The Good Doctor
This hot new drama is already a hit!
The hottest new series on TV, The Good Doctor has not only reeled in millions of viewers but beaten the world’s most-watched comedy, The Big Bang Theory, in ratings.
In Australia, the show premiered with 1.062 million metro viewers, and outrated Seven’s highest-rating drama of the year, Hoges.
But fans may be surprised to discover 25-year-old British actor Freddie Highmore – who plays the lead character Dr Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism – has achieved a startling amount of success, with a CV spanning nearly 20 years!
At the age of seven, he made his film debut alongside Helena Bonham Carter in Women Talking g Dirty, y, and at 12 years old he got his big break br – starring opposite Jo Johnny Depp and Kate Kat Winslet in FindingFindi Neverland. Th The following ye year, Tim Burton c cast Freddie as Charlie Bucket in Charlie And The Chocolate F Factory – on J Johnny’s r recommendation, who h had been impressed by h his co-star’s performance. “He put in a good word – y yes, perhaps it came down to t that in some way,” explains F Freddie. “People build up a picture of Johnny Depp a as being some sort of weird p pirate character. In reality, he’s in incredibly nice... one of the n nicest people I’ve ever met.” You could say Freddie was d destined for Hollywood from da day one, with or without Jo Johnny. His mum Sue is a talent agent, and his dad Edward is an established actor. And he considers Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe – who happens to be one of his mum’s clients – a close friend.
“It’s funny how we’ve grown up and both ended up doing films,” he says, adding Daniel’s career has been an inspiration. “He has an amazing work ethic, which helped him move on from Harry Potter to [the Peter Shaffer play] Equus and singing and dancing on Broadway. That drive is an inspiration.”
As for The Good Doctor, Freddie hopes his compelling performance will shatter people’s perceptions on autism.
“What we’re trying to do is moving away perhaps from the stereotypical versions of people with autism that have been shown on television, and in certain movies in the past,” the actor says.
‘Daniel has an amazing work ethic… that drive is an inspiration’