A first date goes well. The next morning, the same two people are sitting in a police station telling completely different stories about what happened that night. That is the opening of The Perfect Lie (라이어, literally "Liar"), MBC's Friday-Saturday psychological thriller starring Yoo Yeon-seok and Seo Hyun-jin. It is a Korean remake of the British ITV series Liar, and it reunites the two leads roughly a decade after they played young surgeons in Dr. Romantic.
Four of the twelve episodes are out as of November 12, 2026, and episodes 5 and 6 air this Friday and Saturday. If you are outside Korea, the main questions are practical: where it streams legally, when new episodes land in your time zone, who is who in the cast, and how closely it follows the British original. This guide answers those without spoiling the central mystery. Every date and platform below was checked against the official Disney+ and Hulu title pages, Nielsen Korea figures as reported by Soompi and Wikipedia, and an interview with both leads published by The National on November 6, 2026.
Key takeaways
- Schedule: 12 episodes on MBC, Fridays and Saturdays at 9:50 p.m. KST, from October 30 to the finale on December 5, 2026.
- Where to watch abroad: Disney+ carries it internationally, and in the US it is also on Hulu, with two new episodes a week. Availability still differs by country, so confirm in your own app.
- The premise: a cardiac surgeon (Yoo Yeon-seok) and a teacher-librarian (Seo Hyun-jin) give opposite accounts of the same night, and a polygraph result only deepens the doubt.
- Source material: Liar (ITV, 2017) by Harry and Jack Williams, which has already been remade in at least nine other countries.
- Content note: the story centers on a sexual assault allegation. It is rated TV-14 on Hulu and carries a flashing-lights warning.
On this page
- What The Perfect Lie is about (no spoilers)
- Episode schedule and air times in your time zone
- Where to watch The Perfect Lie outside Korea
- Cast and characters
- How it compares with the British original, Liar
- Yoo Yeon-seok and Seo Hyun-jin: the Dr. Romantic reunion
- Ratings so far, and why they undersell it
- FAQ
- Sources
1. What The Perfect Lie is about (no spoilers)
Min Jun-ho is a cardiac surgeon, a widower raising a fifth-grade son on his own, and the kind of man everyone around him trusts. Kang Ji-seon is a teacher-librarian at the elementary school his son attends. After a date that seems to go perfectly, they spend the night together. The next day they meet again at a police station, and their memories of that night do not match. She says he assaulted her. He insists everything was consensual.
The official Disney+ synopsis frames the rest of the story carefully: there is no evidence and there are no witnesses, a polygraph result "defies expectations," and questions about Jun-ho's late wife suggest the case reaches well beyond the two of them. The episode titles released so far hint at the shape of it: "Date," "That Night," "Two Faces," and "Boomerang."
 Photo: Henrysz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 |  Photo: Marcin Wichary from San Francisco, U.S.A. / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 |  Photo: Ed Westcott / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain |
What makes the show work is less the "who is lying" puzzle than the way everyone around the two leads has to choose a side. Ji-seon's older sister is an anesthesiologist at Sangcheon University Hospital, and Ji-seon's former partner works in the same hospital's administration. The detective assigned to the case, Lieutenant Lee Hwa-young of the Women and Youth Affairs Division, has to judge two credible-seeming people with almost nothing to go on. Yoo Yeon-seok told The National that he watched real lie-detector interviews and criminal-profiling footage to prepare, and described Jun-ho as "the kind of character that makes you question about how good or evil this person is."
A practical tip if you want to watch it blind: avoid reading the plot summary of the British Liar first. Its Wikipedia synopsis answers the central question in its opening lines, and the Korean version, which has twice as many episodes in its first story arc, may or may not take the same route.
