The Greatest Love. Ae Jung is a female band member who is already over the hill. When she enters a variety show to pretend marriage with the top star Jin, she gets entangled in a love triangle along with her ex-bandmate Kang Se Ri.

Secret Garden (Hangul: 시크릿 가든; MR: Sikeurit Gadeun) is a 2010 South Korean television drama starring Ha Ji-won, Hyun Bin, Yoon Sang-hyun, and Kim Sa-rang. It aired on SBS from November 13, 2010 to January 16, 2011 on Saturdays and Sundays at 22:00 for 20 episodes.^[1][2][3][4]

Secret Garden was a huge ratings success, with an estimation of more than 20 billion won worth of economic effect.^[5][6] It won a number of awards at both the 2010 SBS Drama Awards and the 47th Paeksang Arts Awards, including 'Grand Prize (Daesang)' for Hyun Bin.^[7][8]

• 2Cast

Synopsis[edit]

A rationalizing Cinderella story between Gil Ra-im (Ha Ji-won), a stuntwoman, and Kim Joo-won (Hyun Bin), a high-end department store CEO. Through a misunderstanding while trying to resolve a scandal of his cousin, Oska (Yoon Sang-hyun), a famous singer, Ra-im and Joo-won meet and he finds himself stunned by her coolness. Joo-won does not understand why Ra-im is constantly on his mind, and decides to pursue her. Though she initially is repelled by him, Ra-im gradually starts reciprocating his feelings.

As two different worlds collide, Ra-im and Joo-won gradually learn about each other's worlds. But Joo-won's mother do not want them to love each other. Despite his mother's objection, they got married. Meanwhile, Oska reunites with his first love, Yoon Seul (Kim Sa-rang), who has made a successful directing career for herself. However, Yoon Seul wants nothing to do with Oska, and instead has her eyes set on Joo-won. The story gets even more complicated and dramatic when Ra-im and Joo-won magically start switching bodies.

Cast[edit]

Main[edit]

• Ha Ji-won as Gil Ra-im

Tough but secretly lonely, Gil Ra-im works as a stunt woman for an action school that is run by director Im Jong-soo. Due to her father's death when she was in high school, she works hard and doesn't like relying on other people. Her one obsession is Oska, a famous Hallyu star. She meets the arrogant CEO, Kim Joo-won and although she initially dislikes him, their body swap brings about confusing feelings.

• Hyun Bin as Kim Joo-won

The CEO of a high-end departmental store, he is good-looking but arrogant. A childhood trauma caused him to have a defective memory and claustrophobia, causing him to be unable to take lifts. As a rational person, he always seeks answers and solutions to explain things that happen to him. When he meets the spunky Gil Ra-im, he is left confused as he does not understand why she is constantly on his mind.

• Yoon Sang-hyun as Choi Woo-young (Oska)

A famous Hallyu star who is slowly losing his popularity. He is Joo-won's cousin, as well as the first love of Yoon Seul. Frivolous and free-spirited, Oska used to rely on his charming looks and money, but seeing Seul again and discovering new talent in a young man named Tae-sun triggers something inside him, causing him to change.

• Kim Sa-rang as Yoon Seul

Oska's first love. She is a music video director. Unable to forgive Oska, she is bent on making him hurt as much as possible. However nearing the end of the series, they decided to give each other a chance to make dreams happen.

Supporting[edit]

• Lee Phillip as Im Jong-soo

The director of an action school. Having studied abroad, Im Jong-soo speaks English fluently and is well connected with Hollywood. Despite his gruff and rough exterior, he cares about his stunt actors deeply and looks out for them. He holds a soft spot for Ra-im, who is oblivious to his feelings.

• Lee Jong-suk as Han Tae-sun

A young genius musician discovered by Oska in Jeju Island. Prickly and cold, he initially rebuffs Oska's attempts to recruit him. It is later revealed that he is gay and Oska becomes his muse.

• Yoo In-na as Im Ah-young

Ra-im's best friend who shares a loft with her. She works at the department store Joo-won owns.

• Kim Sung-oh as Secretary Kim

Joo-won's long-suffering assistant who has a crush on Im Ah-young.

• Park Joon-geum as Moon Boon-hong

Joo-won's mother.

