clunes kisses his horse at Buckham Fair, the annual country show held on Martin and Philippa’s land. Photo: 2024 PA Media He makes his way around the spacious, bright and airy veterinary nursing and technical skills centre chatting easily to students and examining the realistic and life-sized model animals, complete with appropriate orifices and weighted limbs. He theatrically checks the pulse and has a go at performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on a large dog, before enquiring whether two thumbs would be sufficient for a smaller Pomeranian.

Martin Clunes is particularly taken by the Anatomage screen, which shows various skeletal, circulatory and muscular systems in 3D, and replaces the need for dissections to demonstrate how various parts of the body look and work. And he has lots of questions for fourth-year student Carmen Christians, who has written a dissertation on the possible calming effects of playing classical music to animals.

‘I’ll tell my wife that,’ he says, before sharing how he turns on Radio 3 for his dogs when he’s going out.

Catching a brief moment with him during his visit to Hartpury, Martin tells me he didn’t seek out his new role, but considers it a deep honour and is enjoying it.

State-of-the-art equipment is paired with weighted, life-sized animals for students to learn on. Photo: Hartpury ‘It wasn’t my idea,’ he continues. ‘They did ask me – and if they were nice enough to offer, I was happy to take it up. When I stopped to think about it, I am a good fit.

‘Now that I am chancellor, anything that happens here is important to me. It’s amazing what they teach here: people can study to be a zookeeper here; there’s even a meerkat colony.

‘I am an ambassador as much as anything, and graduation is so moving and lovely to see all their faces.’

And it’s clear that he’s immensely proud of his daughter Emily, for studying at Hartpury.

‘It’s veterinary nursing that I have a passion for. You only get nice people who want to make animals feel better. My daughter is in her second year and is on placement. After Hartpury I’m going to take my daughter for lunch at Gloucester Services.’

The Princess Royal, Vice Patron of the British Horse Society with Martin Clunes during a visit to Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre, London, to mark the 35th anniversary of the centre in 2024. Photo: James Manning/PA Wire While he’s enjoying sharing many of his passions and interests with like-minded students, staff, governors and alumni, and sharing in their success stories, Martin admits his time as a pupil at the Royal Russell School in Croydon was less than exemplary.

‘I didn’t have a great brush with education myself; purely my own fault, not paying attention,’ admits the Bafta-winning actor, whose childhood home was on Wimbledon Common.

Dedicated student or not, he’s not done so badly since following in the show business footsteps of his father Alec, who played numerous Shakespearian roles before taking over the management of the Arts Theatre in London in 1942, and going on to run a theatre bookshop. He died when Martin was just eight.

Martin went on to attend the Arts Educational School and started his acting career in rep. He was in his early twenties when he made his first television appearance in an adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The White Guard for the BBC Play of the Month in 1982, which was followed by a part in the Dr Who story Snakedance, alongside Peter Davison in 1983.

Martin Clunes with the original cast of Men Behaving Badly, Neil Morrissey, Lesley Ash (left) and Caroline Quentin, in 1996. Photo: Rebecca Naden/PA His first regular television role came with the BBC sitcom No Place Like Home, followed by All at No 20; and it was his friendship with comedian Harry Enfield that led to him playing the endearing man-child Gary Strang in the eighties favourite Men Behaving Badly, the second series of which saw him being joined by Neil Morrissey as flatmate Tony Smart.

In 1995 his role as Gary won him the Top TV Comedy Actor at the British Comedy Awards, followed by his BAFTA for best comedy performance a year later.

The on-screen friendship between Clunes and Morrissey is mirrored in their personal lives and they recently reunited to tour the South of France for the TV series Bon Voyage.

‘We were friends before that job,’ he says. ‘It was nice to spend three weeks hanging around with him and doing amusing things for Bon Voyage.’

Martin Clunes with his wife, Philippa Braithwaite. Photo: Ian West/PA Doc Martin, directed by Martin’s wife Philippa Braithwaite, whom he married in 1997, ran from 2004 to 2022. It was filmed in Port Isaac, which provided the setting for the fictional village of Portwenn.

Other highlights of his extensive repertoire include a character in the film Shakespeare in Love. He’s a regular panellist on the current affairs show Have I Got News for You, and was even the voice of the eponymous character in the children’s animation Kipper the Dog.

His love of animals and concern for their welfare are evident in documentaries such as Martin Clunes: A Man and his Dogs, the ITV mini-series Horsepower about man’s relationship with horses over time, and The Secret Life of Dogs, followed by The Secret Life of Cats.

In 2015 his contribution to British life was recognised with an OBE for services to drama, charity and the community in Dorset, a county in which he’s served as Deputy Lieutenant since 2019.

Martin Clunes’ role as chancellor at Hartpury has helped raise the profile of the important work being done at the Gloucestershire campus. Photo: Hartpury Martin swapped city life for a more bucolic existence in Dorset more than two decades ago and lives on a 130-acre farm with Philippa and Emily and a menagerie of animals, including heavy horses, a 29-year-old Shetland pony called Timmy, cattle, chickens, cats and dogs.

Martin uses heavy horses on his fields, one of which is called Patrick after a Scottish veterinary specialist who gave him some good advice.

The move was ‘incremental’, he says, starting with a wedding the family attended at Corfe Castle.

‘We thought it was nice there and drove around the next day. We had a cottage for weekends, bought a vicarage, then had a daughter and she needed schooling.

‘The farm came about,’ he says, ‘because we were looking for a field to rent or a couple of acres for a pony for our daughter, and then these 100 or so acres came up. It all needs looking after, and has been quite a steep learning curve. I bought some sheep and then started breeding cattle.

Martin Clunes’ role as chancellor at Hartpury has helped raise the profile of the important work being done at the Gloucestershire campus. Photo: Hartpury ‘We got out of sheep,’ he smiles, ‘the whole lamb thing is nice, but then they grow into sheep and are charmless.’

Despite appearing in an episode of Doc Martin when she was younger, Emily does not appear to want to follow her parents into showbusiness. Instead, she’s an accomplished event rider and will be making the most of the facilities at the new veterinary nursing centre at Hartpury when she’s back from her placement.

‘This must be the gold standard,’ he says, proudly. ‘I cannot imagine there’s anywhere better to learn these things. It’s all brand new and state of the art, and everything seems thought about, from the suturing to the breathing toy dogs. It’s amazing.

‘There’s a massive shortage of vet nurses,’ he continues, ‘which is great news for these guys because they will all get a job. With the qualifications they get, they can work anywhere in the world. It’s like a golden ticket.

Leaving the launch for his lunch with Emily, Martin tells the assembled students: ‘I salute you,’ leaving many to look forward to their next encounter with Hartpury University’s charismatic chancellor at their graduation ceremonies in November.

Hartpury College and Hartpury University offer a range of courses in veterinary nursing and physiotherapy, including specialist equine qualifications. Visit hartpury.ac.uk