Annie Potts on Best Medicine’s Charm, Aunt Sarah’s Fierce Love for Martin & Exploring Family Lore

Annie Potts is a legend.

That goes without saying, and she’s been in many projects that have touched our hearts and souls via our screens for decades.

So, as you can imagine, it was an absolute privilege and pleasure to catch up with this icon to discuss her latest role in the utterly heartwarming Best Medicine.

The series has been a true delight, charming viewers with a series devoted to community, family, love, and some hilarity, too.

And one of Best Medicine‘s most standout characters thus far is none other than Aunt Sarah, who is as tough as nails, but a big ‘ole softie to her absolute core.

We caught up with Annie Potts to discuss what’s in store for Aunt Sarah moving forward this season. Check it out!

I love Best Medicine. It’s such a fun series, and everyone I’ve spoken with has similar reasons for wanting to join this project.

But I’m asking you now: what attracted you to this role, and why did you want to be part of this?

I thought it was funny and needed. You know? Just… a show about community. Because I feel like we’ve all gotten disconnected. And this is what we needed.

It’s a perfect little example of how a community ought to work and how we ought to care for each other and about each other. That appealed to me.

At the core of everything that I’ve worked on that I’ve been proud of is, you know, a central theme of figuring it out. How we love each other, how we support each other.

So that checked a lot of boxes for me — as well as wonderful writers, wonderful actors.

Aunt Sarah is this real salt-of-the-earth type, but she’s also such a softy, too.

I particularly love her dynamic with Martin and her determination to reconnect with him. Why do you think it’s so important for her to reconnect with him on a deeper level after so many years?

She wants him back. She’s never had children, never married. He was everything to her, and he was taken away from her, for reasons that she didn’t think were valid.

She was having an affair with somebody that Martin’s father didn’t approve of. So she lost him. And I think at this point in her seventies, you think, “I lost the love of my life over some romantic thing. How stupid.”

So I think she’s anxious to make up for that.

The Bluberry episode, Best Medicine Season 1 Episode 6, raises a question I was curious about: what happens when your nephew is also your doctor? It seems Aunt Sarah would do anything to avoid dealing with her nephew regarding her health.

She doesn’t want anybody telling her what to do. Sometimes old people get like that.

It’s like, “I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong with me. I’m not going to go. Get away from me.”

Of course, it gives us the chance to see Martin, and he loves her. She’s meaningful to him. And I think he sees that if she weren’t in his life, things would be really sad.

Yeah, you see that with Sarah, too, and with her loneliness. He doesn’t come by for lunch, like she wants, but rather for something else. You could really see how she craves that connection, too.

Yeah, yeah.

But of course, she also has this contentious boyfriend situation going on with her rival, Eddie, from the ball game, so will we get to see more of that dynamic this season?

A little bit, a little bit.

He’s delicious, Terry Mann, and we did a show here together in New York, so when they asked if I had anybody in mind to play my love interest, I was like, “Yes, Terry Mann.” So that was really fun. I love that.

And of course, Martin Clunes came and got to film with you guys, which is huge. I definitely look forward to that. Can you talk a bit about that dynamic between Sarah and her brother?

He’s really awful. Terrible person. And Martin Clunes is the loveliest, sweetest man. It’s very hard to be mean to him. But what a boon for us to get the original doctor to do our show.

It was sweet to see him because he said, “I’m looking around, and that’s Elaine, but it’s not. That’s the aunt, but it’s not. And that’s me, but it’s not.” But he was absolutely delightful to work with. And I’m thrilled that, you know, we were ‘copying them.’ [Laughs]

So will we get to dig into the family lore, since there’s so much tension there, as you said?

Yeah!

It’s such a light show, but there are also some surprisingly heavy themes at times. How do you guys succeed at keeping it light and managing that balance?

Well, I think that when you have contrasting things, it’s the thing that makes the comedy funnier and the serious stuff sweeter and more profound. Nobody has just a happy, wonderful life.

I guess there are those people, but I don’t think I know any! But yeah, we have to have that.

Life is like that.

Sarah seems to be among the first to notice the romantic tension between Martin and Louisa. She’s gently pushing him in that direction. So, can you talk a little bit about that?

Everybody loves Louisa. It’s just perfect. She’s perfect. And of course, she would want that for Martin. So yes, she’s shipping hard on that. She’s trying to be subtle, but…

She’s doing better than I expected, but she is very subtle, which I love. think it’s working. She’s also very observant. Will she ever get to a point of picking up on his issue with the blood?

Oh, yeah. I think most everybody will figure it out. I mean, how can you not?

He plays that so well, doesn’t he? It tickles me every time. It makes me start laughing. It’s terrible to laugh at somebody else’s psychosis or neurosis. But boy, he is really funny doing that.

What has been the most challenging aspect of playing this role so far, and what has been the most rewarding?

Well, working with all those fabulous actors has really been just a sheer delight.

Working on location where we are, although it’s really beautiful, the last two months we were shooting, it was so cold that it was like… and we only had one set.

That was on a soundstage. And so we were pretty much outside. I said, “Guys, you know how old I am? Are you trying to kill me?”

Man, when that wind comes off the Hudson! I’ve been in California a long time, so my blood’s thinned out a little bit.

Best Medicine returns tonight at 8/7c on FOX. Check out our full review after the episode!

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