On Monday morning, Freddie Highmore received the awards recognition that has long and unjustly eluded him; the actor was nominated for a Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a television series, drama. Throughout his tenure as Norman Bates in A&E’s Bates Motel, Highmore was passed over by every major awards show, receiving not one nomination for a Globe or an Emmy. Now that he’s made the move to a major network and a more conventional show, however, Highmore’s talents have continued to shine in a more awards-friendly venue—and, evidently, it’s paid off.
It’s also been quite awhile since a new hospital show has successfully launched—but The Good Doctor has managed to fill that hole for the more than 9 million viewers who stuck around through the series’ first midseason finale last week. Highmore’s Dr. Shaun Murphy and the staff at St. Bonaventure Hospital seem to be fulfilling an important role on TV this fall: eschewing TV drama’s dark, prestige-y formulas in favor of something more inspiring and uplifting. Like most other network hospital shows, The Good Doctor features no shortage of borderline ridiculous health complications and solutions; for example, Murphy has found himself operating on a liver freeway overpass. Highmore, however, anchors the show, and his performance prevents its portrayal of an autistic man from being patronizing or stereotypically emotionless.
The Good Doctor’s huge success this fall has been nothing short of astounding—and Highmore has always been the central key to it. Although reviews were middling when the series premiered, most still praised Highmore for his performance as an aspiring doctor with autism. The series has struck an emotional chord with viewers in the same way This Is Us did in its premiere season last year; like the NBC weepy, ABC’s new hospital drama is about an unambiguously good person trying his best to do good things. As executive producer and former Hawaii Five-0 star Daniel Dae Kim put it, Highmore’s Dr. Shaun Murphy is “an anti-antihero”—and evidently, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, at least, approves.
