The Fiery Priest

The Fiery Priest
Promotional poster
Hangul	열혈사제
Hanja	熱血司祭
Literal meaning	Hot Blooded Priest
Revised Romanization	Yeolhyeolsaje
Genre	Comedy Crime Action
Written by	Park Jae-bum
Directed by	Lee Myung-woo
Starring	Kim Nam-gil Kim Sung-kyun Lee Hanee Go Jun Keum Sae-rok Jung In-gi Lee Moon-sik Kim Won-hae
Music by	Gaemi (music manager)
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	20 (1 hour)/40 (30 minutes) [lower-alpha 1]
Production
Producers	Ahn Jae-hyun Shin Sang-yoon
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	35 minutes [lower-alpha 1]
Production company	Samhwa Networks
Release
Original network	SBS TV
Picture format	1080i (HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital
Original release	February 15 (2019-02-15) – April 20, 2019 (2019-04-20)

The Fiery Priest (Korean : 열혈사제; Hanja : 熱血司祭) is a 2019 South Korean television series starring Kim Nam-gil, Kim Sung-kyun, Lee Hanee, Go Jun, and Keum Sae-rok. It was the first drama to air on SBS's Fridays and Saturdays timeslot, airing from February 15 to April 20, 2019. ^{[2] [3]}

The Fiery Priest is the highest rated miniseries drama that aired in 2019 on public broadcast according to Nielsen Korea. ^[4] The drama was a huge success and was one of the most popular dramas aired in 2019. Kim Nam-gil won numerous accolades for his portrayal of a priest with anger management issues. The action comedy drama also featured parodies from other movies and dramas, notably from Mr. Sunshine , Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time , The Matrix , Reply 1988 and Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds .

Synopsis

Following the mysterious death of an elderly priest, an NIS agent turned priest (Kim Nam-gil) attempts to bring the culprits involved before law. The hilarious journey in taking down the gangsters and corrupt officials in the city is what follows. The journey is not so smooth when the corrupt prosecutor of the city (Lee Hanee) refuses to cooperate.

Cast

Main

• Kim Nam-gil as Kim Hae-il / Michael Kim
  • Moon Woo-jin as young Hae-il

An ex-NIS agent who retired after an accident that happened during his last mission. He met Priest Lee and eventually decided to take the path as a priest and hoped for his sins to be forgiven. He was very close to Father Lee and thus is crazy to punish those who killed him. On the contrary to a priest, he is a short-tempered person who would throw a fit each minute.

• Kim Sung-kyun as Goo Dae-young

A clumsy detective who is a pushover and always manipulated by his superintendent and seniors. Once a dedicated police, his life changed after the death of his former partner.

• Lee Hanee as Park Kyung-sun

A corrupt prosecutor who covered up the crimes of Gudam's administrators including the police chief and head borough. She likes Hae-il for his good-looking face but constantly bickers with him.

• Go Jun as Hwang Cheol-bum

A corrupt businessman who is the step-brother of Gudam's Head of Borough. He runs Daebum Trading and trade illegal things within. Once ranked as number two gangster in Yeosu, he often uses violence to achieve his goal.

• Keum Sae-rok as Seo Seung-ah

A rookie detective at Gudam Police Station who is dedicated in helping Hae-il to reveal the truth behind Priest Lee's death. She secretly has a crush on Hae-il.

Supporting

Local cartel

• Jeong Young-ju as Jung Dong-ja

Gudam's Head of Borough and Hwang Cheol-bum step-sister.

• Kim Hyung-mook as Kang Seok-tae

Chief prosecutor of Gudam and boss of Park Kyung-sun.

• Jung In-gi as Nam Suk-goo

Gudam Police Station's corrupt superintendent and leader of Rising Sun, a nightclub with connections to the cartel.

• Han Gi-jung as Park Won-moo

A corrupt assemblyman representing Gudam.

