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One of the most common tropes in modern television is that of the medical dramedy, and very few can match the success and impact of the USA Network's Scrubs. It is, however, expected that other shows could attempt to replace it in the subconscious of the audience and that is what Fox's upcoming medical comedy, Best Medicine, hopes to achieve. The upcoming show follows a doctor from Boston, who moves to a small practice in an east coast fishing village where he vacationed as a child. According to Variety, the series has added the exciting talent of Cree Chiccino, also known as Cree, to its cast. The Turtles All The Way Down star will play the role of Elaine Denham, a character described as "adorable, energetic, and ambitious, with enormous dreams," who harbors ambitions of becoming a YouTube star.

The show is set to premiere during the 2025-26 broadcast season,...

Fox’s upcoming medical comedy “Best Medicine” has added Cree in a series regular role, Variety has learned exclusively.

The actress joins previously announced series stars Josh Charles, Abigail Spencer, Annie Potts, and Josh Segarra. The one-hour show was originally announced in May and serves as an American adaptation of the popular British series “Doc Martin.”

The official description of the show states:

“The series centers on Martin Best (Charles), a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, especially local school teacher Louisa Glasson (Spencer), however tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered.”

Cree will play Elaine Denham.

In 1979, Annie Potts was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the category of New Star of the Year – Actress. It was her appearance in Corvette Summer (which was her big-screen debut) with Star Wars actor Mark Hamill that brought attention to the rising star. Since then, the actress has become one of the faces of the Ghostbusters franchise, starring as receptionist Janine Melnitz. Potts continues to add roles to her list of credits, recently joining the U.S. adaptation of the popular U.K. medical drama-comedy, Doc Martin. The series, which will air on Fox, is called Best Medicine, and its cast is already shaping up to be something special.

According to Variety, Josh Charles (The Good Wife) will star in the leading role as Martin Best. Martin is a skilled surgeon who has trouble fitting in when he makes the move from Boston to Maine. His not-so-welcoming attitude...

Annie Potts has joined the cast of “Best Medicine,” Fox’s upcoming U.S. adaptation of the hit U.K. medical dramedy “Doc Martin.”

The series stars Josh Charles as Martin Best, a brilliant surgeon whose gruff, lone-wolf attitude sticks out when he moves from Boston to a quaint fishing town in Maine. Underneath his harsh exterior he masks debilitating psychological issues that prevent him from connecting with others, but that stands to change as he gets dragged into the chaotic social sphere of the locals.

Potts will play Martin’s aunt Joan, who is described as “strong, sturdy, lobster woman who still goes out every day on her boat, and no one better tell her to stop if they know what’s good for them. She’s salt of the earth and underneath her stern demeanor she has a heart as big as the sea. She loves her small...

Fox’s Best Medicine has added Annie Potts to its series regular cast, joining the previously announced Josh Charles, Abigail Spencer and Josh Segarra. The series, based on the popular British series Doc Martin, will go into production this summer in upstate New York.

Best Medicine is a one-hour comedy series that centers on Martin Best (Charles), a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, especially local school teacher Louisa Glasson (Spencer); however, tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered.

Although Martin can expertly address any medical ailment or mystery in this idiosyncratic town,...

A guest star occasionally appears in a TV show for several episodes, elevating the season. Abigail Spencer guest-starred in 9-1-1 Season 8 as Amber Braeburn, a police detective who turned out to be a serial killer. Amber set her sights on Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and kidnapped her, but Maddie saved herself by killing her kidnapper. Spencer is shifting gears in her next project, according to a report by Deadline. The All My Children and Timeless star has joined Josh Charles in Fox's remake of Doc Martin titled Best Medicine. She plays Louisa, described as a "warm, charming teacher who immediately gets off on the wrong foot with Martin, yet she’s intrigued by him."

Best Medicine is inspired by the popular British series and stars Charles as Martin Best. The hourlong comedy series centers on Best, "a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become...

Exclusive: Josh Segarra has joined the cast of Fox’s medical comedy Best Medicine, starring opposite Josh Charles and Abigail Spencer. The series, based on the popular British series Doc Martin, will go into production this summer in upstate New York.

Best Medicine is a one-hour comedy series that centers on Martin Best (Charles), a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, especially local school teacher Louisa Glasson (Spencer); however, tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered.