 Photo: Ha98574 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 |  Photo: Andy Li / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 |  Photo: Pfree2014 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
2. Episode schedule and air times in your time zone
The Perfect Lie took over MBC's Friday-Saturday 9:50 p.m. slot on October 30, 2026. The broadcast plan lists 12 episodes ending December 5, which matches what The National reported for Disney+ in the Middle East. Episode titles for 1 to 4 come from the Disney+ page; later titles had not been published when we checked.
| Episodes | Korea broadcast dates (MBC, 9:50 p.m. KST) | Status as of Nov 12, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 ("Date", "That Night") | Fri Oct 30 / Sat Oct 31 | Aired |
| 3-4 ("Two Faces", "Boomerang") | Fri Nov 6 / Sat Nov 7 | Aired |
| 5-6 | Fri Nov 13 / Sat Nov 14 | This week |
| 7-8 | Fri Nov 20 / Sat Nov 21 | Upcoming |
| 9-10 | Fri Nov 27 / Sat Nov 28 | Upcoming |
| 11-12 (finale) | Fri Dec 4 / Sat Dec 5 | Upcoming |
Korea does not use daylight saving time, and North America and Europe are already on winter time, so the conversions below hold for the rest of the run. They show when the episode starts on Korean TV. Streaming uploads usually come after the broadcast, and the exact hour can vary by region, so treat this as the earliest possible time rather than a promise.
| Where you are | Korean broadcast start in local time |
|---|---|
| Seoul, Tokyo | 9:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday |
| Manila, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei | 8:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday |
| Jakarta, Bangkok | 7:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday |
| Dubai | 4:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday |
| Paris, Berlin, Madrid | 1:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday |
| London | 12:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday |
| New York, Toronto | 7:50 a.m. Friday and Saturday |
| Los Angeles, Vancouver | 4:50 a.m. Friday and Saturday |
| Sydney | 11:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday |
One scheduling quirk: in Korea the show airs directly against SBS's Doctor X, the most-watched drama of the week, which matters when you look at the ratings later in this guide. AsianWiki lists On Your Ground as the next drama in the slot from December 11.
 Photo: Mobius6 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 |  Photo: *Youngjin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
3. Where to watch The Perfect Lie outside Korea
Disney+ picked up the series as part of its Korean lineup (trade outlet C21Media reported the deal in September 2026), and the title has an official Disney+ page with all released episodes. In the United States, Hulu also has its own page for the show, labelled a Hulu "Original," rated TV-14, with four episodes available when we checked on November 12. The National confirms two episodes a week on Disney+ across the Middle East.
That does not mean it is available everywhere. Disney+ is not offered in every country, catalogs differ by region, and some third-party "where to watch" trackers list other services that we could not confirm on an official page. We are only listing platforms where we opened the official title page ourselves. If a site offers free full episodes with no clear licensing, it is almost certainly unofficial.
- Search the exact English title, "The Perfect Lie," in the Disney+ app. Do not search "Liar" alone, or you will mostly get unrelated titles.
- In the US, check Hulu as well. Hulu and Disney+ bundles can show the same Korean series in either app; use whichever plan you already have.
- Add it to your watchlist so the new pair of episodes appears in your feed each weekend through December 5.
- Turn on subtitles in your language from the audio and subtitles menu. If your preferred language is missing, it may simply not be offered in your region yet.
- Note the warnings. Disney+ flags flashing-light sequences, and the subject matter is a sexual assault allegation, so decide whether it is the right watch for you and anyone watching with you.
Check it in your own region first. The official Disney+ title page lists the released episodes with their titles and loglines. Open it while signed in to see whether The Perfect Lie is available where you live before the next two episodes arrive on November 13-14.
4. Cast and characters
The two leads carry most of the screen time, but the supporting cast is built around the two "camps" that form after the accusation. Character descriptions below follow MBC's script-reading release and the cast list compiled on Wikipedia; we have kept them to what is revealed in the early episodes.