• Lee Moon-sik as Ki Yong-moon

A con-artist and the leader of a religious cult "Maegak".

• Kim Won-hae as Vladimir Gozhaev

Leader of the Russian gang.

People at the Cathedral and believers

• Jung Dong-hwan as Priest Lee Young-joon

He is looked up as a father figure by Kim Hae-il and is a wise, soft-spoken man. His murder was touted as a suicide.

• Jeon Sung-woo as Han Sung-kyu

A gentle young priest at Gudam's Church. He trained to replace Priest Lee's position after his death. His real name is Han Woo-ram, a famous child actor who starred in an old, popular drama prior to becoming a priest.

• Baek Ji-won as Kim In-kyung

Head nun at Gudam's church who constantly worry about Hae-il boldness in finding the truth. She is revealed to be a former well-known gambler nicknamed Ten-Tailed Fox who blamed herself for her brother's death.

• Ahn Chang-hwan as Song Sac

A young man from Thailand who came to Gudam and work as a delivery boy to support his family. He was often bullied by Jang-ryeong for being a foreigner and best-friend with Oh Yo-han.

• Go Kyu-pil as Oh Yo-han

A cheerful yet chubby part-timer who majored in astronomy but struggles to make a living. He did many part-time work and is best friend with Song Sac.

• Yoon Joo-hee as Bae Hee-jung

A psychiatrist.

People at the Police Station

• Shin Dam-soo as Lee Myung-soo
• Jeon Jeong-gwan as Heo Lig-gu
• Ji Chan as Na Dae-gil
• Kim Kwan-mo as Kim Kyung-ryul

Others

• Kim Min-jae as Lee Jung-gwon

Former NIS agent and Hae-il's team leader.

• Lee Je-yeon as Kim Hoon-suk
• Eum Moon-suk as Jang-ryong
• Kim Joon-ha as altar boy
• Lim Seung-min as altar boy
• Ok Ye-rin as Lim Ji-eun
• Young Ye-na as Hyun-joo
• Jo Ah-in as Eun-ji
• Choi Kwang-je as Anton
• Jung Jae-kwang as Kim Keon-yong
• Jeon Eun-mi as Wangmat Foods staff
• Heo Jae-ho as Gi Hong-chan

The CEO of Great Taste Foods and Yong-moon's cousin.

• Kang Un as Wangmat Foods manager
• Lee Gyu-ho as Choco

A large chef who works at "Great Taste Foods" and acts as the muscle. Despite his towering size, he is easily knocked out by Hae-il but reemerges as backup later on.

• Cha Chung-hwa as Ahn Dul-ja
• Yoo Kyung-ah as nursery nun
• Song Young-hak as former detective

Special appearances

• Lee Young-bum as Father Kang Matthew (Ep. 1–2)
• Lee Ki-young as Oh Jung-kook (Ep. 6, 33–34)
• Hwang Bum-shik as Kyung-sun’s father (Ep. 16)
• Jung Shi-ah as Maegakkyo believer (Ep. 19)
• Kim Jong-goo as Kim Jong-chul
• Yoo Seung-mok as Oh Kwang-du (Ep. 30–31)
• Jang Ye-won as news announcer
• Kwon Hyeok-soo as President of the Republic of Korea ^[5]
• Kim Hong-fa as Lee Seok-yoon (Ep. 40)
• Byun Joo-eun as Kim Geom-sa
• Park Eun-kyung as announcer
• Kim Won-gi as prosecutor
• Bang Jun-ho as planning manager

Production

The first script reading took place on October 26, 2018 at the SBS Ilsan Production Center in Tanhyun, South Korea. ^[6]

The Fiery Priest was first scheduled to air as a Monday-Tuesday drama following My Strange Hero , but due to SBS deciding to cancel the weekend special drama time slot (Saturday nights at 21:05 KST) after Fates & Furies , it became the network's first Friday-Saturday night drama. Haechi was then chosen to follow My Strange Hero. ^[7]

