#robert best

I would say that in comparison to Doc Martin version, Mr. and Mrs. Best were sanitized. They aren't as terrible as their British counterparts (especially Vanessa Best is nowhere near as bitchy as Margaret Ellingham, although I doubt she's a good psychiatrist). They are, at times, treated more sympathetically, in particular when it comes out that Robert Best has gambling adiction.

There is also a bit more emphasis on a daddy issues than on mommy issues, if you catch my drift. Vanessa just leaves mean comments masked as radical honesty, from time to time, while Robert has a constant presence in this episode - we see that he intrudes on Martin's work as a fellow doctor, we see that he's all shifty about his health and finances; we see that he wants to sell the house his sister occupies and finally we see that many of this stems from his gambling adiction. Arguably, he's the villain of this episode because he has a problem but demonizes his wife for being angry about his problem and he suspected she might plot some kind of revange.

(Yes, I know that gambling addiction is a terrible condition but in this scene he sounds like boomer who hates his wife.)

And, of course, we have a denial of talking about the trauma in any capacity.

Finally, they both exibit the same "What will people think of our family?" sentiment, when it comes to Martin's career and Sarah's affair (I will talk about the latter shortly).