Bingo!

I am an addict.

There, that wasn't so difficult, was it?

And what is the nature of my addiction? Why, it is to top new televisual drama series "House".

I ignored this show for most of the year. But I read some mentione of it which gave the crucial fact that the lead character is played by Hugh Laurie [follow the link to the IMDB and dicover that he is "sometimes credited as Stephen Fry"]. Laurie plays Doctor House who is a House Doctor. Do You See What They Have Done There? House is your more or less standard issue drama based around a central character. His flaws are write large: he seems to hate the world, and is only engaged enough to cure mysterious diseases when the challenge of finding out what is wrong with people is sufficiently interesting. Laurie gives excellent characterisation by putting on a fake American accent and a pronounced limp (L-I-M-P, pronounced limp (c) Fry & Laurie about 1992). Sounds awful and forgettable, but somehow it's not. This is due in no small part due to Laurie who plays House as something of an amiable sociopath, with the darkest sense of humour and a talent for making his many caring acts seem like indifference at best. There's also a decent amount of gore from the many strange and exotic diseases suffered by the patients.

Each episode is centred around a single case. The episode begins, "Casualty" style with a before-the-credits view of the poor victim in the moments leading up to their hospitalization. So there's a chance to play "guess who's going to get it" at various points. Thanks to director Bryan Singer (X-Men), we get all kinds of graphic internal CGI showing us muscles fraying and snapping; arteries clogging; hearts stopping; brains hemorraging; and even psychotic hallucinations taking place. You may wonder how you draw out the diagnosis and treatment of a single disease to the standard 40 minutes, given that it's fairly snappily edited and, this being an extremely well-funded US private hospital, there's no waiting around for test results to get back from the lab. Well, of course there are back plots -- maybe another patient with a different problem gives some insight into the main case, or casts light on the character of House and his supporting cast of doctors -- but that's not nearly enough. No, what makes this truly joyful to watch (if somewhat repetitive) is that House and his trinity of junior doctors keep getting the diagnosis wrong. Constantly. Usually about four or five times. In most episodes, the treatment for the misdiagnosed condition causes the patient to take a serious turn for the worse, with more choking, seizing, bleeding or falling into a coma. Still, they usually manage to muddle through and cure the patient. In a few cases, the patient does die in the end, but they were doomed from the start because their disease was incurable, and at least House gets to know what it was.

There are a few more reasons why this show appeals to me. Firstly, it's set in New Jersey, a state which, if not close to my heart, at least contains my body. The hospital is meant to be the Princeton-Plainsboro teaching hospital. [which does not really exist by the way]. However, the show in filmed in LA, so most of the exterior scenes are really not at all convincing. They do however use shots of the delightful Frist center in Princeton to illustrate the hospital. [Named after for the family of Bill Frist I discover to my mild revulsion]. So occasionally there are some New Jersey elements in the plot, such as a patient from Maplewood (which is two stops on the train from where I live).

Secondly, it seems to be a new home for actors from other Fox shows. One episode features "John Doe". It's good to know that, although it was never explained, he finally did recover his memory, leave Seattle, and settled down in suburban New Jersey with a lovely wife who went on to suffer from some mysterious tropical disease. And the last episode I saw featured a resurrected Nina Myers (see, I knew Jack didn't really kill her), who has now moved to New York and become a neurotic CEO of a cosmetics company.

So rush out and see the show! USians, you'll have to wait till later in the year, when Fox has commissioned a second season; until then, your local Fox affiliate is probably showing some selected repeats at some point in the week. Meanwhile, UKadians, watch out! House is coming to Channel Five (sorry, "Five") this week. 9th June at 10pm according to the internet, so rush out and, er, stay in for it. Or something.