• Kim Ji-sook as Moon Yeon-hong

Oska's mother.

• Choi Yoon-so as Kim Hee-won

Joo-won's sister who has a crush on Jong-soo.

• Kim Sang-kyum as Moon Chang-soo

Joo-won's grandfather. Chairman of Loel Department Store.

• Lee Byung-joon as Park Bong-ho

Joo-won's subordinate as well as great grand uncle. He aims to overthrow Joo-won as president and take over his position.

• Sung Byung-sook as Park Bong-hee

Moon Chang-soo's fourth wife, Park Bong-ho's sister.

• Yoon Ki-won as Choi Dong-kyu

Oska's long-suffering manager.

• Kim Gun as Yoo Jong-hun

Oska's assistant.

• Yoo Seo-jin as Lee Ji-hyun

Joo-won's psychiatrist and long-term friend.

• Jang Seo-won as Hwang Jung-hwan

Ra-im's senior (sunbae) at the action school.

• Choi Dae-sung as Department Head Choi

Park Bong-ho's assistant.

• Moon Woong-ki as Sang-min

Member of action school.

Special appearance[edit]

• Jung In-gi as Ra-im's father
• Baek Seung-hee as Park Chae-rin, an actress that Oska was involved with
• Ryu Sung-hoon as Gangster
• Kim Mi-kyung as Owner of Restaurant in Mountain
• Hwang Seok-jeong as Korean dry sauna owner
• Lee Joon-hyuk as Joon-hyuk, Oska's frenemy who has a one-sided love for Yoon Seul
• Yum Dong-hun as pervert in department store
• Heo Tae-hee as rude party guest
• Baek Ji-young as herself
• Kim Ye-won as actress in Oska's music video
• Son Ye-jin as herself
• Song Yoon-ah as Top Star in giveaway event
• Song Jae-rim as singer

Original soundtrack[edit]

Ratings[edit]

In the tables below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.

It aired on GMA Network from May 2, 2011 to July 29, 2011, on weeknights at 10:00 PM PST.^[11] Each episode runs 45 minutes including commercial breaks. The entire series was dubbed in Filipino.

Awards and nominations[edit]

International broadcast[edit]

• In January 2011, SBS Contents Hub announced that the drama had been purchased by a number of countries across Asia and the Americas: Peru and the United States. Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia .^[15]
• In the Philippines, it aired on GMA Network in 2011, and re-run in 2015. Then from October 17 to November 25, 2016, the series re-aired on GMA News TV replacing Coffee Prince.
• In Indonesia, it aired on Indosiar in 2011.^[16] In 2015, it was re-aired on the same network replacing the Mexican telenovela Corazón indomable, shuffled with Two Mothers. It is also available to stream on Iflix with subtitles.^[17]
• In Japan, it first aired on cable channel KNTV from August 29 to September 23, 2011.^[18] Reairings followed on cable channel BS Premium in 2012,^[19] and on major network NHK in 2013.^[20]
• In Malaysia, it aired on 8TV (dubbed in Mandarin with Malay subtitles) later in NTV7 in original Korean; Astro Prima (in original Korean with Malay subtitles); Astro Shuang Xing (in both original Korean and dubbed in Mandarin, with Malay and Chinese subtitles); and ONE TV ASIA (in original Korean and dubbed in Mandarin or Malay, with English, Chinese and Malay subtitles). It is also available to stream on Iflix with subtitles.
• In Vietnam, it began airing on October 29, 2012 on HTV2 under the name 'Khu vườn bí ẩn'.
• In Chile, it began airing on 2012 on Etc...TV and sister station MEGA under the name 'Jardín Secreto'
• In the United States, it was dubbed in Spanish and aired on MundoFox retitled as Jardin secreto.
• In Cuba, it aired on the state-run network Canal Habana in 2014.^[21]
• In India, it aired on TV channel Puthuyugam TV, from 11 June 2015 dubbed in Tamil replacing To the Beautiful You.
• In Thailand, it aired on Channel 7, from December 15, 2012 dubbed in Thai.^[22] It is also available to stream on Iflix with subtitles.
• In Sri Lanka, the drama premiered on TV One on August 15, 2016.^[23] The Sinhalese language theme song, 'Me Adambarakari' performed by Gayan & Shanika premiered on the network's official Facebook page on June 21, 2016.^[24] It is also available to stream on Iflix with subtitles.^[25]
• In Pakistan, it aired on TV channel H Now Entertainment, under the name 'Pyar Ka Jadu' on 16 February 2019.

