Hugh Laurie has channelled his inner Dr Gregory House while sharing a cutting defence of the medical series, more than 10 years after it ended.
After getting his start on the British comedy circuit performing with Stephen Fry, the Night Manager actor took an unexpected career pivot in 2004 when he landed the role of the surly doctor in Fox’s House.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), writer Janet Murray suggested that every episode of the show revolved around House wrongly diagnosing his patients and nearly getting fired, until he correctly diagnoses them and then doesn’t get fired.
“Eight seasons of this?” she asked, prompting an unexpected reply from Laurie himself.
“Thanks for your critique,” wrote the Blackadder star on X. “We actually tried a couple of episodes where House gets it right first time, but they were only 6 minutes long. NBC weren’t happy.
“Then we tried some where House never gets it right and the patient dies. The audience wasn’t happy.”
He continued: “One could apply your trenchant analysis to other art forms: JS Bach wrote 30 Goldberg variations on the same chord structure; Frida Kahlo painted 50 portraits of herself; Henry Moore, what??
“The point is, or was, variations on a theme; if all you see is hospital, medical blah blah, then it wasn’t meant for you. Nonetheless, I look forward to your first novel!”
House ran for eight seasons between 2004 and 2012, during which Laurie won two Golden Globes and was one of the best paid actors in TV.
But while House elevated Laurie’s status on the international stage, the actor has made it clear that he has no intention of reliving the show.
Last year, video maker and doctor Mikhail Varshavski revealed on an episode of his podcast The Checkup with Doctor Mike that he had tried to get Laurie to appear on his show, but failed for an unexpected reason.
“His staff was like, ‘Oh, this is a good fit, we’re going to reach out to him and see what he thinks.’ I’m going to read you quote-unquote what he said: ‘He is not interested in opportunities like this, frankly doesn’t care about the audience or reliving the show.’”
Varshavski continued: “It’s just such a direct and honest reply. It’s not that he doesn’t want to do your show, just he doesn’t want to be House MD ever again.”
At the time, a representative for Laurie told The Independent that the actor has never said he wouldn’t consider doing House again.
