The House That Hugh Laurie Built: An Unauthorized Biography and Episode Guide

By Paul Challen

At the centre of the critically acclaimed Fox drama House, British actor Hugh Laurie has become the focus of fans across North America, Britain, and Australia. Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series, honoured by the Queen with an Order of the British Empire, and one of People's Sexiest Men Alive, Laurie has become an icon.

But who is the man behind the cane and acerbic wit?

A musician? A motorcyclist? A comedian?

Laurie is all these things and more. This biography aims to shed light on his childhood struggles to live up to his mother's high demands and emulate his father's accomplishments as a doctor and an Olympic gold medalist; his education at the prestigious academies of Eton and Cambridge; his comedic career with Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, and Rowan Atkinson; his own personal struggle with depression; and how he came to be the best-loved curmudgeon on television.

Interviews with creator and executive producer David Shore will reveal the Canadian connection to this truly global show and how a Canuck from London, Ontario, made the move to Hollywood stardom.

The House That Hugh Laurie Built will also serve as a magnifying glass, providing episode analysis, cast biographies, selections of Dr. House's caustic wit, and production bloopers and medical mistakes that only a sleuth like Dr. House could expose.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155022803X
• ISBN13: 9781550228038
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: ECW Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.1" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Inside Dr House

It is interesting to know about the people who are behind Dr House. All those tips about the actors and actresses. Knowing about the chapters and all about inside them to understand them makes them more interesting

A House/Hugh rewiew

Although I have not yet finished reading this book, the chapters I've read through have given me some insight into Hugh Laurie, himself ... an extremly intelligent and interesting man! He also seems very self-depreciating an admirable quality for such a multi talented Brit?American superstar! Paul Challen makes this Bio an enjoyable and humorous read. I highly recomend it.

Great introduction to a great show

I got my copy of this book over the weekend and read it all through in one long sitting. I was disappointed that there were so few pix, however the smoking cover shot of Hugh Laurie is so hot that I have to put the book face down on the side table to avoid incinerating the room! I definitely enjoyed the detailed episode guide for the first three seasons. Nothing in the author's analysis was really new for those of us who have been dissecting the show for a long time but it was good to see all the cast details, plot overview, major themes, and intriguing mistakes toted up in one convenient place. The writing is not brilliant, but servicable and even amusing on many ocassions. I was quite struck by the absence of "shipping" in the episode descriptions: the author neutrally notes the passing interest of House in Cameron but sees it as teasing only, he continually picks up on Cuddy's sexy interactions with House beginning with episode 2 of season 1, and he totally skips any hint of House/Wilson. This is noteworthy because I think this approach represents the way that most casual viewers and serious fans watch the show: strong interest in House as a character of humor, genius, sorrow, and intrigue, little interest in romantic entanglements. The author's insights are balanced, not worshipping House but seeing him as the difficult, tortured, hilarious, enchanting, complex, and discomforting character that he is. Appropriately, the book devotes four sizeable chapters to Hugh Laurie and one each to the other five actors. All of these essays are syntheses of the articles, interviews, online discussions, and biographical summaries many obsessed fans have been reading since the show began. No new material that I could see, but again, it is quite good to have so much compiled in one convenient place. I was not so familiar with the extensive professional resumes of Omar Epps and Lisa Edelstein, so those chapters were particularly interesting to me. The chapter on David Shore was good in that it captured information from several Canadian newspaper interviews that offered challenging insights into how the entertainment industry works in North America. This book was definitely not an expose in any sense of the word: the approach is highly respectful (but not cloyingly worshipful) of Hugh Laurie, his personal life, and his many professional accomplishments. Overall, I think this would be an excellent gift for someone who is just getting to know the show and wants to catch up quickly on the phenomenon that is Hugh Laurie. I am quite glad that I bought it.