# Hospital Ship (TV series)

Hospital Ship (Korean: 병원선; RR: Byeong-wonseon) is a South Korean television series starring Ha Ji-won and Kang Min-hyuk. The series is directed by Park Jae-bum and written by screenwriter Yoon Sun-joo. It aired on MBC every Wednesday and Thursday at 22:00 (KST) and started on August 30, 2017.

## Plot

The story is about a group of young doctors who provide medical care to the locals who live in rural villages via a hospital ship that sails around the little islands.
Song Eun Jae is an immensely talented surgeon. There was a time when the hospital ship was just used for standard checkups and administering medicine. With Song Eun Jae on board, it can provide complicated surgery. She has seen a lot of success as a surgeon, but also a lot of struggles in her family life. When an unfortunate incident leads her to a ship instead of a prestigious hospital, she has little compassion for the stubborn elderly patients.
Kwak Hyun is the emotional opposite of his senior doctor, Song Eun Jae. Growing up with a father who is a lauded humanitarian, Kwak Hyun strives to be a warm and caring person. He heals not just with medicine but a smile. It seems natural that he works at his father's ship, but Kwak Hyun also has some emotional scars. He cannot match Song Eun Jae's medical skills, but he is infinitely better at connecting with patients.
Kim Jae Geol has Hallyu looks and an extensive lineage in medicine. His father is a respected doctor. Growing up, his dad always preferred his brilliant brother, which led Jae Geol to become a loner at heart. His father was obsessed with western medicine. As a form of rebellion, Kim Jae Gol studied oriental medicine, much to his father's disapproval. His goal in boarding the ship was to escape his father's shadow. At the ship, however, he must work under Song Eun Jae, who is just as strict, emotionless and disdainful of oriental medicine.
Now, these three doctors have to put aside their polar opposite personalities in order to treat their patients. As they all soon learn, working for your fellow humans has its own way of bringing people together.

## Cast
### Main

* Ha Ji-won as Song Eun-jae
She is a capable surgeon and future chief at a large hospital located in Seoul who later joins the crew on the hospital ship due to her mother passing away
* Kang Min-hyuk as Kwak Hyun
Son of a famous well known surgeon. He becomes a doctor because of his father and later volunteers to join the hospital ship as his military service.
* Lee Seo-won as Kim Jae-geol
** Choi Seung-hoon as young Jae-gol
A chaebol oriental doctor whose father is a director of a general hospital. He was placed on the hospital ship and is good friends with Joon-young.
* Kim In-sik as Cha Joon-young
A dentist who was placed on the hospital ship. He and Jae-geol are good friends.

### Supporting
#### Hospital people

* Kwon Mina as Yoo Ah-rim
* Kim Kwang-kyu as Choo Won-gong
* Jeong Gyeong-sun [ko] as Pyo Go-eun

#### Hospital ship people

* Lee Han-wi as Bang Sung-woo
* Jang Seo-won [ko] as Yang Choon-ho
* Song Ji-ho as Kang Jung-ho

#### Family members

* Cha Hwa-yeon as Oh Hye-jung, Eun-Jae's mother (Ep. 1-3)
* Kim Sun-young as Oh Mi-jung, Eun-jae's aunt
* Jo Sung-ha as Song Jae-joon
* Jung In-gi as Kwak Sung
* Nam Gi-ae as Lee Soo-kyung, Kwak Hyun's mother
* Jung Won-joong [ko] as Kim Soo-kwon
* Park Joon-geum as Han Hee-sook
* Lee Tae-ri as Song Woo-jae, a 28-year-old student and Eun-jae's younger brother

### Others

* Wang Ji-won as Choi Young-eun
* Jeon No-min as Kim Do-hoon
* Kang Da-hyun as Kwak Ji-eun
* Park Tae-sung [ko] as Kang Yong-soo
* Lee Da-hae
* Jo A-ra as Yang Ji-young
* Ji Chan [ko]
* Park Seung-chan
* Lee Chung-hee
* Seo Dan-won
* Min Dae-sik
* Jang Mun-gyu as Ki Kwan-sa
* Sung Hyun-mi
* Ryu Sung-ryul
* Kim Mi-hye
* Shin Shin-beom
* Lee Chae-kyung
* Song In-seob
* Woo Sang-jun [ko] as Woojin's grandfather
* Joo Boo-jin as Hospital patient
* Heo Jung-gyu [ko]
* Lim Chae-yeon
* Lee Dal
* Kim Il-hyun
* Hae Sun
* Moon Kyung-min
* Jung Young-geum
* Kang Jung-goo
* Ahn Jae-min [ko]
* Baek Soo-ryun [ko] as Park Oh-wol
* Oh Ji-yeon
* Nam Eun-ji
* Jung Yeon
* Kim Jong-soo
* Park Dong-il
* Sa Jae-won
* Park Ji-il
* Seo Kwang-jae [ko]
* Sa Chae-won

