Good Doctor (TV series)

Plot

Park Shi-on (Joo Won) is an autistic savant 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 6 months to prove himself capable. However, due to his atypical mental and emotional condition, Shi-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), who 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 Shi-on faces become only greater when he falls in love with Yoon-seo.

Main characters

Joo Won as Park Shi-on

Moon Chae-won as Cha Yoon-seo

Joo Sang-wook as Kim Do-han

Kim Min-seo as Yoo Chae-kyung

Supporting characters

Sungwon University Hospital officials

Chun Ho-jin as Choi Woo-seok, hospital director

Kwak Do-won as Kang Hyun-tae, hospital deputy director

Na Young-hee as Lee Yeo-won

Jo Hee-bong as Go Choong-man, head of the Pediatric Surgery department

Lee Ki-yeol as Lee Hyuk-pil, managing director of the hospital foundation

Jung Man-sik as Kim Jae-joon, head of the Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic Surgery department

Kim Chang-wan as President Jung

Department of Pediatric Surgery

Kim Young-kwang as Han Jin-wook

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 Yun-seok as Lee Kyu-hyun

Extended cast

Yoon Yoo-sun as Oh Kyung-joo, Shi-on's mother

Jung Ho-keun as Park Choon-sung, Shi-on's father

Choi Ro-woon as young Shi-on

Seo Hyun-chul as Byung-soo

Jeon Joon-hyuk as Park Yi-on, Shi-on's older brother

Ban Min-jung as Kyu-hyun's mother

Kwak Ji-min as Lee Soo-jin (guest appearance, ep 10-12)

Moon Hee-kyung as Mrs. Jang, Soo-jin's mother-in-law

Kim Sun-hwa as Eun-ok's aunt

Ryu Deok-hwan as adult Yi-on (cameo, ep 10)

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)

Ratings

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

Awards and nominations

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. 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.

Remake

An American remake produced by Daniel Dae Kim is in development at CBS. The story of a pediatric surgeon with Asperger syndrome will be set in Boston and is projected to air in August 2015.