House at 20: perfectly mad 2000s television that has aged better than you’d think

Hugh Laurie’s medical drama was once the most watched show in the world. Why is it now having a second life among Zoomers?

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When the first episode of House aired, on this week in 2004, what we thought was good television was dramatically starting to shift. The West Wing was on its sixth season, The Wire was on its second. Mad Men was still three years away, Breaking Bad was four. Network TV was such a different beast to TV as we know it now: there were 24-odd episodes of House a season, meaning it would air once a week for about half a year. These days, it’s hard to think of a drama with more than eight episodes per season.

If you believe quantity lessens quality, it’s strange to watch House now and see how good it (mostly) remains – fast, sharp and often very funny, with a magnetic central performance by Hugh Laurie who, before House, was known for playing bumbling toffs in British comedies and the dad in Stuart Little. You can watch Laurie’s audition tape for House online (shot in a dark hotel bathroom in Namibia) and immediately see why he got the role; suddenly George from Blackadder was a caustic, unshaven doctor, spitting out medical jargon with a perfect American accent while maintaining a limp and a semi-permanent frown.

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