### Special appearance

* Jo Hyun-jae as Jang Sung-ho (Ep. 1-2, 10)
* Park Sun-ho as Kim Jae-hwan (Ep. 1, 23-24)
* Jung Dong-hwan as Jang Tae-joon, Jang Sung-ho's father

## Production

First script reading took place July 6, 2017 at MBC Broadcasting Station in Sangam, Seoul, South Korea. Filming took place in Geojedo, South Korea.

## Ratings

* In the table below, 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.
| Episode # | Original Broadcast Date | Average Audience Share | Average Audience Share | Average Audience Share | Average Audience Share |
| Episode # | Original Broadcast Date | TNmS Ratings | TNmS Ratings | AGB Nielsen | AGB Nielsen |
| Episode # | Original Broadcast Date | Nationwide | Seoul National Capital Area | Nationwide | Seoul National Capital Area |
| 1 | August 30, 2017 | 10.8% (9th) | 11.4% (6th) | 10.6% (7th) | 11.9% (5th) |
| 2 | August 30, 2017 | 11.9% (7th) | 12.5% (4th) | 12.4% (4th) | 13.8% (4th) |
| 3 | August 31, 2017 | 8.9% (12th) | 9.5% (7th) | 8.9% (9th) | 9.9% (6th) |
| 4 | August 31, 2017 | 9.9% (7th) | 10.5% (6th) | 10.7% (5th) | 11.4% (3rd) |
| 5 | September 6, 2017 | 9.1% (10th) | 10.1% (5th) | 10.3% (8th) | 10.5% (5th) |
| 6 | September 6, 2017 | 10.7% (7th) | 12.1% (4th) | 11.8% (4th) | 11.9% (4th) |
| 7 | September 7, 2017 | 10.2% (9th) | 11.4% (6th) | 11.3% (6th) | 11.7% (5th) |
| 8 | September 7, 2017 | 11.8% (6th) | 12.5% (3rd) | 13.0% (4th) | 13.6% (3rd) |
| 9 | September 13, 2017 | 9.6% (9th) | 9.7% (7th) | 9.8% (9th) | 10.2% (8th) |
| 10 | September 13, 2017 | 11.7% (7th) | 11.2% (4th) | 12.0% (4th) | 12.1% (4th) |
| 11 | September 14, 2017 | 10.1% (9th) | 10.1% (9th) | 11.0% (6th) | 11.6% (6th) |
| 12 | September 14, 2017 | 11.5% (7th) | 11.2% (6th) | 12.9% (4th) | 13.2% (4th) |
| 13 | September 20, 2017 | 9.8% (9th) | 10.4% (7th) | 9.8% (9th) | 10.4% (6th) |
| 14 | September 20, 2017 | 11.1% (7th) | 12.1% (4th) | 11.6% (6th) | 12.0% (4th) |
| 15 | September 21, 2017 | 9.3% (12th) | 9.7% (9th) | 10.5% (8th) | 11.0% (5th) |
| 16 | September 21, 2017 | 11.3% (7th) | 11.5% (4th) | 12.4% (4th) | 12.6% (4th) |
| 17 | September 27, 2017 | 9.2% (15th) | 9.0% (10th) | 9.8% (8th) | 9.8% (9th) |
| 18 | September 27, 2017 | 10.8% (10th) | 11.0% (7th) | 10.6% (7th) | 10.6% (5th) |
| 19 | September 28, 2017 | 8.5% (15th) | 9.2% (10th) | 9.3% (11th) | 9.5% (11th) |
| 20 | September 28, 2017 | 10.1% (8th) | 10.7% (7th) | 11.3% (6th) | 11.4% (6th) |
| 21 | October 4, 2017 | 5.5% (18th) | 6.4% (8th) | 5.6% (14th) | 5.8% (13th) |
| 22 | October 4, 2017 | 6.8% (10th) | 7.5% (5th) | 6.6% (9th) | 6.8% (9th) |
| 23 | October 5, 2017 | 6.3% (19th) | 7.1% (15th) | 7.1% (16th) | 6.7% (15th) |
| 24 | October 5, 2017 | 7.3% (15th) | 8.3% (9th) | 8.3% (11th) | 8.1% (11th) |
| 25 | October 11, 2017 | 8.9% (14th) | 9.4% (9th) | 7.5% (16th) | 6.7% (15th) |
| 26 | October 11, 2017 | 10.2% (9th) | 10.3% (7th) | 9.3% (9th) | 8.4% (11th) |
