Freddie Highmore hardly has time to celebrate during this time of year. The accomplished English star of “The Good Doctor” is seeing Australia for the first time, but it's not exactly a vacation. Unlike many US students in both public schools and on college campuses, Freddie Highmore can’t lollygag off to simply take a fun-filled trip to Oz.
The man who breathes life and the wonderful honesty, not to mention the savant intellect, into Dr. Shaun Murphy every Monday night had just arrived on his three-day excursion to Australia when he received the welcome news that “The Good Doctor” had been granted a second season as an early gift from ABC.
Freddie Highmore was clearly happy about the news, but not at all surprised. The series has swept ratings and kept a faithful audience in the millions, making the last hour of prime time on Monday’s ABC schedule “must-see” TV.
Everything good about “The Good Doctor” is spreading to other parts of the world. Highmore specifically wanted to greet Australian fans who have welcomed Dr. Murphy and the other castmates, who comprise the marvelous physician characters who are in residence at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. It takes all kinds of talents and personalities to master the medical component in healing, and all kinds of people to create a family of physicians. Personalities and negative perceptions have certainly brought clashes through the first season, but those clashes have precipitated tremendous growth and independence for the diverse surgeons in training.
Freddie Highmore insists that “The Good Doctor” has a very diverse appeal as well. In a March 14 feature for the Brisbane Times, the busy actor went into depth about why his character and the drama itself have cultivated and captured such a wide audience.
Seeing with hopeful eyes
“The Good Doctor” burst out in its first season, becoming the most successful show for ABC in 13 years.
Viewers have been exposed to a vantage of the world from a person on the autism spectrum, but nothing about Shaun Murphy is general or average. Just as the young surgeon student is able to lay out the intricacies of the human body with his mentality, Freddie Highmore sees many dimensions of his character as a beacon of positivity.
“I think there's something about Shaun’s optimism and hopefulness that has resonated with people,” the leading man asserts. Audiences feel good because the character “always sees the good in people” and keeps “a positive view of humanity and the human condition,” according to Highmore. That positive penchant has played out, especially recently, as Dr. Murphy learned in this week's episode, “Pain,” that his new pal, Kenny (Chris D’Ella) has a criminal background, perhaps making him dangerous. The neighbor already helps himself to Shaun’s apartment and any left dollars. Dr. Murphy has no fear about calling out chronological ages or less than kind behaviors, and he's learning to work around Dr.
Resnick (Fiona Gubelmann) and her manipulation, too. This isn’t Casper, Wyoming.
Shaun Murphy is coping with finding a girlfriend, then losing her in a move to Hershey, Pennsylvania, standing apart from Dr. Glassman’s shadow, and still proving himself as a surgeon. The reason that Freddie Highmore and his fellow cast feel so committed to “get it right” regarding the themes and characters is because he and they realize that inclusion of those with autism is just one beam in the spectrum of human issues encompassed by the series.
The star reiterates that [Shaun] speaks to “anyone who feels somewhat different, feels like society has maybe not dealt them a fair hand,” or that they have been a victim of workplace discrimination.
In short, the show calls to those times of feeling that “a fair shot” has not been granted, and “their chance to shine” has not arisen.
Gaining an Australian audience
“The Good Doctor” has been gaining enough of an Australian audience that the drama is on the cusp of being carried regularly on Australian TV. The series is multicultural in its very heritage. Created by “House” creator, David Shore, the medical drama, like the former series, is based on one done originally for Korean TV, and the list of esteemed producers, including Freddie Highmore, offers a tutorial in both culture and geography, much like the resumes of the cast.
In times when hate and isolation seem to be encroaching by leaps on caring and acceptance, “The Good Doctor” is a needed prescription for the world.
