Good Doctor (South Korean TV series)

Good Doctor (Korean: 굿 닥터; RR: Gut Dakteo) is a 2013 South Korean medical drama television series starring Joo Won, Moon Chae-won, Joo Sang-wook, Kim Min-seo, Chun Ho-jin, Kwak Do-won, and Ko Chang-seok. It aired on KBS2 from August 5 to October 8, 2013, on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.^[1] The early working title was Green Scalpel (Korean: 그린 메스; RR: Geurin Meseu; lit. "Green Mes"^[2]).^[3][4]

Good Doctor
Promotional poster
Hangul	굿 닥터
Genre	Medical drama Romance Comedy
Created by	Park Jae-beom
Directed by	Ki Min-soo Kim Jin-woo
Starring	Joo Won Moon Chae-won Joo Sang-wook Kim Min-seo
Composer	Choi Cheol-ho
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	20
Production
Executive producers	Kim Sung-geun Lee Jang-soo Yoo Hong-gu
Producers	Lee Jae-hoon Park Woo-ram
Cinematography	Kim Jae-hwan Kim Yong-soo
Editor	Kim Mi-kyung
Production company	Logos Film
Original release
Network	KBS2
Release	August 5 (2013-08-05) – October 8, 2013 (2013-10-08)
Related
The Good Doctor (US) Good Doctor (Japan) Mucize Doktor (Turkey) Life After Death (Hong Kong)

Synopsis

Park Si-on (Joo Won) is a savant on the autism spectrum who was sent to a specialized care center as a child, where he was discovered to have a genius-level memory and keen spatial skills. He eventually enters the field of pediatric surgery as a resident, where he is given six months to prove himself capable. However, due to his atypical mental and emotional condition, Si-on faces conflict from his peers and patients, who view him as childlike and unreliable. Most critical is the hotheaded surgeon Kim Do-han (Joo Sang-wook). Do-han was requested by the young surgeon's mentor, Choi Woo-seok (Chun Ho-jin), who is also a director of the hospital, to guide him but is unwilling to do so, as he labels him a soulless robot of a doctor who can only rely heavily on his photographic memory instead of feeling what the patient needs. Despite help from understanding and fair colleagues like Cha Yoon-seo (Moon Chae-won) and Han Jin-wook (Kim Young-kwang), the hospital is a fierce and competitive world, and the challenges Si-on faces become only greater when he falls in love with Yoon-seo, a fellow doctor at the hospital.

Cast

Main

• Joo Won as Park Si-on^[5][6][7]
  • Choi Ro-woon as young Si-on
• Moon Chae-won as Cha Yoon-seo^[8][9][10]
• Joo Sang-wook as Kim Do-han^[11][12][13]
• Kim Min-seo as Yoo Chae-kyung

Supporting

Sungwon University Hospital officials

• Chun Ho-jin as Choi Woo-seok, director
• Kwak Do-won as Kang Hyun-tae, deputy director
• Na Young-hee as Lee Yeo-won, chairwoman of the board
• Jo Hee-bong as Go Choong-man, head of the Pediatric Surgery department
• Lee Ki-yeol as Lee Hyuk-pil, managing director of the foundation
• Jung Man-sik as Kim Jae-joon, head of the Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic Surgery department

Department of Pediatric Surgery

• Kim Young-kwang as Han Jin-wook^[14]

A warm and friendly fourth-year resident, who first approaches Park Shi-on when he is shunned by the others.

• Yoon Park as Woo Il-kyu, second-year resident
• Yoon Bong-gil as Hong Gil-nam, second-year resident
• Wang Ji-won as Kim Sun-joo, intern

Nursing division

• Ko Chang-seok as Jo Jung-mi, senior nurse
• Jin Kyung as Nam Joo-yeon, head nurse
• Lee Ah-rin as Ga-kyung
• Ha Kyu-won as Hye-jin

Children's ward

• Kim Hyun-soo as Na In-hae
• Uhm Hyun-kyung as Na In-young
• Ahn Sung-hoon as Lee Woo-ram
• Yoo Je-gun as Park Ho-suk
• Lee Jang-kyung as Kim Ye-eun
• Oh Eun-chan as Cha Dong-jin
• Yoo Hae-jung as Eun-ok
• Jung Yoon-seok as Kyu-hyun

Others

• Yoon Yoo-sun as Oh Kyung-joo, Shi-on's mother
• Jung Ho-keun as Park Choon-sung, Shi-on's father
• Seo Hyun-chul as Byung-soo
• Jeon Jun-hyeok as Park Si-deok, Shi-on's older brother
  • Ryu Deok-hwan as adult Si-deok (cameo, ep 10)
• Ban Min-jung as Kyu-hyun's mother
• Kim Chang-wan as Chairman Jung

Special appearances

• Kwak Ji-min as Lee Soo-jin (guest appearance, ep 10–12)^[15]
• Moon Hee-kyung as Mrs. Jang, Soo-jin's mother-in-law
• Kim Sun-hwa as Eun-ok's aunt
• Seo Kang-joon as one of the punks who want to beat up Shi-on (ep 12)
• In Gyo-jin as Soo-jin's husband (cameo, ep 12)
• Yoo Jae-myung as the killer (ep 15)
• Kim Young-hee as staff of the family restaurant (ep 17)
• Gong Jung-hwan as Professor of Neurosurgery Department (ep 17)
• Park Ki-woong as Woong-ki (cameo, ep 20)^[16][17]

Ratings

Good Doctor made a strong debut on the TV ratings chart.^[18] It maintained the number one spot in its timeslot for most of its run, with an average viewership rating of 18.0% (AGB Nielsen) and 17.4% (TNmS).

