James Hugh Calum Laurie (/ˈlɒri/; born 11 June 1959) is an English actor and comedian.
Laurie first gained professional recognition as a member of the English comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. Fry and Laurie acted together in several projects during the 1980s and 1990s, including the BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the P. G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. From 1986 to 1989, Laurie appeared in three series of the period comedy Blackadder.
Gregory House is a fictional character and the titular protagonist of the American medical drama series House. Created by David Shore and portrayed by English actor Hugh Laurie, he leads a team of diagnosticians and is the Head of Diagnostic Medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in Princeton, New Jersey. House's character has been described as a misanthrope, cynic, narcissist, and curmudgeon.
In the series, the character's unorthodox diagnostic approaches, radical therapeutic motives, and stalwart rationality have resulted in much conflict between him and his colleagues. House is also often portrayed as lacking sympathy for his patients, a practice that allows him time to solve ethical enigmas. The character is partly based on Sherlock Holmes. A portion of the show's plot centers on House's habitual use of Vicodin to manage pain stemming from leg infarction involving his quadriceps muscle some years earlier, an injury that forces him to walk with a cane. This dependency is also one of the many parallels to Holmes, who is portrayed as being a habitual user of cocaine and other drugs.
House (also known as House, M.D.) is an American medical drama television series created by David Shore that originally aired on Fox from November 16, 2004, to May 21, 2012, for eight seasons. It features the life of Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), an unconventional, misanthropic, cynical medical genius who, despite his dependence on pain medication, successfully leads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton–Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (PPTH) in New Jersey. House often clashes with his fellow physicians, including his own diagnostic team, because many of his hypotheses about patients' illnesses are based on subtle or controversial insights, and his flouting of hospital rules and procedures frequently leads him into conflict with his boss, hospital administrator and Dean of Medicine Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). House's only true friend is Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), head of the Department of Oncology.
During the first three seasons, House's diagnostic team consists of Dr. Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer), Dr. Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison), and Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps). At the end of the third season, this team disbands. Rejoined by Foreman, House gradually selects three new team members: Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley (Olivia Wilde), Dr. Chris Taub (Peter Jacobson), and Dr. Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn). Chase and Cameron continue to appear occasionally in different roles at the hospital. Kutner dies late in season five; early in season six, Cameron departs the hospital, and Chase returns to the diagnostic team. Thirteen takes a leave of absence for most of season seven, and her position is filled by medical student Martha M. Masters (Amber Tamblyn). Cuddy and Masters depart before season eight; Foreman becomes the new Dean of Medicine, while Dr. Jessica Adams (Odette Annable) and Dr. Chi Park (Lo Mutuc, credited as Charlyne Yi) join House's team.
The sixth season of House premiered on September 21, 2009, with a two-hour premiere filmed at the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey. In the United Kingdom, the season began airing on Sky 1 and Sky 1 HD on October 4, 2009. Season six featured 22 episodes, two fewer than usual. It is the first season of House to feature Hugh Laurie as the only original cast member in all episodes, and the last season to feature Jennifer Morrison as a main cast member. It was fairly well received by critics, scoring 77 on Metacritic.
The eighth and final season of House was ordered on May 10, 2011. It premiered on October 3, 2011. It was the only season not to feature Lisa Edelstein as Dr. Lisa Cuddy. Olivia Wilde (Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley) also left the show after the third episode to further her film career, although she returned at the end of the series. On January 8, 2012, Fox's President of Entertainment, Kevin Reilly, stated that the network had been "avoiding" a decision on the fate of the series, as it was "hard to imagine the network without House" and that the decision on the future of the series would be a "close call". Hugh Laurie's contract on House expired at the end of the eighth season. Laurie stated that once House was over, he would be moving on to strictly film roles. On February 8, 2012, in a joint statement issued by Fox and executive producers David Shore, Katie Jacobs, and Laurie, it was revealed that the season would be the last for House.
It was announced that Shore would direct and co-write the final episode of the show and also that Wilde would return as Thirteen for the penultimate episode and the series finale. Edelstein did not return for the series finale. Kal Penn was reported to be in talks and returned as Dr. Lawrence Kutner. Amber Tamblyn also appeared briefly as Martha M. Masters for the finale. Jennifer Morrison appeared in the finale in a cameo appearance as Allison Cameron. Anne Dudek, Sela Ward and Andre Braugher also reprised their previous recurring/guest roles as Amber Volakis, Stacy Warner, and Darryl Nolan, respectively. The series finale aired on May 21, following a retrospective episode titled "Swan Song".