This series marks Lee Myung-woo's last project for SBS, after 12 years of partnership. In October 2019, he moved to Taewon Entertainment. ^[8]

Original soundtrack

The Fiery Priest OST
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Recorded	2019
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean English
Label	Vlending SBS Contents Hub

Part 1

Released on February 22, 2019 (2019-02-22)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Our Neighbourhood HERO" (우리동네 HERO)	Hong In-ho Kim Soo-jung	Go Jin-young Lee Jin-ho	Norazo	3:11
2.	"Our Neighbourhood HERO" (Inst.)		Go Jin-young Lee Jin-ho		3:11
Total length:					6:22

Part 2

Released on March 8, 2019 (2019-03-08)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Breeze"	HaNa	ZigZag Note	Punch (feat. Gree)	3:53
2.	"Breeze" (Inst.)		ZigZag Note		3:53
Total length:					7:46

Part 3

Released on March 29, 2019 (2019-03-29)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Fighter"	Ra.L La.Q	Gaemi	Jung Dong-ha (feat. La.Q)	2:56
2.	"Fighter" (Inst.)		Gaemi		2:56
Total length:					5:52

Part 4

Released on April 5, 2019 (2019-04-05)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Paradise"	Chin Chilla Lee Myung-woo	Park Yoon-seo Gaemi	Chin Chilla (feat. Ga Eun)	2:52
2.	"Paradise" (Inst.)		Park Yoon-seo Gaemi		2:52
Total length:					5:44

Part 5

Released on April 12, 2019 (2019-04-12)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Joy"	Andy Platts	Andy Platts	Andy Platts	3:54
2.	"Joy" (Inst.)		Andy Platts		3:54
Total length:					7:48

Part 6

Released on April 19, 2019 (2019-04-19)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Victory"	Ra.L	Gaemi earattack	Kim Yeon-ji	2:54
2.	"Victory" (Inst.)		Gaemi earattack		2:54
Total length:					5:48

Viewership

The Fiery Priest : South Korea viewers per episode (millions)

Episodes		Episode number
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Ep.1–10	1.852	2.354	1.649	2.170	2.296	2.776	2.397	2.921	2.522	3.194
	Ep.11–20	2.557	3.193	2.571	2.990	2.508	3.304	2.687	3.260	2.707	3.610
	Ep.21–30	2.688	3.127	2.805	3.467	2.838	3.414	2.984	3.512	2.797	3.639
	Ep.31–40	3.344	3.766	3.017	3.863	3.578	4.076	3.146	4.001	3.693	4.325

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Media Research. ^[9]

