Doctor House: I still have reservations about the show, but it's become a favorite of my thirteen-year-old son. The British Medical Journal likes it, too. (And I have to admit, Dr. House's rude but true comments often give me a vicarious thrill.) What does Hugh Laurie think of playing an American?

Laurie's father, a Scot, was a general practitioner in Oxford (and nothing like House, of course) but Hugh thinks Dad would have liked the show.

It is a hit in the US -as good as Desperate Housewives, says the Washington Post. Umpteen episodes have been ordered and Laurie, having pulled out of the next Superman film, is working endless 16-hour days. The accent is flawless but hard work: 'Saying something like `coronary artery' gives me a nosebleed. I have to lie down in a dark room for 20 minutes.'

Didn't know speaking American was so physically draining.