Promotional material for Medical Examiner Dr. Qin (Photo: Courtesy of Sohu TV)
While shows such as CSI have proven very popular in China, the mainland never had its own homegrown medical examiner show. That changed Thursday after Chinese streaming service Sohu TV debuted its newest drama Medical Examiner Dr. Qin.
Adapted from medical-examiner-turned-writer Qin Ming's The 11th Finger, the online drama follows Dr. Qin, his assistant Da Bao and police officer Lin Tao as they solve various bizarre cases.
The genre has long been a popular one in China. In 1997 and 1999, Hong Kong's TVB released two seasons of Untraceable Evidence, a show with a similar premise, which became a big success in the mainland. More recently, Western shows such as the many CSI series and Hannibal have established large fanbases in the Chinese mainland.
The show has been well-recieved so far. Netizens have praised the show for its tight stories and detailed analysis and deduction.
With six episodes released for paying members and two available for non-members of Sohu TV, the drama has a 7.5/10 on media rating site Douban, while CSI sits at 9/10 and Hannibal at 8.6/10.
According to Sohu TV representatives, two new episodes will be released every Thursday.
As the show gains in popularity, some fans have expressed concern that the show may be removed from the streaming service since it often shows the body parts of the deceased and other graphic images such as a dead body from which the skin has been peeled.
According to the show's director Xu Ang, while the show is attempting to be realistic, the production team is doing what it can to avoid unnecessary bloody scenes.
Xu also mentioned that while they have changed some of the roles and storylines from the original novel, the team is working hard to stay loyal to the original novel by keeping its core spirit of professionalism and rational deduction.