Although Martin can expertly address any medical ailment or mystery in this idiosyncratic town, he...

Fox has added Abigail Spencer to “Best Medicine,” its upcoming one-hour medical comedy led by Josh Charles and inspired by the long-running British hit Doc Martin. Spencer will portray Louisa Glasson, a primary-school teacher whose first encounter with Charles’ brusque surgeon, Dr. Martin Best, is anything but cordial, setting up the show’s central clash of temperament and attraction.

Announced in May and slated for the network’s 2025-26 mid-season, “Best Medicine” marks Fox’s first hour-long scripted comedy in nearly a decade, part of an effort executives say broadens the definition of network comedy beyond the half-hour format.

The series transplants Doc Martin’s fish-out-of-water premise from Cornwall to a quaint New England fishing village, where Martin’s clinical brilliance is offset by a newly revealed phobia that fuels both medical cases and character tension.

Michael Thorn, president of the Fox Television Network, praised Spencer’s casting as “the...

Fox has found the female lead for its forthcoming series Best Medicine.

Abigail Spencer (Grey’s Anatomy, Rectify) will star opposite Josh Charles in the series, an adaptation of the long-running British dramedy Doc Martin. Spencer will play Louisa Glasson, a teacher in the small East Coast fishing village where Dr. Martin Best (Charles) relocates after leaving a decorated career as a surgeon in Boston.

Fox describes Best Medicine as an hour-long comedy following Martin, who abruptly leaves his post in Boston to work as a general practitioner in the town where he spent summers as a kid. “Unfortunately,” the show’s logline reads, “Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, especially local school teacher Louisa Glasson. However, tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered.

Abigail Spencer will star alongside Josh Charles in the upcoming Fox medical comedy “Best Medicine.”

The one-hour show, originally announced in May, is an American adaptation of the popular British series “Doc Martin.” Production is slated to begin this summer in upstate New York. The official description of the series states:

“The series centers on Martin Best (Charles), a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, especially local school teacher Louisa Glasson (Spencer), however tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered.”

Louisa Glasson was played by Caroline Catz in the British series. The character appeared...

Abigail Spencer is joining Josh Charles as leads of the new Fox medical comedy Best Medicine, based on the popular British series Doc Martin. Production will take place this summer in upstate New York.

Best Medicine is a one-hour comedy series that centers on Martin Best (Charles), a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, especially local school teacher Louisa Glasson (Spencer); however, tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered.

Although Martin can expertly address any medical ailment or mystery in this idiosyncratic town, he’s really just desperate...

Fox will be starting the 2025-2026 season with six new series, including upcoming drama “Memory of a Killer,” a revival of “Fear Factor” as well as the return of “American Dad!” and the network’s Sunday night Animation Domination block.

The news was announced ahead of Fox’s upfront presentation on Monday. Fox also revealed that this past season it ranked No. 1 among broadcasters when it came to the targeted 18-to-49 demographic and that it was the only network among Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC to be up year-over-year in the demo.

“Building on our winning position in both key demos and co-viewing this season, Fox delivers a 2025-26 schedule that’s filled with irreverence, fun and much-needed laughter,” Rob Wade, Fox Entertainment CEO, said. “Next year more than ever, we’re bringing that promise to life with a terrific slate to delight our audiences across linear, Hulu and beyond.

Josh Charles stars in ‘Best Medicine’ (Photo Cr: Mark Mann © 2025 Fox Media LLC)

Two-time Emmy nominee Josh Charles (The Good Wife) will star in Fox’s Best Medicine, an adaptation of the popular Doc Martin series. The original series starred Martin Clunes as Dr. Martin Ellingham. Charles will play Dr. Martin Best in the Fox comedy.

The network just gave the one-hour comedy a series order and expects it to premiere during the 2025-2026 primetime season.

“The series centers on Martin Best, a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, and he quickly alienates the town, even though he’s all they’ve got,” reads Fox’s synopsis. “Although Martin can...

After the success of Fox's medical drama, Doc, which debuted earlier this year, the network is now giving the green light to a U.S. adaptation of a popular U.K. medical series. Doc Martin will come stateside as Best Medicine, with new details emerging about the upcoming series.

