What's up doc? Hugh takes a stroppy stroll with wife and dog

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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He's found fame in America playing a curmudgeonly doctor in the TV drama House.

And on a rare trip home to Britain to see his wife and three children, Hugh Laurie seemed to be staying very much in character.

The 48-year-old actor looked grim-faced as he and Jo Green, his wife of 18 years, returned from walking their dogs on Hampstead Heath in North-West London.

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Hugh Laurie moans about his workload in the States and rarely returns to the UK

Something appears to have got up Hugh Laurie's nose on a Sunday stroll through Hampstead Heath with his wife Jo and their dog

Laurie has been taking a well-earned rest from House, which is shown here on Channel Five, after the U.S. writers' strike halted filming.

In recent months he has cut a forlorn figure, separated from his family by his huge success in Los Angeles, where he is reported to earn £150,000 an episode. He has often complained about the tough filming schedule.

An onlooker who saw him on the Heath said: "You would have thought he would have been happier to be back in the UK. It was surprising to see him looking just as down as he does on his own in LA."

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Hugh earns up to £150,000 an episode in House and is a household name in the US

Despite winning two Golden Globes for his portrayal of the misanthropic genius Dr Gregory House, Laurie is often said to be unhappy with his solo life in LA.

When he moved there in 2004 he decided not to take his wife and teenage children with him so as not to unsettle them. But he has since spoken of his loneliness, saying: "It's tragic I'm an absentee father."

He added: "I wasn't prepared for this at all. We can finish filming between midnight and 4am. Then I am straight back to bed. It is not really a life."

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