 Photo: 三立娛樂星聞 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 |  Photo: K-POPIT 케이팝잇 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 |  Photo: Marie Claire Korea / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 |
| Actor | Character | Who they are |
|---|---|---|
| Yoo Yeon-seok | Min Jun-ho | Cardiac surgeon and single father, widely trusted |
| Seo Hyun-jin | Kang Ji-seon | Teacher-librarian at his son's elementary school |
| Ok Ja-yeon | Lee Hwa-young | Police lieutenant, Women and Youth Affairs Division |
| Kim Ji-hyun | Kang Ji-eun | Ji-seon's older sister, an anesthesiologist at Sangcheon University Hospital |
| Lee Chun-hee | Kim Hyung-soo | Ji-eun's husband, Ji-seon's brother-in-law |
| Oh Dong-min | Park Joong-hyun | Hospital administrative staff member and Ji-seon's former partner |
| Kang Ji-yong | Min Hyun-soo | Jun-ho's son, a fifth-grade student |
| Jung Ji-woo | Joo Eun-hye | Jun-ho's late wife |
| Im Sung-jae | Park Seok-gu | Lee Hwa-young's husband |
Behind the camera, Wikipedia and Korean press credit director Jo Young-min and writer Baek Jae-young (a few fan databases swap the two credits). The production companies are Kakao Entertainment with its film studio Zip Cinema and Cedar and Cypress. Zip Cinema is best known as a film studio; Korean press noted it previously produced the movies Jeon Woo-chi and Dark Nuns, and this is one of its TV projects.
Ok Ja-yeon is the name international viewers may know least. Her film credits include Lee Chang-dong's Burning (2018), and here she plays the investigator who has to stay neutral while both sides push her to believe them.
 Photo: Abasaa / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain |  Photo: hyolee2 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 |  Photo: Sandstein / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 |
5. How it compares with the British original, Liar
Liar was created by brothers Harry and Jack Williams (also behind The Missing) and premiered on ITV on September 11, 2017, starring Joanne Froggatt as teacher Laura Nielson and Ioan Gruffudd as surgeon Andrew Earlham. Its first series ran six episodes and drew roughly 8.5 to 9.5 million UK viewers per episode, according to BARB figures listed on Wikipedia. A second series followed in 2020.
 Photo: DeFacto / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 |  Photo: Paul Harrop / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 |
The format travels well because the setup is simple and the questions it raises are universal. Before Korea, it had been remade in Italy (Non mentire, 2019), Spain (Mentiras), Germany, France (Mensonges, 2021), Turkey (Yalancı, 2021), Greece, Slovakia, Malaysia and India (Marzi), among others.
| Liar (UK, 2017) | The Perfect Lie (Korea, 2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| Network | ITV, with SundanceTV in the US | MBC, with Disney+ (and Hulu in the US) |
| Length of first story | 6 episodes of about 45 minutes | 12 episodes of about 60 minutes |
| Release pattern | Weekly, one episode | Two episodes a week, one each Friday and Saturday |
| Accuser | Laura, a schoolteacher | Ji-seon, a teacher-librarian |
| Accused | Andrew, a widowed surgeon | Jun-ho, a widowed cardiac surgeon |
| Sister | Katy, a surgical nurse at Andrew's hospital | Ji-eun, an anesthesiologist at Sangcheon University Hospital |
| Setting | Kent coast, filmed in Deal and Kingsdown | A city called Sangcheon, with its police station, elementary school and university hospital |
The biggest structural difference is length. Doubling the running time gives the Korean writers room to build out the families, the hospital and the police side, which is a familiar K-drama strength. It also means the remake can hold back information longer, or change where it reveals things. Korean coverage after episode 4 has zeroed in on exactly that ambiguity: iMBC wrote about Jun-ho "revealing his two faces," and a TenAsia headline called Yoo Yeon-seok's dual persona chilling.
The other difference is setting and social context. The Korean cast list is organized around institutions: the police station, the elementary school, the university hospital and Ji-seon's family. If you have seen the British version, watch for how much weight the remake gives to reputation and workplace standing as those groups take sides.
6. Yoo Yeon-seok and Seo Hyun-jin: the Dr. Romantic reunion
Casting news in December 2025 described this as the pair's first project together since SBS's Dr. Romantic (2016-2017), in which they played young doctors who fall for each other. That history is part of the hook: fans who remember them as a couple now see them as opponents. Seo Hyun-jin told The National that "the chemistry or the dynamics between the two characters would be completely different from what we saw 10 years back," and Yoo promised "a different type of tension, maybe at a different temperature from before."
If the show makes you want more of either actor, here is where their verified filmographies point:
- Yoo Yeon-seok: Reply 1994 (2013), Dr. Romantic (2016), Mr. Sunshine (2018), Hospital Playlist (2020-2021), When the Phone Rings (2024) and Phantom Lawyer (2026), plus films such as Architecture 101 (2012) and A Werewolf Boy (2012).
