DORSET TV star Martin Clunes has come to the aid of his on-screen baby son in real life with help to fund vital medical equipment.

Bad tempered TV GP Doc Martin, which is also the show’s name, has proved a phenomenal hit for ITV1 and a tonic for Clunes the actor.

Now that success is helping to improve the health of six-month-old Alfie Cane, who plays his newborn son James Henry in the show.

The star’s generosity could also eventually benefit scores of other babies with similar conditions.

Alfie suffers from a rare condition leaving him unable to support his own head, which is already the size it should be for a child of four.

In addition he also has a misshapen skull which, if left untreated, could cause serious complications.

Parents Tilly, 31, and Adrian, 40, live in Truro, Cornwall, with their three other children.

The couple were told that their son needed a specially made helmet, which would serve to strengthen his muscles and reshape his skull.

The NHS said that his condition was largely cosmetic and would have to wait for treatment for up to a year.

When they found the cost of going private was an unaffordable £2,000 they decided to launch their own fundraising campaign.

When Clunes, who lives in West Dorset, heard of Alfie’s plight he packed up a box of potentially lucrative show memorabilia and sent it to the Canes.

It means that Alfie will definitely get the cash needed to buy his medical helmet, thanks to the intervention of his TV GP dad.

Alfie was among a group of six babies who played the son of Dr Martin Ellington and his partner Louisa in the show.

He appeared in every episode of the latest series, which finished this month and was shot in Cornwall in the fishing village of Port Isaac.