Heart Surgeons

Heart Surgeons^[3] (Korean: 흉부외과: 심장을 훔친 의사들) is a 2018 South Korean television series starring Go Soo, Um Ki-joon, and Seo Ji-hye. It aired on SBS TV from September 27 to November 15, 2018, every Wednesday and Thursday at 22:00 (KST) for 32 episodes.^[4][5]

Heart Surgeons
Promotional poster
Also known as	Two Lives One Heart[1] Thoracic Surgery Cardiothoracic Surgery
Hangul	흉부외과: 심장을 훔친 의사들
Hanja	胸部外科 - 心臟을 훔친 醫師들
Lit.	Thoracic Surgery: Doctors Who Stole Your Heart
RR	Hyungbuoegwa: simjangeul humchin uisadeul
MR	Hyungbuoegwa: simjangŭl humch'in ŭisadŭl
Genre	Medical drama
Created by	Park Young-soo (SBS)
Written by	Choi Soo-jin Choi Chang-hwan
Directed by	Jo Young-kwang
Starring	Go Soo Um Ki-joon Seo Ji-hye
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	32[a]
Production
Producers	Lee Sang-min Park Hyung-ki
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	35 minutes[a]
Production company	The Story Works
Original release
Network	SBS TV
Release	September 27 (2018-09-27) – November 15, 2018 (2018-11-15)

Synopsis

The series revolves around the thoracic surgery department of a hospital.^[6]

Cast

Main

• Go Soo as Park Tae-soo, a thoracic surgery fellow for four years whose mother is waiting for a heart transplant.^[7][8]
• Um Ki-joon as Choi Suk-han, a thoracic surgeon who is renowned for his skills but has not been treated fairly due to his humble medical background from a local university.^[9]
• Seo Ji-hye as Yoon Soo-yeon, a thoracic surgical assistant. Also the daughter of the director of Taesan hospital, the main setting for this drama.^[10]

Supporting

• Kim Ye-won as Ahn Ji-na, a cardiology fellow and Soo-yeon's friend .^[11]
• Jeong Bo-seok as Yoon Hyun-il, Soo-yeon's uncle and the chief of surgery.
• Nam Kyung-eup as Yoon Hyun-mok, Soo-yeon's father who is a hospital director and a genius pediatric heart surgeon.^[12]
• Ahn Nae-sang as Goo Hee-dong
• Jang So-yeon as Kang Eun-sook, a veteran nurse with over twenty years of experience in surgery.^[13]
• Choi Dae-hoon as Goo Dong-joon^[14]
• Jung Hee-tae as Lee Dae-young^[15]
• Park Kyung-hye as Lee Seon-young^[16]
• Lee Jae-won as Nam Woo-jin^[17]
• Oh Dong-min as Moon Seung-jae^[18]
• Nam Tae-boo as Lee Mi-ran^[19]
• Jung Yoo-min as Bae Yoo-ri, a scrub nurse.^[20]
• Cha Soon-bae as Lee Joong-do
• Son Kwang-eop as Son Jae-myung
• Jung Hyun-suk as Head Department Yoo
• Lee Duck-hee as Oh Jeong-ae, Tae-soo's mother.
• Jo Jae-yoon as Hwang Jin-cheol
• Seo Ha as Lee Ye-rin

Special appearances

• Woo Hyun as Han Sang-wok
• Shim Yi-young as Choi Seok-han's wife
• Jo Jae-ryong as Hwang Jin-chul
• Kim Min-seok as Surgeon (Ep 32)
• Shin Rin-ah as Lee Yoon-Seo

Production

• Writers Choi Soo-jin and Choi Chang-hwan and director Jo Young-kwang previously worked together on the 2017 TV series Innocent Defendant, along with Um Ki-joon as one of the lead stars.^[21]
• The first script reading with the cast was held in early August 2018.^[22]

Ratings

Ep.	Broadcast date	Average audience share
		TNmS[23]	Nielsen Korea[24]
		Nationwide	Nationwide	Seoul
1	September 27, 2018[b]	7.3%	6.9% (13th)	7.6% (10th)
2		7.7%	7.5% (9th)	8.1% (9th)
3		7.2%	6.2% (19th)	6.7% (15th)
4		6.9%	6.5% (17th)	6.9% (14th)
5	October 3, 2018	6.8%	6.8% (15th)	7.2% (12th)
6		8.0%	8.5% (8th)	8.8% (5th)
7	October 4, 2018	8.0%	6.9% (13th)	7.2% (12th)
8		9.0%	8.4% (9th)	8.6% (6th)
9	October 10, 2018	5.9%	5.8% (19th)	6.1% (18th)
10		7.3%	7.0% (14th)	7.3% (10th)
11	October 11, 2018	6.9%	7.4% (12th)	7.8% (11th)
12		7.5%	8.3% (9th)	8.5% (6th)
13	October 17, 2018	6.2%	5.7% (19th)	6.3% (19th)
14		7.0%	6.9% (13th)	7.9% (7th)
15	October 18, 2018	7.6%	7.2% (14th)	7.9% (12th)
16		8.3%	8.8% (9th)	9.7% (6th)
17	October 24, 2018	6.2%	5.7% (20th)	6.3% (18th)
18		7.1%	7.0% (14th)	7.7% (9th)
19	October 25, 2018	7.6%	6.7% (14th)	7.1% (12th)
20		7.7%	7.5% (11th)	8.0% (9th)
21	October 31, 2018	6.0%	6.5% (17th)	6.2% (18th)
22		6.6%	8.1% (11th)	7.5% (14th)
23	November 1, 2018	6.7%	7.6% (14th)	8.5% (13th)
24		7.0%	8.4% (13th)	9.6% (7th)
25	November 7, 2018	6.1%	5.8% (NR)	6.3% (19th)
26		7.4%	7.1% (13th)	7.8% (11th)
27	November 8, 2018	N/A	6.4% (17th)	7.5% (14th)
28			7.5% (14th)	8.8% (12th)
29	November 14, 2018		5.8% (NR)	6.6% (18th)
30		6.4%	7.3% (14th)	8.3% (9th)
31	November 15, 2018	7.4%	7.8% (14th)	8.9% (8th)
32		7.9%	8.4% (11th)	9.4% (9th)
Average		—[c]	7.1%	7.7%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. NR denotes that the drama did not rank in the top 20 daily programs on that date. N/A denotes that the rating is not known.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Ref.
2018	SBS Drama Awards	Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Wednesday-Thursday Drama	Go Soo	Nominated	[25]
		Excellence Award, Actress in a Wednesday-Thursday Drama	Uhm Ki-joon	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actress in a Wednesday-Thursday Drama	Seo Ji-hye	Won
		Best Supporting Actor	Choi Dae-hoon	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress	Park Kyung-hye	Nominated
		Producer's Award for Actor	Uhm Ki-joon	Won

Notes

1. In 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.^[2]
2. Episodes 1 to 4 aired back-to-back due to the broadcast of the film Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days the previous day.
3. Due to some unpublished ratings, the exact average rating is unknown.