Hugh Laurie brutally takes down critic with House putdown

The 66-year-old was born in the city and grew up in Blackbird Leys before going on to star in projects such as Jeeves and Wooster, Blackadder and The Night Manager.

He is perhaps best known globally for his role as the titular character in House, which ran for eight seasons between 2004 and 2012.

Another one of Mr Laurie’s biggest hits was the spy thriller, The Night Manager, which was released in 2016 and saw him play off against Tom Hiddleston’s Jonathan Pine.

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The six-episode series saw the 66-year-old win a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe for his villainous part as Richard Roper.

He reprised the role in a shock return during the long-awaited second series, which was released earlier this year.

Writer Janet Murray took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to criticise the long-running medical drama, suggesting each episode followed a repetitive formula in which Dr House initially misdiagnoses a patient and nearly loses his job, before eventually solving the case and avoiding dismissal.

“Eight seasons of this?” she asked, drawing an unexpected response from actor Hugh Laurie.

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“Thanks for your critique,” wrote the Blackadder star on X. “We actually tried a couple of episodes where House gets it right first time, but they were only 6 minutes long. NBC weren’t happy.

“Then we tried some where House never gets it right, and the patient dies. The audience wasn’t happy.”

He continued: “One could apply your trenchant analysis to other art forms: JS Bach wrote 30 Goldberg variations on the same chord structure; Frida Kahlo painted 50 portraits of herself; Henry Moore, what??

“The point is, or was, variations on a theme; if all you see is hospital, medical blah blah, then it wasn’t meant for you. Nonetheless, I look forward to your first novel!”