The hit Watson TV show used several real-life locations to film its gripping medical drama.
Where Was Watson Season 1 Filmed?
Most of Watson Season 1 was filmed in real-life locations in Vancouver, Canada, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Much of the series used real-world exteriors and soundstages for many of its interior scenes.
Seeing as the series takes place in the Steel City, it would make sense that some of its production occurred in Pittsburgh. Still, it may surprise some that Vancouver served as the home base for the production, with various locales from across the British Columbian city standing in (per Hollywood North).
The Bridge Studios, Burnaby
Most of Watson's indoor scenes were filmed at The Bridge Studios in Burnaby, Canada (a city slightly to the east of Vancouver proper).
The Bridge served as the home for much of the Watson productions, with various sets being built on the premises for the series. This included (but is not limited to) the Holmes Clinic itself, where much of the action from the show takes place.
The Bridge Studios is located near downtown Vancouver, filling the lot once occupied by the Dominion Bridge Company. It opened in 1987 and is now home to eight studios of varying sizes.
Notable productions to have taken up residence at The Bridge include Once Upon a Time, Jumanji, and The Fall of the House of Usher.
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
The Holmes Clinic is the prestigious University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver and stands in for Watson's central hospital.
It may be the medical facility that was essentially gifted to John Watson at the beginning of the series, but it is actually UBC's Irving K Barber Learning Centre (at least for exterior shots).
The Holmes Clinic is the home base of the new CBS spin-off, in which Watson and his team try to save precious lives while solving a mystery or two.
After UBC was established in 1877, the Irving K Barber Center (as it currently stands) was built as the campus' first library in 1925. Since then, it has been replaced with the larger, more modern Korner Library, now a smaller secondary library of archives for the school.
Over the years, UBC has served as home to several major Hollywood productions like The Butterfly Effect, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the 2005 Fantastic Four film.
Cecil Green Park House, Vancouver
Watson also set up shop for filming at Vancouver's renowned Cecil Green Park House.
The Tudor-style heritage house is where one of the main establishing set pieces of the series will take place going forward. Set up at the end of the first episode, a gunshot goes off, seemingly injuring a man named Andrew.
Saving this character will push the Watson team into the bulk of the Season 1 narrative as they race to save his life while trying to find his assailant.
The Cecil Green Park House is located on the UBC Endowment Lands and is a popular spot for weddings and public events. The house sits hit on the cliffs of Point Grey, looking out at an unimpeded view of the Georgia Strait and the North Shore Mountains (via the official Cecil Green Park House website)
Roberto Clemente Bridge, Pittsburg
Seeing as Watson takes place in Pittsburgh, it would make sense that the series took a trip to the Steel City for some of the filming.
Of course, much of the show was filmed in Vancouver, but some of its production took place in Pittsburgh. One particular sequence filmed there was the Roberto Clemente Bridge.
According to TribLIVE, filming on the bridge lasted about 12 hours, seemingly setting up a significant setpiece on the bridge at some point throughout the first season.
The Roberto Clemente Bridge, also known as the Sixth Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh.
Watson follows Morris Chestnut's John Watson as he resumes his medical career after the death of his eccentric detective partner, Sherlock Holmes.
Season 1 debuted on January 26, 2025, as a part of CBS' winter season slate, putting a new spin on the beloved Sherlock Holmes story (something Robert Downey Jr. is also reportedly set to take another stab at on the big screen).
Watson continues with new episodes arriving on CBS every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET.
