Love on the Spectrum is back with a new season. If you’re not familiar with the series, to call it a dating show doesn’t do it justice. The show follows people on the autism spectrum as they navigate the often complicated search for love. But it goes beyond just setting people up on dates; participants also receive guidance from a dating coach and autism expert to help them work through potential challenges.
This season brings back some familiar faces, like Boston’s very own James, and also introduces some new stories. The joy and happiness Love on the Spectrum brings really does jump off the screen.
That sense of joy is part of what continues to resonate with audiences, and why this week’s Joy Beat honoree is the series’ director, co-creator, showrunner, and executive producer, Cian O’Clery. He joined GBH’s All Things Considered’s Arun Rath to talk about the show. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation.
Arun Rath: Lovely to have you, and we all love Love on the Spectrum on this show. You’ve been doing this for quite a few years now. When you began, did you have any sense that it would take off in the way it has and resonate with so many people in so many places?
Cian O’Clery: No, not at all. You always hope that when you make something, it’s going to strike a chord and people will engage, watch, come back, and watch further seasons. We first started this show in Australia, which would have been seven years ago for the Australian Public Broadcaster. We were making a little show, and that was the first time the public broadcasters had ever made a dating series.
It wasn’t something that they had considered previously, but it’s not just a dating series; it’s a character-led series. Back in the day, I used to say it’s a character-led series disguised as a dating show. The dating and relationship aspect is really important, obviously, but it’s a really great way to get to know people and get to learn about them and what makes them tick.
So no, we didn’t really think it would be this big. From the time it was picked up for a U.S. season to now, the audience has grown every season, which is really unusual in the space. It’s great to see. It’s scary. It’s always scary, but especially when it comes out and is put out into the world. It’s just nice to see people loving the people we’re following, you know?
Rath: It’s fascinating how we would call it a dating show, but the documentary style of it is something that is a Vérité style that goes beyond what we’re used to in a dating program. Did you have a sense of how you would be following these stories in that way and how you’d be ultimately constructing that?
O’Clery: It was always when we first started making the series, or when we first created it. I created the series with Karina Holden at Northern Pictures in Australia. We had made two previous series. One was about following patients inside a mental health unit in a hospital, and the locked walls of a mental health unit. So, that was a very interesting and an eye-opening experience.
Following that, we made a series about people with disabilities looking for employment. Those were both very much documentary series. For this one too, everything behind it is documentary in the style of shooting.
The one thing we are doing is finding matches for people, setting them up on dates and talking with them about who they want to meet and what they’re looking for. Once that happens, we just follow the story. So in that sense, we absolutely shoot everything as a Vérité documentary.
Rath: James is our hometown guy. We heard him at the top. Even if it weren’t Boston, something about this guy I just find him super appealing. There’s this wonderful moment where he’s directing the shot. We hear him, he’s got his microphone on and they’re walking along the beach and he says, “Oh, this would be a great final shot. We should get this for them.”
O’Clery: He started saying that as I was walking off, and I was shooting that as well because I shoot the second camera. So, I’m filming it, listening to it, and just thinking, “Okay, this is the final shot of James’ story in this season.” The previous season, James started the season by sitting in his interview and telling me how to start his interview.
He sat down, and I said something. He said, “No, no, you should say this, and then I’ll say this.” I said, “OK, we’ll start again then,” and he sat down. So I just, when he said that and when he was walking away, I thought, “What a lovely way to bookend the start of his season three and the end of his four.” It was great, and I love James. He’s so smart.
Rath: I’d like to tour a lighthouse with James. He’s awesome. What’s it been like watching that development, his relationship?
O’Clery: It’s great. It’s really nice to see. There were points where it was hard to see that he was struggling. It was really difficult for him to actually find someone that he could connect with and could develop a relationship with.
When we filmed him speed dating, he didn’t have any matches, and that was a very clear example of what he’d been doing. He had been to many, many speed dating events and not had matches. You feel for the guy, but it was great when Shelley came along, someone who loves him for who he is.
He adores her, as you can see from watching the season. So, it’s really nice to see that he’s found love. He’s finally found love, and here they are, off looking at houses together.
Rath: It’s beautiful. I’d actually forgotten about that speed dating round. That was brutal. It was great that things worked out nicely. This is the Joy Beat, and we’ve got so much joy in this program to celebrate. There’s an episode in the season in particular that stands out because we’re celebrating an engagement. We get to see some faces from past seasons and then they break into song.... So you’re the documentary maker. Tell us, how did that magic come together? Was it impromptu?
O’Clery: Absolutely. We were all amazed at these beautiful rainbows after filming this engagement party. There was a big storm. Everyone ran inside and then these stunning rainbows came out. I think it was Perry who started singing and the rest of the cast who were there for Madison’s and Tyler’s engagement just joined in.
It was really special. That engagement party was really lovely, to actually see people coming together because they do come together a lot. When people join the show, they really do join their Love on the Spectrum family. People catch up a lot, they’re all friends. We didn’t plan on having a get together with a group of the cast. It just happened to be Madison and Tyler’s engagement party. Madison wanted to make sure her friends were there. So, it was very special to just be able end the series with such a moment.
