Love on the Spectrum is an Australian reality TV dating show that premiered on the Netflix platform on July 22.
The five-episode Season 1, created and directed by Cian O’Clery in collaboration with the Australian production company Northern Pictures, follows seven single young adults on the autism spectrum looking for romance and love. Two couples also participated.
The series first aired on Australia’s ABC Television in 2019 before it was released to watch on Netflix in July for an international audience.
Love on the Spectrum received positive critical reviews and generated a lot of interest in Australia and around the world.
Since the series premiered on Netflix, many fans have been wondering where the series was filmed.
Here is what you need to know.
Love on the Spectrum was filmed in Australia
Love on the Spectrum was filmed in multiple locations in Australia.
Participants in the show included Michael, who dreamed to “become a husband,” and Maddie, who wanted a partner also in the autism spectrum.
Others on the show were Amanda, Kelvin, and Jessica. There was also Chloe, a girl with hearing loss on the autism spectrum who moved with her family from Britain to live in Australia.
Other participants include the couple Ruth and Thomas, who have been together for some years.
The filmmakers wanted to support people living with autism
O’Clery, an Australian filmmaker, told Fast Company he decided to create the series after he realized that due to lack of support, people on the autism spectrum experience difficulties when searching for partners.
He said the show involves a camera crew following the couples on their dates and that the participants were all volunteers.
They contacted them through various organizations that support people on the autism spectrum.
He said they were happy to find that the presence of a camera crew did not — as they had feared– inhibit the participants. On the contrary, it helped them to adjust to the intricacies of connecting with others.
“We were kind of like a support for them in that they weren’t stepping out into that world on their own.”
O’Clery also told The Wrap that the series shows the participants being entirely themselves and that they were not required to put up a performance for cameras.
“We look at it as we’re filming a series on the terms of the participants, not on our terms. We see it as, we are people who are being allowed into their lives to tell their stories. We’re not casting a show and finding people up for something that they can’t get out of.”
He added that he hoped that a show that addresses the subject of autism from the interesting perspective of dating and relationships would help to increase people’s awareness about autism people.
Also, O’Clery said he hoped it would dispel the myth that people with autism were not interested in dating, romance, and love.
Love on the Spectrum is streaming on Netflix.