Variety reports that Doc Martin, a popular British medical comedy/drama that ran from 2004 to 2022, will be adapted into Best Medicine, a one-hour comedy series with Josh Charles starring as Doctor Martin Best. "The story of Doc Martin has resonated worldwide with its humanity, originality and humor, and with Best Medicine coming to Fox, that eccentricity gets a smalltown America spin, complete with idyllic charm and absurdity," said Michael Thorn, President of Fox Television Network.

Best Medicine will be executive produced by Ben Silverman, Rodney Ferrell, Liz Tuccillo, Mark Crowdy and Philippa Braithwaite. "[The executive producers] have done a terrific job adapting this signature character for the Fox audience,...

Josh Charles will star in Fox’s latest medical series “Best Medicine,” an adaptation of the British hit series “Doc Martin.”

The medical comedy, which will premiere during the 2025-26 TV season, follows the success of the network’s medical drama “Doc” — which was also adapted from a hit Italian series.

“The story of Doc Martin has resonated worldwide with its humanity, originality, and humor, and with ‘Best Medicine’ coming to Fox, that eccentricity gets a smalltown America spin, complete with idyllic charm and absurdity,” President of Fox Television Network Michael Thorn said.

“Best Medicine” will center around Martin Best (Charles), a talented surgeon who abruptly leaves his career behind in Boston and moves to a quaint East Coast fishing village to become a general practitioner. Martin’s blunt, big-city bedside manner does not quite mesh with the locals in the small town. In his attempts to distance himself from the residents of the town,...

Fox is adding another medical show to its roster.

The network has given a series order to Best Medicine, an adaptation of the long-running British series Doc Martin. Josh Charles will star in the show, which Fox describes as an hour-long comedy, as a successful surgeon who abruptly leave his post in Boston to become a general practitioner in the East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a kid. It’s slated to premiere in the 2025-26 season

Fox Entertainment will own the series outright, with Fox Entertainment Studios producing. All3Media International owns the Doc Martin format, which Propagate Content brought to Fox. Liz Tuccillo (Sex and the City, Divorce) executive produces with Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens and Rodney Ferrell of Propagate and Mark Crowdy and Philippa Braithwaite, EPs of the original series.

“The story of Doc Martin has resonated worldwide with its humanity, originality, and humor,...

Popular U.K. dramedy “Doc Martin” is coming stateside. Fox has given a series order to “Best Medicine,” a one-hour comedy series starring Josh Charles as doctor Martin Best, which will debut during the 2025-2026 season.

Per the official series description, Martin is “a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, and he quickly alienates the town, even though he’s all they’ve got. Although Martin can expertly address any medical ailment or mystery in this idiosyncratic town, he’s really just desperate to be left the hell alone. Instead, he keeps getting dragged right smack into the middle of their personal chaos, feuds and fantasies. What the locals don...

Exclusive: Doc, meat Doc Martin. On the heels of Doc‘s breakout success, Fox is doubling down on medical procedurals with a series order to one-hour comedy Best Medicine, based on the hugely popular British series Doc Martin. Josh Charles will take on the iconic character famously played by Martin Clunes for almost two decades.

Charles is set as the lead, the peculiar and brilliant Doctor Martin Best, in Best Medicine, from writer/executive producer Liz Tuccillo (Sex and the City). Wholly owned by Fox Entertainment, the series, produced by Fox Entertainment Studios, is slated to premiere during the 2025-26 season.

As Deadline noted in its annual pilot season report this past March, the Doc Martin adaptation had emerged as a frontrunner on the hourlong side at Fox. With the project headed to a likely series green light, Fox recently approached Charles for the lead...

Martin Clunes & Louis Ashbourne Serkis Land ITV Drama

Martin Clunes has landed his next ITV drama, playing a farmer confronted with dark forces seeping into his rural community opposite Andy Serkis’s son. Out There will depict the stealthy, surreptitious invasion of the land Nathan Williams cherishes, with devastating consequences as his livelihood, homestead and family life are threatened by local county lines drugs dealers. The show also starring Louis Ashbourne Serkis as Nathan’s son Johnny is being penned by Ed Whitmore and Marc Evans and produced by Doc Martin star Clune’s Buffalo Pictures, which he runs with Philippa Braithwaite. “Out There couldn’t be more different from Doc Martin” he said. “It’s pretty dark, but definitely a story worth telling.” Clunes also worked with Evans and Whitmore on hit ITV drama Manhunt.

BBC Policy Boss Scores Premier League Role

The BBC’s policy boss Claire Sumner...

