Kirmizi Oda

About the series

Kırmızı Oda (The Red Room) is a Turkish psychological drama produced by OGM Pictures, adapted from psychiatrist Gülseren Budayıcıoğlu’s 2004 book Madalyonun İçi. It aired on TV8 from 4 September 2020 to 18 February 2022, for two seasons and 61 episodes, written by Deniz Gürlek and Melek Seven.

Concept

At the heart of the series is Dr. Manolya (Binnur Kaya), a psychiatrist in Istanbul who runs the Manolya Psychiatry Clinic. In her consulting room, the “red room”, patients come to her with trauma, grief and personality disorders, and each story unfolds in flashbacks as they slowly open up. The cast changes from story to story, with Binnur Kaya the only lead in every episode; Meriç Aral, Tülin Özen and Burak Sevinç also starred for part of the run.

The guest stories featured many well-known actors, including Burcu Biricik, who won praise for playing a patient with schizophrenia, Melisa Sözen and İlayda Alişan.

Reception

The series sparked lively debate about its storytelling, its acting and its portrayal of psychiatrists and psychologists. Because it deals with real-life trauma and mental health, it was often compared with Netflix’s Bir Başkadır and TRT 1’s Masumlar Apartmanı, also based on Budayıcıoğlu’s work.

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