THE British comedy actor Hugh Laurie is the unlikely star of a hit new show on American television. Critics have been raving about his “career-shifting” performance as a misanthropic doctor in the drama series House.

Laurie plays Dr Gregory House, a cranky hospital doctor lacking a bedside manner, with a flawless American accent. It is a far cry from his upper-class twit roles in Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster, which helped to make his name in Britain.

“I’m enjoying the character,” Laurie said during a break from filming. “There is something appealingly adolescent about him. He is dramatic and intense at times but he can be very witty. I get the best of all possible worlds.”

If Americans knew Laurie at all, it was as the father of a talking mouse in Stuart Little, the children’s film. Bryan Singer, director of X-Men, the science fiction series, and who is an executive producer of the new show, had not heard of Laurie but was “floored” by his audition. He had no idea the actor was British.

“I was very lucky to sneak under the wire,” said Laurie, who was not sure what he was auditioning for from the two-page script. He assumed his tape would be thrown unwatched in the bin. “It actually worked to my advantage that he had never heard of me.”

The series began slowly last autumn but was propelled into the top 10 when Fox gave it a slot after American Idol, the ratings giant. The audience for House doubled overnight and has continued to grow weekly, reaching more than 18m viewers last week.

“This rarely happens in American television. It’s a bona fide hit. The word of mouth is really strong,” said Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly.

“People love its blend of mystery and meticulous character study and have fallen head over heels for Hugh Laurie’s complicated doctor.”

House walks with a cane, is addicted to painkillers and has little time for patients, believing that they habitually lie to doctors. His prickly character is loosely based on Sherlock Holmes. In the show he obsessively ferrets out the truth about patients’ unusual medical conditions. He is equally brusque with his colleagues, whom he quizzes impertinently about their private lives.

In last week’s episode he uncovered the infidelity that led a woman who had never been to Africa to contract sleeping sickness. Among his memorable quips is: “Have you ever seen an infected, pierced scrotum?” George Clooney in ER was more obviously dishy and sympathetic to his patients, yet the dishevelled Laurie, 45, is showing unexpected signs of sex appeal.

“It’s a very amusing and perfectly absurd comparison. George Clooney is very easy on the eye, I’m the ogre on the set,” Laurie said modestly.

There are traces of sexual tension at the hospital, nevertheless.

“House has one aspect that drives women crazy,” said Jenson. “He’s so aloof. There is a young woman doctor who is becoming hopelessly enamoured of him because she is constantly seeking his approbation.”

The series also reveals the moody doctor to be an old boyfriend of his female hospital boss.

In real life Laurie’s wife, Jo Green, and their children have remained in London while he finishes filming. “I feel like I’m working on an oil rig right now,” he said. “I’m away from home a lot.”

After all the acclaim Fox has signed up for a second series. Television critics have hailed House as “one of TV’s great shows”, Laurie’s character as a “magnificent creation” and his performance as “grumpy, guarded and brilliant”.

The actor, who has suffered from depression in the past, now has to cope with the demands of success. “Making a new show every eight days is punishing. It’s the quantity that’s the problem. It’s like eating lobster. By the 70th plate you start to go off lobster,” he said.

“We’re doing in eight months what I did over four years with Stephen Fry in Jeeves and Wooster.”

Laurie remains close to his old circle of British friends such as Fry, whom he met at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and one of his earliest girlfriends was Emma Thompson, the actress. Laurie’s British chums have been supportive of his American career. “Stephen has been very kind,” he said. “He’s seen one or two episodes and seems to approve but maybe they’re all sniggering up their sleeves.”

It remains to be seen whether British audiences will take to Laurie’s freshly minted American accent. “I think I will probably shock and disgust everybody. English people are naturally embarrassed by affectation,” he said. “If you are in France and your friend starts speaking French to the waiter it’s worse than watching a person go to the lavatory. The same may apply here.”

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