It was 2004 and Martin Clunes was ready for a change. As the star of riotous Nineties sitcom Men Behaving Badly, he was still widely regarded as the face of floppy-fringed, shirt-hanging-out lad culture. But Clunes was eager to show a different side: to prove he could do serious as well as frothy. At which point Dr Martin Ellingham, an emotionally repressed small-town Gp with a tight smile and a big heart, walked into his life. Doc Martin had entered the building.

“It was a leap,” Clunes would reflect of the character he has portrayed for the past 18 years and to whom he says farewell with a Christmas special on ITV tonight (the series proper having wrapped in October). “I need something to act, someone to act, or something to pin someone on, rather than just open a script and a nice guy says some kind of nice things.”

Doc Martin,...

‘Landscapers’ earned seven nominations, whilst Help and ’Time’ received six.

Russel T Davies’ It’s A Sin leads the nominations for this year’s Bafta Television and Bafta Craft awards.

The drama, produced by Red Production Company for UK broadcaster Channel 4, earned 11 nominations, including mini-series, leading actor for Olly Alexander, actress for Lydia West, director: fiction for Peter Hoar, writer: drama for Davies and three supporting actor nods for Callum Scott Howells, David Carlyle and Omari Douglas.

Drama Landscapers, produced by Sister for Sky Atlantic, earned seven nominations including mini-series and leading actor for David Thewlis.

Jack Thorne’s...

‘Landscapers’ earned seven nominations, whilst Help and ’Time’ received six.

Russel T Davies’ It’s A Sin leads the nominations for this year’s Bafta Television and Bafta Craft awards.

The drama, produced by Red Production Company for UK broadcaster Channel 4, earned 11 nominations, including mini-series, leading actor for Olly Alexander, actress for Lydia West, director: fiction for Peter Hoar, writer: drama for Davies and three supporting actor nods for Callum Scott Howells, David Carlyle and Omari Douglas.

Drama Landscapers, produced by Sister for Sky Atlantic, earned seven nominations including mini-series and leading actor for David Thewlis.

Jack Thorne’s...

Russell T. Davies’ Channel 4 series “It’s a Sin” led the field at the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and the British Academy Television Craft Awards with 11 nominations, while Will Sharpe’s Sky show “Landscapers” followed with seven. Both shows stream in the U.S. on HBO Max.

Nominations for “It’s A Sin” include for Director: Fiction, Editing Fiction, Make-up & Hair Design, Scripted Casting, Writer Drama, Leading Actor, Leading Actress, Mini-Series and Supporting Actor, while “Landscapers” scored in the Director: Fiction, Editing Fiction, Original Music, Photography & Lighting Fiction, Production Design, Leading Actor and Mini-Series categories.

The international category nominees feature a roster of global heavy hitters including “Call My Agent!,” “Lupin,” “Succession,” “Squid Game,” “Mare of Easttown” and “The Underground Railroad.”

The British Academy Television Craft Awards will take place on Apr. 24 and the Television Awards on May 8.

British Academy Television Awards Nominees

Comedy Entertainment Program

“The Graham Norton Show” – Graham Norton,...

Russell T Davies’ It’s a Sin and Jack Thorne’s Help, two hard-hitting Channel 4 shows about societal issues, have dominated this year’s BAFTA TV Awards nominations, taking six and four noms, respectively.

Incorporating BAFTA Craft noms, which run concurrently with the TV Awards, HBO Max co-production It’s a Sin picked up 11, including for Mini-Series, Writer (Davies), five actors and in the Virgin Must-See Moment for Colin’s diagnosis.

Davies’ heart-wrenching semi-biographical portrayal of the UK’s 1980s AIDS epidemic for Red Production Company has swept up at this year’s awards ceremonies and is fresh off the back of three wins at last night’s Rts Awards and two at the Bpg Awards.

It’s a Sin’s five performance category noms were joint with last year’s Small Axe...

Doc Martin, starring Martin Clunes as the grumpy British doctor, is to hang up his stethoscope next year with the tenth and final season of the UK drama.

ITV has renewed the series, which airs on Acorn TV in the U.S., for a final run with production set to start in 2021.

The show follows Clunes’ Dr. Martin Ellingham, a Gp with a brusque bedside manner and a phobia of blood who lives in the idyllic hamlet of Portwenn in Cornwall.

