Playing House was a nightmare, says Hugh Laurie (who made £250,000 an episode)



'A nightmare': Hugh Laurie, pictured leaving Paris' Gare Du Nord yesterday, said House's success turned into a 'gilded cage'

Hugh Laurie has told how starring in US medical drama House turned into a 'nightmare' despite him being the best-paid actor on TV.

The British actor, 53, was paid a reported £250,000 an episode and won two Golden Globes for his long-running role as curmudgeonly Dr Gregory House.

But he suggested to the Radio Times that his huge success became 'a gilded cage', with the actor even fantasising about having an accident just so that he could take a few days off.

While filming the Fox show, Laurie had his car windows tinted to avoid being snapped by phone cameras and stopped buying his own groceries because he 'couldn't stand people photographing the contents of my shopping basket'.

The actor, who appeared in the drama's finale last year, admitted: 'At this distance it all sounds absurd. Ridiculous! After all, what was I doing other than playing about, telling stories with a very nice bunch of people? What could be constricting about that?

'But the repetition of any routine, day after month after year, can turn into a bit of a nightmare.

'I had some pretty bleak times, dark days when it seemed like there was no escape. And having a very Presbyterian work ethic, I was determined never to be late, not to miss a single day's filming. You wouldn't catch me phoning in to say, 'I think I may be coming down with the flu'.

'But there were times when I'd think, 'If I were just to have an accident on the way to the studio and win a couple of days off to recover, how brilliant would that be?''

The actor lived in Los Angeles while his wife and three children stayed in Britain during his time on the show.

Asked if readjusting was difficult when he returned home after a near eight-year commitment to House, he replied: 'Yes, but probably more so for the family.



'For me it's been a delight to be back with them, to walk the dog, to listen to music and to read. I'm still appreciating and enjoying it.'

Laurie, the former comedy partner of Stephen Fry, said that he might not be physically able to take on such a gruelling role again.

Success: Laurie, pictured playing Dr Gregory House last year, said he may never be able to take on such a gruelling role again

He told the magazine that he would like a job directing, partly because it would allow him to wear his own clothes.

'If the opportunity presented itself, I'm not sure I'd either want or could physically do it. I imagine sportsmen come to a similar crossroads,' he said of taking a lead role in another major, ongoing series.

'Maybe there'll come a day when (footballer) John Terry says, ''I'm not up for the full 90 minutes any more. I can give you 60. Or perhaps I could just come on in the second half?'' The legs start to go and you realise you're feeling the pain a lot more.'

Award-winning: Laurie picked up countless awards for his portrayal of the obnoxious and arrogant Dr House (pictured here in 2007 picking up a Golden Globe)

He said 'some very good' scripts, 'some not so good and others so weirdly like House that you wonder what they're thinking of' were still pitched to him.

He added: 'The big thing is that I'm a decade older than when I got that role. Even then the character was scripted as 10 years younger at 35 - and Fox would have preferred 28, to keep advertisers happy. Now if my name comes up for the lead, there'd be a shaking of heads. 'He could play the dad...''

For the full interview pick up a copy of the Radio Times out now

Laurie said of his future: 'I'd like to do something that involves wearing my own clothes for a while. It's an odd thing to go to work each day and wear someone else's.

'For House I also had a fake wallet with fake money in it, fake keys that didn't open anything and a fake watch that didn't tell the real time. All I can say right now is that there are things of my own I'm developing that I'm pretty excited about.'

Laurie, who has spoken previously about suffering from depression, said that he still expects disaster to strike.

But he added: 'When you assume that the worst is going to happen, you're freed up from any anxiety about the when and the where of it. Not that I'd ever be foolish enough to think I've finally got the hang of this life business,'

The actor, who is gearing up for the release of his second album and set to star in Tomorrowland with George Clooney, said of his Hollywood status: 'One great benefit of not being on TV every week is that people will be a lot less interested in what I have in my supermarket basket. I could even un-tint my car windows - or at least opt for a lighter shade.

'When the ship goes down, the waves very quickly roll over the top of it and attention shifts elsewhere. It's just the natural order of things in TV - in life - and is as it should be.'