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Title	Average audience share
			AGB Nielsen [10]		TNmS
			Nationwide	Seoul	Nationwide
1	February 15, 2019	A Priest in Trouble	10.4% (9th)	11.6% (7th)	9.3%
2		Hae-il Moves to Gudam	13.8% (4th)	15.6% (3rd)	11.9%
3	February 16, 2019	Hae-il Meets Cheol-bum	8.6%(14th)	9.5%(12th)	7.4%
4		Father Lee's Death	11.2% (9th)	12.6% (9th)	9.1%
5	February 22, 2019	Hae-il Investigates the Death of Father Lee	12.8% (5th)	14.7% (3rd)	11.0%
6		The Case Gets Closed	16.2% (2nd)	18.5% (1st)	13.3%
7	February 23, 2019	The Church Gets Desolate	13.0% (4th)	14.8% (4th)	11.1%
8		A Cooperative Investigation	15.7% (3rd)	18.0% (3rd)	13.4%
9	March 1, 2019	Cooperative Investigation Begins	14.0% (4th)	15.9% (3rd)	11.9%
10		Hae-il Investigates On His Own	17.2% (2nd)	19.5% (1st)	14.3%
11	March 2, 2019	Hae-il And Seung-ah Find The Witnesses	13.1% (4th)	15.0% (4th)	10.4%
12		Dae-young's Old Partner	16.0% (3rd)	18.2% (3rd)	12.8%
13	March 8, 2019	Kyeong-seon Meets Dong-ja	15.3% (4th)	17.1% (3rd)	11.9%
14		The Corrupt Food Service Company	17.7% (2nd)	19.7% (1st)	14.2%
15	March 9, 2019	To Tame A Fighting Dog	12.5% (5th)	14.6% (4th)	10.8%
16		Raid Wangmat Foods	16.1% (3rd)	18.3% (3rd)	13.7%
17	March 15, 2019	Hae-il Reports The Bribery Case	15.4% (4th)	17.4% (3rd)	11.5%
18		Kyeong-seon Is Back	17.5% (2nd)	19.5% (2nd)	13.7%
19	March 16, 2019	A New Lead Comes Up	14.2% (4th)	15.7% (4th)	12.0%
20		A Covert Infiltration	18.1% (3rd)	20.3% (3rd)	14.3%
21	March 22, 2019	Escape from the Villa	14.6% (3rd)	16.5% (3rd)	12.3%
22		Save Him	17.2% (2nd)	19.0% (1st)	14.9%
23	March 23, 2019	Hae-il's Past Is Revealed	14.8% (4th)	16.7% (4th)	12.6%
24		Hae-il Saves Kyeong-seon	17.9% (3rd)	19.6% (3rd)	15.5%
25	March 29, 2019	Break-in to Kyeong-seon's House	15.3% (3rd)	17.4% (3rd)	11.9%
26		Kyeong-seon Cooperating with Hae-il	18.5% (2nd)	20.9% (1st)	14.6%
27	March 30, 2019	Hae-il and Kyeong-seon Devising a Scheme	15.6% (4th)	17.4% (4th)	14.0%
28		Kyeong-seon and Seung-ah Entering the Lair of Anton	18.2% (3rd)	19.8% (3rd)	16.1%
29	April 5, 2019	Scheme to Find out the Owner of Rising Moon	15.5% (3rd)	17.7% (3rd)	13.0%
30		The Secret of Sister Kim	19.8% (2nd)	22.2% (1st)	16.9%
31	April 6, 2019	Let Me Teach You A Lesson	17.7% (4th)	19.9% (4th)	15.7%
32		Father Kim, Go to Argentina	19.4% (3rd)	21.6% (2nd)	17.3%
33	April 12, 2019	Scheme to Sneak in the Safe	16.2% (3rd)	18.6% (3rd)	—
34		The Safe and People Locked in There	20.3% (1st)	22.8% (1st)
35	April 13, 2019	Cheol-bum Asks Hae-il For Cooperation	17.2% (4th)	18.9% (4th)
36		Father Han Trying To Persuade Dong-ja	20.0% (3rd)	22.1% (2nd)
37	April 19, 2019	Father Han Falling into a Critical Condition	16.7% (3rd)	18.4% (2nd)	14.6%
38		The Truth of Father Lee's Death	20.3% (1st)	22.2% (1st)	18.1%
39	April 20, 2019	Showdown	18.6% (4th)	21.1% (4th)	15.9%
40		Unexpected Visit	22.0%(3rd)	24.7%(1st)	18.5%
Average			16.1%	18.1%	— [lower-alpha 2]
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. N/A denotes that the rating is not known.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
2019	55th Baeksang Arts Awards	Best Actor	Kim Nam-gil	Nominated	[11]
	Busan International Film Festival	Best Actor		Won
	Korean Broadcasters Association Awards			Won
	14th Seoul International Drama Awards	Excellent Korean Drama	The Fiery Priest	Won	[12]
		Best Actor	Kim Nam-gil	Won
	12th Korea Drama Awards	Best Drama	The Fiery Priest	Nominated	[13]
		Best Screenplay	Park Jae-bum	Nominated
		Star of the Year Award	Go Jun	Won
		Popular Character Award (Male)	Ahn Chang-hwan	Won
	32nd Grimae Awards	Best Actor	Kim Nam-gil	Won	[14]
		Best Picture (Drama)	Yoon Dae-young, Park Jong-ki	Won
	SBS Drama Awards	Grand Prize (Daesang)	Kim Nam-gil	Won	[15]
		Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Mid-length Drama		Nominated
		Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Mid-length Drama	Lee Hanee	Won
		Excellence Award, Actor in a Mid-length Drama	Kim Sung-kyun	Won
		Best Supporting Team	The Fiery Priest	Won
		Best Supporting Actor	Go Jun	Won
		Wayve Award	The Fiery Priest	Won
		Producer's Award	Kim Nam-gil	Nominated
		Best New Actor	Eum Moon-suk	Won
		Best New Actress	Keum Sae-rok	Won

