A recurring theme throughout the series is the debate over euthanasia.[4]
Synopsis
Cha Yo-han (Ji Sung) is a doctor of anesthesiology. He acts strangely sometimes, but he is a genius at his work. Kang Shi-young (Lee Se-young) is a resident of anesthesiology who works with Cha Yo-han. She is smart, warm and listens carefully to her patients. People with mysterious acute or chronic pain come to the hospital. There, Cha Yo-han and Kang Shi-young try to find the causes of their pain and treat them.
A talented anesthesiologist who spent three years in prison for performing euthanasia on a dying patient whose pain he could not reduce. He is often called "Ten Seconds" as he can diagnose one's disease very quickly. He secretly suffers from CIPA until it was exposed by Chae Eun-jeong, who held hatred towards Yo-han for ending the life of her daughter's murderer with euthanasia.
A second year resident who was a top student at medical school. She took a break during her studies after she could not save her father in an accident. She decides to come back to the hospital after working in the prison where she met Yo-han.
A prosecutor who is against the practice of euthanasia. He was present during Yo-han's trial and wanted to sentence him to ten years in prison. He holds a grudge against the doctor who ended the life of Yoon Seong-kyu, a murderer who killed Seok-ki's son. He suffers from stomach cancer. It is also shown that he is an opponent to the death penalty, viewing it as an act nothing less than murder, albeit a legally-sanctioned one.
A fellow of the Anesthesiology Department. He first wants to prove Yo-han wrong as the doctor corrected his misdiagnosis twice when he was an inmate, but eventually decides to learn from him instead.
A nurse at a hospice center. Yo-han ended the life of her daughter's murderer, terminal cancer patient Yoon Seong-kyu — who also killed Seok-ki's son — which causes Eun-jeong to hate Yo-han, and become an antagonist.
A third year resident and Shi-young's younger sister who is allergic to animal hair, including cats. She has a strained relationship with Shi-young over the health of their comatose father.
An anal cancer patient. He was a child murderer who murdered Seok-ki's son and Eun-jeong's daughter, but before he could be punished by law, Seong-kyu was hospitalised for terminal cancer. Yo-han allegedly ended his life with euthanasia as Seong-kyu could not bear the torment of his illness any longer.
Former Minister of Health and Welfare. He supports the practice of euthanasia.
Moon Hak-jin as Kim Jung-woo
A third year resident in ophthalmology.
Kim Seung-hoon as a prison guard
Special appearances
Jeon No-min as Kang I-soo, hospital's chairman and Shi-young's father.[13]
Jung In-gi as Oh Jeong-nam, Shi-young's uncle and prison warden.[13]
Jung Kyung-soon as Yoo-joon's mother and owner of a restaurant.
Lim Dong-jin as Shim Joon-cheol, a neurology professor and Yo-han's doctor.
Production
According to director Jo Soo-won, the series was in development since 2014, the year when SBS bought the rights to adapt Yo Kusakabe's On Hand of God as a TV series.[14]
Early working titles of the series were Doctor Room (Korean: 닥터룸) and Pain Doctor Cha Yo-han (Korean: 통증의사 차요한).[15]
The first script reading took place in March 2019 at SBS Ilsan Production Center in Tanhyun, South Korea.[16]
Doctor john : South Korea viewers per episode (millions)
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
^ abIn order to circumvent Korean laws that prevent commercial breaks in the middle of an episode, what would previously have been aired as single 70 minute episodes are now being repackaged as two 35 minute episodes, with two episodes being shown each night with a commercial break between the two.[1]