The cast also features Caroline Catz playing Doc Martin’s wife, Louisa Ellingham; Dame Eileen Atkins, who plays Doc Martin’s formidable Aunt Ruth; Ian McNeice’s local businessman Bert Large, with Joe Absolom as his son, Al; John Marquez is PC Joe Penhale; Jessica Ransom is the doctor’s receptionist Morwenna Newcross; and Selina Cadell is pharmacist Mrs Tishell.

Created by Dominic Minghella, Doc Martin has been on...

Martin Clunes has returned to Cornwall to shoot season nine of medical drama Doc Martin.

Filming for the ninth season of the drama, which airs on ITV in the UK and Acorn TV in the U.S., has begun with Clunes returning as Dr. Martin Ellingham, the Gp with a brusque bedside manner and a phobia of blood.

Set in the idyllic hamlet of Portwenn in Cornwall, the show has been commissioned for an eight-episode run.

The regular cast returns with Caroline Catz playing Doc Martin’s wife, Louisa Ellingham, who has resigned from her job as headmistress at the local school to pursue a new career in child counselling. Dame Eileen Atkins plays Doc Martin’s formidable Aunt Ruth, Ian McNeice is back to play Bert Large, with Joe Absolom as his son Al. John Marquez is PC Joe Penhale, Jessica Ransom is the doctor’s receptionist Morwenna Newcross...

British crime drama Manhunt, starring Doc Martin’s Martin Clunes, has become ITV’s highest rated new drama since the launch of Broadchurch in 2013. Is it this year’s Bodyguard?

The drama, which is produced by Buffalo Pictures and written by Ed Whitmore (Silent Witness), averaged 8.7M viewers across its three episodes, according to ITV, rising to 9M when online viewing was included. Growing from an overnight average of 6M, the catch up figures mean the show has become the most watched program of 2019 so far.

To put that into context, Bodyguard, the smash hit of 2018, opened with 6.7M live viewers with the first episode adding over 3M viewers to 10.4M after on-demand and catch-up viewers were added, making it the biggest new drama launch in the UK in ten years.

The show, which was picked up by streaming service Acorn in the U.S., stars Clunes as Detective Colin Sutton,...

Acorn TV has acquired a pair of Martin Clunes-fronted titles including true crime drama Manhunt.

The Svod service has acquired ITV drama Manhunt, which stars Doc Martin’s Clunes as Detective Colin Sutton, the police officer who tenaciously pursued British serial killer Levi Bellfield.

The series, which is produced by Buffalo Pictures and written by Ed Whitmore (Silent Witness), has been picked up from distributor Drg and Acorn TV has taken exclusive North and South American rights.

The drama is the real life story of how the 2004 murder of French National Amelie Delagrange was eventually linked to the murders of Marsha McDonnell in 2003 and the abduction and murder of Milly Dowler as she travelled home from school in 2002. Sutton dedicated himself to finding Delagrange’s killer. With very little evidence, his painstaking approach and the diligence of his fellow officers gradually led to breakthroughs in the case. Manhunt will...

Martin Clunes gave his wife real-life medical advice thanks to his role in 'Doc Martin'. The 51-year-old actor says the years spent playing grumpy doctor Martin Ellingham on the ITV drama have been well served after he recently stopped his wife Philippa Braithwaite from having a pointless operation thanks to his medical knowledge. He told Reader's Digest magazine: ''She had an infection in her gall bladder and the surgeon was minded to take out her appendix. There was no infection in her appendix and instinct told me that it would be the wrong thing to do. ''So I took her home instead and...

ITV has commissioned a fourth series of Martin Clunes's drama Doc Martin. The broadcaster has ordered a new eight-part run of the show, which features Clunes as a grumpy doctor, to be filmed in Cornwall by Buffalo Pictures. "We are delighted to be returning to Cornwall to make this fourth series. There are plenty of surprises in store for the Doc, and compelling story lines," said producer Philippa Braithwaite. (more)...

Martin Clunes has revealed that he couldn't be happier after leaving London for a new start in the country. The actor and his wife Philippa Braithwaite, a TV producer, have settled on a farm in Dorset with their eight-year-old daughter Emily. They both credit the move as one of the best they have ever made. "I'm over London now and I don't miss it in the slightest," Clunes told The Mirror. "It's a million miles away from the life I live now. Parenthood changes everything. I have to be in bed nowadays or I'm in trouble. In some ways I feel like I was a different person in my London days. "Spool back to the late 90s and you'd (more)...