Remake[edit]

Big Bang was making a parody based of this drama with the title Secret Big Bang, starring by G-Dragon as Ji Ra-im and T.O.P as Kim Joo-tap.

In China, a film remake with the same title is released in 2012 starring Wallace Chung, Tan Weiwei and Korean singer Kangta.

In Thailand, a remake with the title Secret Garden Thailand is released in 2016 starring Ananda Everingham and Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul.^[26]

References[edit]

1. ^Choi, Ji-eun (9 December 2010). 'Secret Garden Hyun Bin, Ha Ji-won speak on switching bodies - Part 1'. 10Asia. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
2. ^Choi, Ji-eun (9 December 2010). 'Secret Garden Hyun Bin, Ha Ji-won speak on switching bodies - Part 2'. 10Asia. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
3. ^Kang, Hye-ran (27 January 2011). 'Ha reflects on the success of Secret Garden'. Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 26 April 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-02.
4. ^Kwon, Mee-yoo (9 January 2011). 'Secret Garden soundtrack live in concert'. The Korea Times. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
5. ^Kwon, Mee-yoo (26 January 2011). 'Secret Garden leaves fairytale love story'. The Korea Times. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
6. ^'Success of Secret Garden Continues to Grow'. The Chosun Ilbo. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
7. ^ ^abKo, Kyoung-seok (3 January 2011). 'Ko Hyun-jung wins grand prize at SBS Drama Awards'. 10Asia. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
8. ^ ^abHong, Lucia (27 May 2011). 'Hyun Bin, Lee Byung-hun win top prizes at Paeksang'. 10Asia. Retrieved 2011-11-10.
9. ^'TNMS Daily Ratings: this links to current day-select the date from drop down menu'. TNMS Ratings (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2013-11-28. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
10. ^'AGB Daily Ratings: this links to current day-select the date from drop down menu'. AGB Nielsen Media Research (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2013-12-26. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
11. ^'Secret Garden On GMA'.
12. ^http://www.pep.ph/news/30467/kantar-media-tns-national-household-ratings-july-29-aug-1-kapamilya-shows-dominate-primetime
13. ^Park, Min-young (29 May 2011). 'Hyun Bin, Lee Byung-hun win Paeksang awards'. The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
14. ^Hong, Lucia (1 September 2011) 'Chinese series Three Kingdoms wins grand prize at Seoul Drama Awards'. 10Asia. Retrieved 2011-11-12.
15. ^Hong, Lucia (19 January 2011). 'Korean drama Secret Garden sold to 13 countries'. 10Asia. Retrieved 2011-11-12.
16. ^'Owen and Jamie's body swap finally happens in Secret Garden'. Philippine Entertainment Portal. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
17. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2016-08-06.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
18. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-05.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
19. ^'Secret Garden goes to Japan'. Korea JoongAng Daily. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-20.
20. ^'More Korean soap operas on Japan channels despite strained ties'. Yonhap. 18 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-20.
21. ^'Korean Wave Makes Splash in Cuba'. The Chosun Ilbo. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
22. ^'ละคร Secret Garden : เสกฉันให้เป็นเธอ'. siamzone.com (in Thai). 5 September 2015.
23. ^https://www.facebook.com/tv1lk/photos/a.1253182168044845.1073741828.1135931999769863/1411430005553393/?type=3&theater
24. ^https://www.facebook.com/tv1lk/photos/a.1135933853103011.1073741827.1135931999769863/1373051726057888/?type=3&theater
25. ^'IFLIX PREMIERES KOREA'S 'BRIDE OF HABAEK'coming soon'. Ceylon Today. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017.
26. ^'ล้างตารอ!! อนันดา เปิดตัว ใบเฟิร์น ประกบคู่ลงซีรี่ส์ Secret Garden Thailand'. dara.truelife (in Thai). 2016-11-25. Retrieved 2016-11-26.

External links[edit]

• Official website(in Korean)
• Secret Garden at HanCinema
• Secret Garden on IMDb