House M.D. is the multi-award winning US TV series starring English actor Hugh Laurie alongside a host of other stars including Lisa Edelstein, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard, Jesse Spencer, Peter Jacobson and Olivia Wilde. The show has received four Emmys from twenty-three nominations, two Golden Globes and two Screen Actors Guild awards and has gone from being a speculative entry into the already crowded market of TV medical dramas to being an outstanding show.

Hugh Laurie plays grumpy and sarcastic Doctor Gregory House whose bedside manner is entirely absent and whose constant companion is his walking stick as he struggles to manage his constant physical pain while running the diagnostic unit of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Historically the standard fare of medical dramas has been to have a mix of the medical and the personal but House has raised the bar on this with outstandingly complex relationships partnering almost unbelievably mystifying medical cases requiring detective skills reminiscent of the likes of Sherlock Holmes.
What took the programme to a new level was that the while House is generally recognised as being a brilliant doctor his natural inclination maintain a solitary existence has had to be balanced with the understanding that he needs the context of a creative team to be able to unleash his diagnostic talents.

One of the most complex relationships from the first six series was that between House and hospital boss, Lisa Cuddy, and the “will they, won’t they” tension of the earlier series was an ever-present factor but series seven is the one in which they explore their relationship, having finally got it together, although as with all things to do with House nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

I have to confess that after five series of House my love for it began to waver during series six as my fear that the developing relationship between House and Cuddy would see the series slide into the realms of the formulaic so when series seven came around I found myself giving excuses for not watching it. As a result I’m somewhat surprised to report that seeing series seven has rekindled the embers of that fading fire and that my particular highlight of the series being the surreal and masterfully bonkers episode “Bombshells”.

The DVD set includes all twenty-three episodes as you would expect and while it’s not packed with special features it does have a couple of episode commentaries plus some peeks behind the scenes and again I’d have to recommend the one where they look at the “Bombshells” episode as being a great example of what makes this series such an outstanding one.

Series 7 of House M.D. is available from 26th September.
CONTENTS

Disc 1

  1. Now What?
  2. Selfish
  3. Unwritten
  4. Massage Therapy

Disc 2

  1. Unplanned Parenthood
  2. Office Politics
  3. A Pox on our House
  4. Small Sacrifices

Special Features:

    1. Meet Martha Masters
    2. Huddy Dissected

Disc 3

  1. Larger Than Life
  2. Carrot or Stick
  3. Family Practice
  4. You Must Remember This

Disc 4

  1. Two Stories
  2. Recession Proof
  3. Bombshells

Special Features:

  1. Anatomy of an Episode: Bombshells
  2. Bombshells commentary with director Greg Yaitanes and series star Lisa Edelstein

Disc 5

  1. Out Of The Chute
  2. Fall From Grace
  3. The Dig
  4. Last Temptation

Disc 6

  1. Changes
  2. The Fix
  3. After Hours
  4. Moving On

Special Features:

  1. Moving On commentary with creator/executive producer David Shore and director/executive producer Greg Yaitanes

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