'You know what mum' said Daughter No 2 a few weeks ago 'I think you would enjoy House'. I pondered on this. I had never seen it though I had heard great things and read a lot about Hugh Laurie and how he has turned into a sex symbol in the US, but when the first series came out, I had a pretty crap tv and it was on Channel 5 and I had a lousy picture and what with one thing and another it passed me by. Then of course, got a super duper TV, digital channels the lot but by then we were onto Series four so decided once more to let it go.
'Mum, I am sure you will love it' Well as Daughter No 2 and I are as one in our adoration of West Wing and 24, I felt that she might well be right so when we met after work one night for a pizza she produced Series One and admitted that, yes, she had all of them on DVD. So I took it home, thought ok give it a whirl, slotted in the first DVD and ……and …. and…. five hours later I staggered to bed with square eyes, but totally and completely besotted with this simply terrific programme.
The only Hugh Laurie I knew up to now was the one who had a comic series on TV about 20 years ago with Stephen Fry which I found just a tad too much to take. Then he pops up in Jeeves and Wooster playing a silly twit. Then he pops up in Blackadder playing, er..a silly twit. The only time I saw him play serious was in the film Peter's Friends (which was called Ken's Luvvies in our house) a truly sick making film directed by and starring the then ubiquitous Ken Branagh with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie and Emma T and Emma T's mum and the whole Ken and Em Rep Company, a film that you should only watch with a bowl handy for the moment when it all becomes to much to take and nausea overtakes the viewer. However ghastly this film, Hugh Laurie played a serious part and very good he was too.
The idea of him playing an American doctor was one that I could not get hold of but after an hour I realised he was, quite simply, terrific. His accent is excellent and believable and, of course, he has the most lovely baritonal deep voice which I had never heard before. If you are playing a silly upper class twit such as Jeeves et al then high pitch is the order of the day. In fact with his stunning blue eyes, Hugh is rather sexy.
This weekend just gone Daughter No 2 came down to see me and wanted to have a practice drive in my car, I told her fine but only if she brought the other three series of House down with her to lend me. She did and I have just watched the first four episodes of Series two and have now put them away otherwise I shall be up till the wee small hours of the morning.
Hugh Laurie is excellent as the sarcastic rude brilliant diagnostician who has a small select band on his team who he seems to treat like dirt, but they take it. At times he is very very funny, the script just crackles off the screen, but we are also given a vulnerable glimpse every now and then which balances this out and lets us know he is human deep down. We do get the obligatory soft moments when the violins play or the piano, and soft focus close ups that all US series go in for with the actors looking pensive and sad, but such is the sharpness and acerbity of each episode that these descents into sentimentality are bearable.
So I have another addiction to keep me going until 24 Series Seven comes out on DVD in October. I have already pre-ordered it and now have to bide my time in patience. Mark you, I reckon I will watch all of the House series within a month, so I still have a problem. OK any other suggestions? I have tried the Sopranos but not for me, CSI, Law and Order – no.
I do, however, have the first series of Damages on DVD, special offer only £15, with Glenn Close which seems to have cleared up at the Emmys so perhaps I will have a go at that one.
Then what do I do? Oh, dear it is all too much to bear…
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