The doctor is out

Freddie Highmore returns as surgeon Shaun Murphy for the last time

The Good Doctor Wednesday,10pm, Sky Witness

Over six seasons of the US medical drama The Good Doctor, brilliant young autistic surgeon Dr Shaun Murphy, played by Freddie Highmore, has faced many challenges, both personally and professionally.

But he has overcome all obstacles in his way and, at the end of last season, achieved the pinnacle of happiness when he became a father.

Now, as the show returns for its seventh and final season on Sky Witness,

Shaun and his wife Lea

(Paige Spara) are adjusting to being first-time parents to their newborn son Steve, named after

Shaun’s late brother.

CHALLENGES

‘It’s a massive, life-changing event,’ says Highmore, 32. ‘We explore Shaun as a father dealing with his responsibilities at work, and how he wants to be a father at home, and also how that will affect his relationship with Lea.’

But there is a cloud over Shaun’s happiness. He and his surrogate father Dr Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) fell out last season after Dr Glassman felt Shaun had publicly humiliated him in the operating theatre. While their rift shows no sign of being mended at the beginning of the 10-part series, Shaun takes on a medical case that is deeply personal to him and the other doctors at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. Eden, the adopted daughter of Dr Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann), needs a heart transplant, as does another baby – but there is only one donor heart. And now that Shaun is a dad, the case resonates with him in a way it wouldn’t have done in the past.

Shaun also faces a new challenge this season – mentoring third-year medical students Dr Charlie Lukaitis (Kayla Cromer) and Dr Dominick

Hubank (Wavyy Jonez). Like Shaun, Charlie has autism and she idolises him, but he finds her annoying.

BEING THE BOSS

‘Shaun’s communication has never been his strong point and he struggles in terms of being the boss and trying to impart wisdom,’ explains Highmore. ‘Because Charlie has autism, there are parts of her that remind

Shaun of himself, but we also explore the ways in which they’re different.’ As The Good Doctor comes to an end, Highmore gives his diagnosis on why the show has been successful. ‘Shaun believes that people are fundamentally good and doesn’t judge people and tries to see the best of them,’ he says. ‘For me, there’s been something lovely about being able to return to that message and maybe other people have felt the same.’