| 27 | October 12, 2017 | 6.5% (NR) | 6.6% (18th) | 8.5% (13th) | 8.6% (13th) |
| 28 | October 12, 2017 | 7.6% (16th) | 7.9% (12th) | 10.0% (8th) | 9.8% (10th) |
| 29 | October 18, 2017 | 8.1% (15th) | 8.6% (12th) | 8.3% (10th) | 8.9% (8th) |
| 30 | October 18, 2017 | 8.6% (11th) | 8.7% (11th) | 8.6% (8th) | 9.1% (7th) |
| 31 | October 19, 2017 | 7.0% (NR) | 6.9% (NR) | 7.1% (NR) | 7.2% (19th) |
| 32 | October 19, 2017 | 8.7% (14th) | 8.0% (15th) | 8.7% (12th) | 8.4% (13th) |
| 33 | October 25, 2017 | 6.5% (NR) | 5.8% (NR) | 7.3% (16th) | 7.4% (15th) |
| 34 | October 25, 2017 | 7.3% (17th) | 6.6% (17th) | 7.9% (13th) | 7.8% (12th) |
| 35 | October 26, 2017 | 6.6% (NR) | 6.3% (NR) | 7.0% (NR) | 7.5% (17th) |
| 36 | October 26, 2017 | 7.7% (16th) | 7.0% (16th) | 8.4% (11th) | 8.3% (11th) |
| 37 | November 1, 2017 | 6.6% (15th) | 6.3% (17th) | 7.2% (12th) | 6.9% (14th) |
| 38 | November 1, 2017 | 8.1% (9th) | 8.2% (8th) | 9.0% (5th) | 8.5% (7th) |
| 39 | November 2, 2017 | 6.4% (NR) | 6.6% (18th) | 7.2% (18th) | 7.4% (14th) |
| 40 | November 2, 2017 | 7.4% (15th) | 7.2% (15th) | 8.6% (9th) | 9.1% (9th) |
| Average | Average | 8.86% | 9.14% | 9.46% | 9.66% |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
| 2017 | 10th Korea Drama Awards | Hallyu Star Award | Kwon Mina | Won |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Grand Prize (Daesang) | Ha Ji-won | Nominated |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries | Ha Ji-won | Won |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Popularity Award, Actress | Ha Ji-won | Nominated |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Miniseries | Kang Min-hyuk | Nominated |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Popularity Award, Actor | Kang Min-hyuk | Nominated |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries | Jung Kyung-soon [ko] | Nominated |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries | Wang Ji-won | Nominated |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Golden Acting Award, Actor in a Miniseries | Kim Kwang-kyu | Nominated |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Golden Acting Award, Actress in a Miniseries | Park Joon-geum | Nominated |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Best New Actor | Lee Seo-won | Nominated |
| 2017 | 36th MBC Drama Awards | Best New Actress | Kwon Mina | Nominated |

## International broadcast

* In Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong, the series started airing on Oh!K from August 31, 2017.
* In Myanmar, the series airing on Channel-7 HD (Myanmar) and CANAL+MAE MADE HD.
* In Japan, the series airing on KNTV.
* In Philippines, the series will be airing on TV5 this 2021.
* In Vietnam, the series will air on VTV3 starting July 3, 2018.
* In India, the series aired on Zee Anmol under the title Aspataal Ka Jahaaz , on Upconing (2018)
* Hospital Ship Drama is available online in Hindi dubbed on MX Player and Playflix in India.