Budiey
Having garnered the third highest ratings among all drama series in Japan’s TV history, the 2011 hit show I am Mita, Your Housekeeper has left many fans across the region wishing and hoping for a sequel, but to no avail.
Fortunately, the next best thing has happened as South Korea’s SBS took up the challenge to remake the hugely popular series, now entitled The Strange Housekeeper!
Fittingly, the lead role has gone to none other than Korean actress Choi Ji Woo of Winter Sonata and Stairway to Heaven-fame. She has remained very popular in Japan where she continues to be affectionately known as ‘Ji Woo Hime’ (Princess Ji Woo) till today. With the accomplished actress giving life to this exciting adaptation of an already great story, The Strange Housekeeper promises to enthral, and ONE will bring the series to audiences across Asia this October!
Premiering on 21 October and airing on Mondays and Tuesdays at 8.55pm first and exclusively on ONE, The Strange Housekeeper begins when Eun Sang Chul’s (Lee Sung Jae, Stranger than Paradise) wife suddenly passes away. As the family struggles to come to terms with their loss, Eun’s relationship with his four children – eldest daughter Han Kyul, second son Doo Kyul, third son Se Kyul and youngest daughter Hye Kyul – breaks down.
Here is where Choi’s stoic and quirky character, the mysterious housekeeper Park Bok Nyuh – whose name literally translates to mean ‘woman of fortune’ – changes the equation. Rumour has it that Park will accomplish whatever is asked of her, even if it means to kill someone. With not so much as a smile, or indeed any trace of emotion, Park helps the family heal wounds and rebuild bonds. Eun’s dysfunctional family of five, who is unable to get along with each other, begins to feel love and reconciles through the housekeeper with a façade that none can see into…
Back to TV after a two year hiatus, Choi told of the great “sense of loneliness” she felt when she acted in the part of Park Bok Nyuh. She pointed to Park’s “inability to emote” to be what makes the character “charming”, but concedes that being unable to “react to a co-star” has been “incredibly difficult”. The Strange Housekeeper is also the first time the actress is working with children in her career so far, to make for a role that is nothing less than challenging and one to look out for.
Director of The Strange Housekeeper, Kim Hyung Sik, who was also behind hit drama series like Sign and Ghost, promised a “bright and healthy” drama series that explores the family and human relationships, yet with an element of mystery to make a great series to be enjoyed by all at home.
While the mystery behind Choi Ji Woo’s cold and expressionless Park Bok Nyuh remains to be unraveled, one thing is for sure, The Strange Housekeeper will in her own special ways bring Eun’s family back together, and welcome us all home to ONE.
The Strange Housekeeper premieres on 21 October 2013
Airs on Mondays and Tuesdays at 8.55pm (MY)
First and exclusively on ONE
ONE is available on
MY: Astro B.yond Ch393