Notes

1. In order to circumvent Korean laws that prevent commercial breaks in the middle of an episode, what would previously have been aired as single 70 minute episodes are now being repackaged as two 35 minute episodes, with two episodes being shown each night with a commercial break between the two. ^[1]
2. Due to some ratings not recorded, the exact average rating is unknown.

References

1. Park, Jin-hai (May 16, 2017). "Drama viewers angry over commercial breaks". The Korea Times . Retrieved April 17, 2020– via PressReader.
2. ‘열혈사제’ 김남길, 까칠함+깡으로 무장 ‘핫’한 카톨릭 사제. OSEN (in Korean). January 1, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
3. "[단독] SBS '열혈사제', 금토 10시 편성 확정...'정법' 이동". Sports Donga (in Korean). Naver. January 19, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
4. 최재경. "'열혈사제' 2019년 미니시리즈 단연 1위...기승전열혈사제". 서울경제 (in Korean). Retrieved 29 November 2019.
5. "SBS '열혈사제'에 등장한 문재인 대통령 꼭 닮은 배우의 정체 (영상)". Fomos (in Korean). February 24, 2019.
6. "[DAY컷] 김남길X김성균X이하늬 코믹 케미...'열혈사제' 대본리딩 공개". Sports Donga (in Korean). January 17, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
7. "SBS 측 "'열혈사제' 첫 금토극 편성, '운명과 분노' 후속"(공식입장)". Newsen (in Korean). Naver. December 14, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
8. "[공식]'열혈사제' 이명우 PD, SBS퇴사→'편의점 샛별이' 연출". Sports Chosun (in Korean). Naver. October 15, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
9. "Nielsen Korea" (in Korean). Retrieved September 2, 2020.
10. "Nielsen Korea" (in Korean). Retrieved February 16, 2019.
11. ""오늘을 살아가세요" 김혜자, 후배들 울린 눈부신 수상소감". JoongAng Ilbo (in Korean). 2 May 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
12. "Seoul International Drama Awards 2019 Winners". seouldrama.org. August 29, 2019. Archived from the original on August 29, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
13. "'2019코리아드라마어워즈(KDA)' 연기대상 후보..김해숙·최수종·염정아·조정석 등". Sedaily (in Korean). September 27, 2019.
14. Kim, Eun-gu (3 December 2019). 김남길·정유미 '2019 그리메상' 최우수 연기자 선정 [Namgil Kim and Yumi Jeong selected as the best performers of the '2019 Grime Awards']. E Daily (in Korean). Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2019– via Naver.
15. Kim, Soo-hyung (January 1, 2020). "'열혈사제' 김남길, 대상으로 '8관왕' 기염‥'VIP' 장나라, 프로듀서상 (종합) [2019 SBS 연기대상]". Osen (in Korean). Archived from the original on December 31, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2020– via Naver.

External links

• Official website (in Korean)
• The Fiery Priest at IMDb
• The Fiery Priest at HanCinema