Veteran actor Tetsuya Watari has been cast as a doctor for the first time in his 43-year career. He will star in TV Asahi's "Kokuchi Sezu," a drama special expected to air sometime this year. Hideaki Takizawa and Atsuko Takahata will co-star.

Watari plays a surgeon who constantly deals with cancer patients. His personal philosophy is to openly inform those patients of their illness and to fight with them until the end, but he finds himself wavering when the patient is his own wife (Takahata). Takizawa plays the couple's son.

Watari himself is familiar with facing cancer. When he was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 1991, he publicly announced it, and fortunately he underwent a successful operation.

Director Kiyoshi Sasabe started filming for the drama last month, and it is expected to wrap up before September.