'The Good Doctor' to keep shooting in Vancouver after getting full season order

Good news for Hollywood North! Hit TV show The Good Doctor will continue shooting here in Vancouver after being picked up for a full season by SONY/ABC.

The show stars Freddie Highmore as a young surgeon with autism and savant syndrome, who relocates from a quiet country life to join a prestigious hospital’s surgical unit.

Produced and shot in Vancouver, The Good Doctor only began airing on ABC on September 25, but producers Brightlight Pictures have already received a full season order.

President Shawn Williamson, who is the line producer on the show, told Daily Hive that Vancouver is a great place to shoot high-end TV.

“It’s awesome,” said Williamson. “And people love working on the show, people love the cast, love the scripts, love the writers, so it’s been a wonderful experience.”

Williamson, who is from Vancouver, said those scripts, writers, and actors are what has made The Good Doctor so successful.

“They are spectacular,” he said. “We can make it look all shiny and polished and wonderful, but if the audiences don’t really react to the actors and what they’re saying, then it really doesn’t matter how awesome we make it look.”

Williamson said many Canadians are involved in making the show, including many of the writers in Los Angeles, and David Shore, the showrunner, who is from London, Ont.

Meanwhile, Brightlight Pictures has been in Vancouver for 17 years already, and Williamson said he hopes that continues.

“And the show – if the numbers carry on the way they are, I hope that the show continues to build audience and hopefully becomes a Vancouver staple, with regards to high-end network television.”

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