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share
		Nielsen Korea[19]		TNmS Ratings[20]
		Nationwide	Seoul	Nationwide	Seoul
1	August 5, 2013	10.9%	11.6%	10.5%	10.3%
2	August 6, 2013	14.0%	15.1%	13.6%	14.6%
3	August 12, 2013	15.3%	16.2%	13.8%	14.6%
4	August 13, 2013	15.8%	15.8%	15.9%	16.9%
5	August 19, 2013	18.0%	18.5%	16.5%	17.6%
6	August 20, 2013	19.0%	20.0%	18.4%	20.4%
7	August 26, 2013	17.4%	18.2%	17.2%	18.1%
8	August 27, 2013	18.4%	18.5%	17.5%	19.0%
9	September 2, 2013	17.4%	17.4%	17.0%	18.3%
10	September 3, 2013	18.4%	18.3%	18.5%	20.5%
11	September 9, 2013	18.3%	18.7%	18.3%	20.2%
12	September 10, 2013	19.4%	19.4%	20.0%	22.2%
13	September 16, 2013	17.9%	18.4%	17.5%	19.3%
14	September 17, 2013	18.6%	19.3%	18.9%	20.3%
15	September 23, 2013	19.6%	20.3%	18.5%	20.2%
16	September 24, 2013	21.5%	22.8%	20.9%	22.7%
17	September 30, 2013	20.3%	21.1%	18.0%	20.5%
18	October 1, 2013	20.6%	21.5%	19.0%	21.4%
19	October 7, 2013	19.0%	20.0%	17.6%	20.1%
20	October 8, 2013	19.2%	19.5%	19.5%	22.4%
Average		18.0%	18.5%	17.4%	18.9%

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
2013	26th Grimae Awards	Best Drama	Good Doctor	Won
	Korea Drama Awards			Nominated
		Top Excellence Award, Actor	Joo Won	Nominated
			Joo Sang-wook	Nominated
		Top Excellence Award, Actress	Moon Chae-won	Nominated
		Best Writer	Park Jae-bum	Won
	APAN Star Awards	Top Excellence Award, Actor	Joo Won	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actor	Joo Sang-wook	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actress	Moon Chae-won	Nominated
	KBS Drama Awards[21]	Top Excellence Award, Actor	Joo Won	Won
		Actor of the Year (selected by directors)		Won
		Top Excellence Award, Actress	Moon Chae-won	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actor in a Mid-length Drama	Joo Sang-wook	Won
			Joo Won	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actress in a Mid-length Drama	Moon Chae-won	Won
		Best Supporting Actor	Jo Hee-bong	Nominated
			Ko Chang-seok	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress	Jin Kyung	Nominated
			Kim Min-seo	Nominated
		Best New Actor	Kim Young-kwang	Nominated
		Best Young Actor	Jung Yun-seok	Nominated
		Best Young Actress	Kim Hyun-soo	Nominated
		Best Couple Award	Joo Won and Moon Chae-won	Won
		Netizen Award, Actor	Joo Won	Won
		Popularity Award, Actress	Moon Chae-won	Won
2014	Korea Producers & Directors' (PD) Awards[22]	Best Drama	Good Doctor	Won
		Best Performer	Joo Won	Won
	Baeksang Arts Awards[23]	Best Drama	Good Doctor	Won
		Best Director	Ki Min-soo	Nominated
		Best Actor	Joo Won	Nominated
	Banff World Media Festival[24]	Best Serial Drama	Good Doctor	Won
	Korea Broadcasting Awards[25]	Best Drama		Won
	Seoul International Drama Awards[26]	Best Mini-series		Runner-up

In November 2013, the Korea Association of the Welfare Institutes for the Disabled gave the series a plaque of recognition for creating awareness about autism and how socially challenged individuals can contribute to society.^[27] In December 2013, Good Doctor also received an award from the Disability Awareness Campaign Headquarters and was designated as a "Good Program" by the Korea Communications Standards Commission.^[28][29]

International adaptations

American

Main article: The Good Doctor (American TV series)

An American remake of the same name, produced by Daniel Dae Kim, debuted in late September 2017 on ABC. The story of a surgeon with autism is set in San Jose, California, airing during fall of 2017.^[30][31][32]

Japanese

Main article: Good Doctor (Japanese TV series)

A Japanese remake of the same name starred Kento Yamazaki, Juri Ueno, and Naohito Fujiki aired from July 12 to September 13, 2018, on Fuji TV.

Turkish

A Turkish remake called Mucize Doktor produced by Asena Bülbüloğlu debuted on September 12, 2019, on Fox Turkey.

Hong Kong

Dr. Koo Hei-sun is a character inspired by Park Si-on in Life After Death, produced by Kwan Shu-ming and Kwan Man-sum. It debuted on June 8, 2020, on TVB.

Thailand

A Thailand remake of the same name, produced by True4U, TrueVisions, and True CJ Creations, debuted in October 2024 on the True ID application, and True Asian More channel 120/239 for TrueVisions subscribers. This version Sarun Naraprasertkul and Chayanit Chansangavej take the lead roles as Dr. Shone and Dr. Preem.