TAKING his shoes off to reveal bare feet, Martin Clunes could almost have been at home in front of the TV.

The actor, best known for his portrayal of cranky but loveable GP Doc Martin and laddish Gary in Men Behaving Badly, impressed fans with his chilled out demeanour as he signed copies of his new book A Dog's Life at Borders in Bournemouth.

Martin, who lives with his family in Beaminster, spent more than an hour seated at a desk chatting with fans and meeting their dogs - not even flinching when several, including a giant poodle and various spaniels, lavished sloppy kisses on him.

The new book accompanies the recently-screened two-part documentary, which saw Martin embark on a world-wide adventure to discover how close the domestic dog is to its wild ancestor the wolf.

He is shown being pulled out of a sub-zero snow hole by rescue dogs, training his wilful puppy Arthur and investigating the controversial issues surrounding dog breeding.

Talking about the new book afterwards, Martin says the book contains "interesting stuff" that they could not include in the TV programme.

The front cover shows his own pedigree dogs Mary, Tina and Arthur with Martin pictured in an idyllic field he owns near his Dorset home.

He says of the book: "It's got more in it. It's got more about me and the dogs I had growing up and it's also about the people we met and the stuff that didn't make it to the TV series."

But what is it about our four-legged friends that he finds so fascinating?

"It's just everything really - their celebration of life. It makes my life better living with them," he explains.

The issue of the irresponsible breeding of some pedigree dogs is also explored to some degree in the book. Is this something that particularly concerns him as a dog lover?

He says: "It's tragic but it would be a shame to tar all breeders with the same brush. There are a wonderful lot of good breeders. I don't think people should necessarily see pedigree dogs as a bad thing."

So what are the next projects on the horizon - more dog orientated programmes or something completely different?

"I'm in the middle of doing a documentary about the islands of Britain and I'm going to start a programme called The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin," he reveals.

The script will be by Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye and Perrin's creator David Nobbs, with Martin as Reggie.

Martin himself is "a big fan" of the original show, but adds that the re-imagined version will be entirely different.

So does he think he can match up to the great Leonard Rossiter?

He says: "I don't know. I hope so. But nothing is as popular now because there are too many channels."