| Park Shin-hye, left, and Kim Rae-won, who star in SBS's new medical romance drama "Doctors," pose for a photo during a press conference held in Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
By Park Jin-hai
After the KBS megahit drama "Descendants of the Sun" swept the viewership ratings and became one of the biggest Hallyu, or Korean Wave, leaders, local broadcasters are vying to come up with a successor.
Noteworthy among upcoming dramas is SBS's new medical romance drama "Doctors," starring Park Shin-hye and Kim Rae-won, which is set to air its first episode on June 20.
On top of the star power of the two leads, the Monday and Tuesday drama has gathered much anticipation as it was penned by Ha Myung-hee, known for her talent in making ordinary things extraordinary as previously seen in "High Society" (2015) and "Can We Get Married?" (2012), and directed by Oh Choong-hwan, producer of "My Love from the Star" (2013).
The 20-episode medical drama depicts a coming-of-age story of Yoo Hye-jung, played by actress Park Shin-hye, a female high-school bully who slowly changes with the support of her teacher Hong Ji-hong, played by actor Kim Rae-won. They meet again years later at a hospital as doctors and fall in love.
| Poster for SBS's new medical romance drama "Doctors" / Courtesy of Pan Entertainment |
Park, who mostly plays good-girl roles, including "The Heirs" and "You're Beautiful," said that she had to build up the courage to play a girl living a rough life.
"Unlike my previous roles, which portrayed girls who are supportive and loving, Hye-jung is a cold loner who doesn't know how to love," said Park, commenting on her new role at a press conference for "Doctors" in Seoul, Wednesday.
For her first-ever bad-girl role, the 26-year-old actress didn't mind shooting tough actions scenes. "Sometimes I thought I overworked myself in the action scenes to the point that I had hard times getting up the next morning. But I think the final product will be worth the effort," said Park.
Veteran actor Kim, in his 19th year, will star in his first doctor role in the drama. "It was a challenge for me, it's been a long while since I have played an easy-going and playful character in Attic Cat," said Lee, who took on mostly serious roles in recent dramas including "A Thousand Days' Promise" and "Punch."
The drama also made headlines as rivaling broadcasting company KBS brought its own medical drama "Beautiful Mind" to the same time slot to compete with "Doctors."
As for the difference from "Beautiful Mind," starring Jang Hyuk, director Oh says he set story in a hospital, because it could be a place where the transition of a person can be featured most dramatically.
"Hospitals have the image of a cold and emotionless place. I wanted to feature a heart-warming love story and portray how much a person can change there," said Oh, distancing the drama from the suspense-driven medical drama "Beautiful Mind."
"Doctors" will premiere on June 20 at 10 p.m.