Finding Where They Actually Shot That Show
The Good Doctor moved its production to Vancouver back in 2017, and since then a lot of people have been trying to figure out where the exterior shots come from. I spent a few weekends walking around the city looking for these spots, mostly because I'm the kind of person who can't help themselves, and I ran into more problems than I expected. The main building you see from the outside — Saint Joe's Hospital — is actually the University Health Network's building at 88 College Street in Toronto. That was the original set for season one. When they relocated to Vancouver for subsequent seasons, they switched to using British Columbia General Hospital, which is the exterior shot most people recognize now. It sits at 590 W 7th Avenue in Vancouver. You can stand right there and take a photo. It's a real hospital, so they don't love tourists loitering on the sidewalk, but as long as you're not blocking the entrance or being loud, nobody cares. Inside shots are filmed at Broad Street Studios in downtown Vancouver, near the intersection of Burrard and West Cordova. That's a soundstage setup, so you can't just walk in. Security will turn you away unless you have credentials or are on a scheduled tour, which they rarely offer publicly.
Other locations scattered around the city include Vancouver General Hospital on 2661 Heather Street, which has been used for various medical procedural shows over the years. The surrounding neighborhoods like Kitsilano and Yaletown show up in background shots too. You'll notice the same coffee shops and street corners if you watch closely enough. Here's the thing nobody tells you: Vancouver is small enough that the same three blocks get reused constantly. I walked into what I thought was a unique location near Granville and 4th, only to realize I'd already photographed it two days earlier on a completely different show. Production companies reuse spots because permits are cheaper and logistics are simpler. Don't expect every building in the show to be a one-of-a-kind set piece. One edge case I hit: some of the residential exterior shots are actually in New Westminster, just across the bridge. Places like the Queen's Park area and the Old Courthouse district double for upscale Vancouver neighborhoods all the time. I nearly gave up on finding a specific house shot until I cross-referenced a few production notes and realized it was three kilometers away from where I'd been looking.
If you want to track down specific scenes, IMDb's location pages and the Vancouver Film Office's public shoot list are your best tools. The city publishes a daily schedule of permitted filming locations about 48 hours in advance. It's not always accurate to the minute, but it gives you a solid window. I once waited two hours outside a location only to find out the call sheet had shifted the shoot to another district by 10 AM. Check the morning updates. The biggest frustration is that many interior scenes are shot on sets that look like real Vancouver hospitals but are actually constructed indoors. You'll see what looks like a real emergency room entrance, walk over, and find a loading dock behind it. The show uses a mix of real locations and built sets, and there's no official breakdown of which is which for most episodes. Practical tip: go on a weekday morning between 7 and 9 AM. That's when the crew is setting up and before the general public is out. You'll get clearer shots without crowds, and the lighting is more useful for matching to screen captures. Late afternoon brings too much foot traffic and the golden hour glow makes everything look nothing like the TV version anyway.
Get the Full Details
I also learned the hard way that you cannot film inside any hospital without permission. I got a very firm but polite reminder from security about that after my third visit. Bring a camera, take photos from the sidewalk, and keep moving. Nothing ruins a location hunt faster than being banned from a block. The city itself is surprisingly film-friendly. Lots of places are used repeatedly because the infrastructure for productions is already there — power access, loading zones, permit offices. That's why you see the same streets in The Good Doctor, Killjoys, and about seventeen other shows. It's not a lack of imagination, it's just economics.
