House S1-8

We’ve all come to see doctors as the ultimate heroes – but it’s hard to find anything heroic about misanthropic, curmudgeonly Dr Gregory House. Addicted to pain meds, he grumbles his way around Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey, making up for his demeanour by flashes of genius and true humanity.

House is like one medical detective story after another, as patient after patient presents with cryptic symptoms that only House and his team of diagnosticians can decipher. House has no regard for the rules and often has run-ins with the hospital administrator and Dean of Medicine, Dr Lisa Cuddy.

House is brilliantly portrayed by British actor Hugh Laurie, with Lisa Edelstein as Dr Cuddy and Robert Sean Leonard (remember him from Dead Poets’ Society?) as Dr James Wilson, head of oncology and House’s only friend.

The younger doctors do change through eight seasons. You’ll recognise Olivia Wilde, Omar Epps and Jesse Spencer (Chicago Fire), as well as Kal Penn, whose character, Dr Kutner, had to be written out of the series so Kal could join the Obama administration.

House has a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and one season’s critics’ consensus sums it up with “Come for the medical drama. Stay for Hugh Laurie.”