“Captivating” medical drama branded “ultimate comfort TV” lands new UK streaming home at Netflix
Freddie Highmore’s beloved medical drama The Good Doctor has just found a new streaming home in the UK.
The long-running series, which originally aired between 2017 and 2024, will be available to Netflix subscribers based in the UK from 1 January, 2026.
Highmore stars as Dr. Shaun Murphy, a young surgical resident with autism, who moves to California to work at the fictional San Jose St Bonaventure Hospital. The series follows Shaun as he progresses on the job as well as delving into his childhood.
The cast also includes Paige Spara as Lea Diallo, Antonia Thomas as Dr Claire Browne, Will Yun Lee as Dr Alex Park, and Christina Chang as Dr Audrey Lim.
The Good Doctor has received mixed reviews from critics, with season 1 currently having a rating of 63% from 43 reviews.
New York Magazine/Vulture celebrated it as “the ultimate comfort TV” despite deeming the storylines “conventional”.
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“The Good Doctor is a wild TV show,” they wrote. “It’s both conventional and predictable and somehow wilfully free of any obligation to realism. It’s the ultimate comfort TV, and I’m here to explain the joy of it to you.”
RogerEbert.com wrote of season 1: “It’s a show that could develop into something interesting – and has enough beautiful people in scrubs to keep viewers engaged – but feels familiar in the premiere.”
On IMDb, fans seemed enthusiastic about The Good Doctor, which some described as “easy to love” and “unique”.
One viewer hailed it as “an incredible well-written and captivating series that is easy to love,” while another fan celebrated the show’s writing, saying: “Each episode will have its unique way of grasping attention.”
Critics and audiences have been divided over the series’ portrayal of autism, with some likening Shaun’s characterisation in the first episodes as an autism’s “checklist” (via Salt Lake Tribune) and others believing it could help foster “greater understanding” of neurodiversity (via IndieWire).
The series went on to run for seven seasons, with its finale airing in May 2024.
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).