- Seo Hyun-jin: Another Miss Oh (2016), Dr. Romantic (2016-2017), Temperature of Love (2017), The Beauty Inside (2018), You Are My Spring (2021) and the legal drama Why Her (2022). She told The National she had never played this type of character before.
Streaming rights for these older titles change often and vary by country, so check your own services rather than relying on a single list.
7. Ratings so far, and why they undersell it
By Korean broadcast numbers, The Perfect Lie started quietly. Nielsen Korea's nationwide figures were 1.9% for episodes 1 and 2, then 2.2% for episode 3 (its high at the time, as Soompi reported on November 7) and 2.4% for episode 4. For comparison, SBS's Doctor X in the same Friday slot scored 15.3%, and 17.7% on Saturday, that week.
Those numbers measure live TV viewing in Korea only. They do not count Disney+ or Hulu viewers abroad, and a thriller built on slow reveals often grows by word of mouth. After a flat start, the rating rose in each of the last two broadcasts, and Korean outlet TenAsia ran a headline on November 9 saying the drama had broken out of the 1% range and was gaining buzz. That is a modest but real signal, not a hit yet, and we will not pretend otherwise.
For international fans, the more useful question is whether it suits you. If you like slow-burn psychological dramas where the answer matters less than how people behave while they wait for it, this is one of the more interesting K-drama options airing in November 2026. If you want romance or comfort viewing, it is not that, despite the leads' history.
FAQ
Is The Perfect Lie on Netflix?
We could not confirm it on an official Netflix page. The platforms we verified are Disney+ internationally and Hulu in the US. Check your own app before you subscribe to anything new.
How many episodes does The Perfect Lie have?
Twelve, airing two per week on Fridays and Saturdays from October 30 to December 5, 2026.
Is it a remake?
Yes. It adapts the 2017 British ITV drama Liar by Harry and Jack Williams, which starred Joanne Froggatt and Ioan Gruffudd.
Do I need to watch Liar first?
No. The Korean version stands on its own, and if you want to be surprised, it is better not to read the British plot first.
Is it suitable for younger viewers?
Hulu rates it TV-14, and the fan database MyDramaList lists a Korean 15+ rating. The central storyline involves a sexual assault allegation, and Disney+ includes a flashing-lights warning.
Are Yoo Yeon-seok and Seo Hyun-jin a couple in this drama?
Only for the first date. After that they are on opposite sides of a police case, which is a deliberate contrast with their pairing in Dr. Romantic.
The bottom line
The Perfect Lie is a careful, adult thriller rather than a ratings juggernaut, and that is exactly why it is worth knowing about. It gives two well-liked actors roles that cut against their earlier on-screen romance, borrows a format that has worked in more than ten countries, and has enough episodes left (eight, from November 13) to catch up comfortably before the December 5 finale. Watch it on an official service, keep the content note in mind, and skip the British plot summary until you are done.
Watching in the US? The official Hulu page shows how many episodes are available right now and lets you add the series to your list, so episodes 5 and 6 are waiting for you after they air on November 13-14.
Sources
- Disney+ — The Perfect Lie official title page (synopsis, episode titles, warnings)
- Hulu — The Perfect Lie official series page (TV-14, episodes available)
- The National — interview with Yoo Yeon-seok and Seo Hyun-jin (Nov 6, 2026)
- Wikipedia — The Perfect Lie (credits, cast, broadcast dates, Nielsen ratings)
- AsianWiki — The Perfect Lie (episode dates, time slot)
- Soompi — The Perfect Lie rises to its highest ratings yet (Nov 7, 2026)
- detikPop — weekly K-drama ratings, Nov 4-10, 2026 (in Indonesian)
- Wikipedia — Liar (UK TV series), cast, episodes, viewers and adaptations
- Wikipedia — Yoo Yeon-seok
- Wikipedia — Seo Hyun-jin
- Wikipedia — Ok Ja-yeon
By the Korea Vibe Hopper team · Updated November 12, 2026