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Brits always have been sensitive to the importance trains play in love -- "Brief Encounter", to recall the best -- and, once again, it's a train trip that catalyzes romance, or at least charts how differently things might turn out for a young woman if she misses a train rather than catches it.

A splendidly updated, old-fashioned romancer, "Sliding Doors" was the perfect tonic for opening night at the Sundance Film Festival. With Gwyneth Paltrow dishing up easily her most sympathetic performance, this Miramax and Paramount presentation should delight young adult audiences with its spritzy comedy and certainly engage mature viewers with its identifiable romantic woes.

We've all considered how different our lives might be if some happenstance hadn't propelled or jarred them along certain paths: How a future mate was met by some fluke of chance, for instance, or how a career was born out of a fortuitous occurrence -- that sort of thing.

In this smartly balmy case, writer-director Peter Howitt charts two very divergent directions that 20ish PR executive Helen's (Paltrow) life will take following a simple decision of whether to get on a train. In this smart scenario, it is, perhaps, the worst day of Helen's adult life -- she has been peremptorily fired from her job and her live-in boyfriend is discovered with his ex-girlfriend (Jeanne Tripplehorn). By the uncanny plot device of either catching or missing the train back to their flat, Howitt charts the two divergent paths down which this situation could propel her.

Admittedly, anyone who walks into this movie five minutes late will think it's some sort of Godard jumble of disconnected cross-cuts, as the story steps back and forth between two very different scenarios, namely: 1) Helen catches the train, meets a debonair fellow traveler (John Hannah) and gets home to discover the truth of her beau's infidelity; and, 2) she misses the train, doesn't connect with the dashing chap and arrives too late to discover her boyfriend's cheating.

In short, is Helen better off for finding out that she's involved with a cheating chap, or is her life qualitatively better by living a lie? Those are the essential questions to this touching conundrum, and Howitt's storytelling is an illuminating portrait of the many sides of this situation. Is ignorance bliss? Sometimes. Is knowing the truth comforting? Not always.

The narrative flip-floppery sometimes stumbles, but the cross-connected story lines cast a wide eye on the delicacy of modern-day romance, portraying the pains, slights, joys and the crazy wonder of it all. Laced with keen insights and graced with kindly wit, "Sliding Doors" is an effervescent and nimble treat, owing mainly to Howitt's spry, wise storytelling.

At times, we must admit, the yarn goes into a saccharine, girl-gonna-make-it-after-all lump -- as if an old "Mary Tyler Moore" episode leapt into the fray. Grousing aside, the story's smarts and overall drollery win the day.

Paltrow's a pleasant surprise for those of us usually unmoved by her hoity-toity, porcelain performances. As Helen, she's captivating, engaging and full of everyday mettle. That we care for this girl is what makes the film sparkle. As her scintillating suitor, Hannah brims with appealing delight. He's a refreshingly dashing chap in these sullen cinematic times. Other portrayals are, similarly, top-drawer. John Lynch captures perfectly the user aspects of Helen's wayward boyfriend, while Tripplehorn is well-cast as the appetitive and no-nonsense "other woman."

Technical contributions are a mix of goop and polish: Musically, David Hirschfelder's playful score is a detraction in its sitcom-lite obviousness, while cinematographer Maria Djurkovic's shiny sheens add a fitting sparkle and clarity to these "Sliding Doors".

SLIDING DOORS

Miramax Films

Miramax Films and Paramount Pictures present

in association with Intermedia Films

A Mirage production, a Peter Howitt film

Producers: Sydney Pollack,

Philippa Braithwaite, William Horberg

Screenwriter-director: Peter Howitt

Executive producers: Guy East, Nigel Sinclair

Director of photography: Remi Aderarasin

Production designer: Maria Djurkovic

Music: David Hirschfelder

Editor: John Smith

Costume designer: Jill Taylor

Casting: Michelle Guish

Color/stereo

Cast:

Helen: Gwyneth Paltrow

James: John Hannah

Gerry: John Lynch

Lydia: Jeanne Tripplehorn

Anna: Zara Turner

Russell: Douglas McFerran

Clive: Paul Brightwell

Running time -- 97 minutes

MPAA rating: R...