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Luther, Mistresses, Life on Mars get Korean remakes

A small number of BBC TV shows have a keen following in Korea, as can be seen from a Sherlock-themed cafe in Gangnam to the popularity of the Doctor Who world tour in 2014.

And it may also be remembered that Luther won Best Mini-Series at Seoul International Drama Awards in 2011.

Luther
Idris Elba as Luther

Now Luther is to get a Korean remake, along with two other BBC shows: Mistresses and Life on Mars.

Mistresses
Sarah Parish, Sharon Small, Shelley Conn and Orla Brady in Mistresses

The lead for Luther – which will air on MBC in the autumn – has yet to be announced, but two of the key players in Mistresses (OCN) will be Han Ga-in (Architecture 101, The Sun and the Moon) who will play Se-yeon (Trudi in the original series) while Choe Hee-seo (Anarchist from Colony) will play Jung-won (Siobhan in the original version).

John Simm in Life on Mars
John Simm in Life on Mars

Jung Kyung-ho (Prison Playbook) will take the lead in Life on Mars (OCN). The show, in which a detective somehow ends up travelling back in time 30 years after a car crash, would seem to be particularly suited to the Korean audience, where time-shifting TV dramas and movies (such as Il Mare) have been popular. Life on Mars gives opportunities for fish-out-of-water comedic moments, as well as more serious examination of how gender issues and policing techniques might have changed over the past couple of decades. For the Korean remake, the detective finds himself back in 1987 – the dying months of the Chun Doo-hwan dictatorship and preparations for the Seoul 1988 Olympics.

Jung Kyung-ho and Han Ga-in
Jung Kyung-ho and Han Ga-in

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Image credits: BBC / Hancinema

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