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Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Dr House gets it wrong: Croatian neurologists highlight 77 errors in popular TV series
ZAGREB, June 1 — He's the maverick medic who loved to confound the medical establishment with his brilliant, unorthodox diagnoses. But Dr Gregory House, the misanthropic genius who was the star of the long-running 'House' television series, got an awful lot wrong himself, Croatian doctors claim. From a neurologist at work on the wrong end of a patient by performing a colonoscopy, or an MRI scan done by a physician who is clearly not a radiologist, Croatian researchers have pulled the American series up on its medical accuracy in a paper published this month. Denis Cerimagic, a professor at Dubrovnik University, and two fellow neurologists—all big fans of the series—listed 77 errors after analysing all 177 episodes of the show, which ran from 2004 to 2012. 'We focused on the diagnoses of main cases, reality of clinical practice presentation and detection of medical errors,' Cerimagic told AFP. He and his peers—Goran Ivkic and Ervina Bilic—broke the mistakes down into five categories including misuses of medical terminology, misinformation and simple weirdness—something which the show's anti-hero, played by British star Hugh Laurie, possessed in abundance. That limp They included the use of mercury thermometers—which had long given way to digital ones—the term heart attack and cardiac arrest being used interchangeably when they are not the same, and that vitamin B12 deficiency can be corrected with just one injection. Nor is there a universal chemotherapy for all types of malignant tumours, as one episode suggested. But arguably the biggest error of all is that Laurie—whose character's genius for deduction comes from the misdiagnosis that left him with a limp and chronic pain—uses his cane on the wrong side. The stick should be carried on his unaffected side, Cerimagic said, though he understood why the actor had done it because 'it's more effective to see the pronounced limp on the screen'. Their research also found medical procedures being done by specialists who had no business being there, like an infectologist performing an autopsy. At times the series also stretched reality beyond breaking point, with the findings of complex laboratory tests done in just a few hours. And doctors rarely turn detective and take it upon themselves to enter patients' homes to look for environmental causes of illnesses. Not to mention Dr House's unethical behaviour—'Brain tumour, she's gonna die' the paper quoted him as saying—and the character's opiates addiction. The researchers say they may have missed other mistakes. 'We are neurologists while other medical specialists would certainly establish additional errors,' Cerimagic added. Medical errors Whatever their criticisms, the researchers say that modern medical series are far better produced than in the past, thanks to medical advisors. It is not like some 20 years ago when you had doctors looking at X-rays upside down, the neurologist said. 'Now only medical professionals can notice errors,' Cerimagic said. Despite its flaws, they thought the series could even be used to help train medical students. 'The focus could be on recognising medical errors in the context of individual episodes, adopting the teamwork concept and a multidisciplinary approach in diagnosis and treatment,' Cerimagic said. He said he and his colleagues were taken aback by the response to their paper 'House M.D.: Between reality and fiction'—which is not the first academic study to cast doubt on the good doctor and his methods. 'The idea was to make a scientific paper interesting not only to doctors but also to people without specific medical knowledge.' — AFP
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Gary Lineker was loved by many viewers as sport's 'Mr Nice Guy' with an amiable wit - but was increasingly loathed for his self-righteous sanctimony and political posturing
'No More Mr Nice Guy' ran the tagline of an advert for Walkers crisps that tickled the nation 30 years ago. Now it's as stale as a packet of cheese-and-onion from the 1990s. To the equally cheesy strains of Peters and Lee singing Welcome Home, the ad featured former England football captain Gary Lineker returning to his native Leicester, after two years' playing football in Japan. He shook hands with fans, joined a lads' kickabout in the street, kissed babies . . . then snatched a child's bag of crisps and scarpered. 'A crisp as irresistible as Walkers?' chuckled Hugh Laurie 's voiceover, before delivering that perfect line: 'There's no more Mr Nice Guy.' Three decades later, that image of the best-liked bloke in sport, the clean-cut hero, is unrecognisable. Lineker is one of the most divisive figures in the country, loathed by many for his sanctimonious and self-righteous pronouncements on Left-wing issues from immigration to the war in Gaza. He may never have received a yellow card as a player, but as a pundit he has received repeated warnings and even a suspension from his Match Of The Day employers for his aggressive and often offensive political statements. Now it appears that, with an inevitable red card looming, he has opted to quit the BBC before they could send him off. Despite his undoubted expertise as an analyst of the game, and his professional ease in front of the camera, millions will be delighted to see him go. The most highly paid presenter at the Corporation, with a £1.35 million salary last year, he has consistently flouted BBC guidelines that oblige its staff to maintain a show of political neutrality. Lesser names have been ousted for such breaches: Carol Vorderman was relieved of her job as a BBC Radio Wales presenter in 2023 for repeatedly venting her spleen at the Conservative government on social media. BBC cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew begged him: 'Please observe BBC editorial guidelines and keep your political views, whatever they are and whatever the subject, to yourself. I'd be sacked if I followed your example.' Lineker hit back: 'Jonathan, I'll continue to tweet what I like and if folk disagree with me then so be it.' He appeared to be untouchable. After one provocation, in which he said the rhetoric of then home secretary Suella Braverman over immigration was, 'not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the '30s,' he was temporarily suspended from Match Of The Day, which he has fronted since 1999. But the power he wielded within the sports department was revealed when none of his colleagues was willing to come on as a substitute for him. Co-presenters including another former England captain, Alan Shearer, then refused to appear on the programme without him. When the boycott spread to other sports shows, BBC chiefs buckled. Lineker was welcomed back, smugly triumphant. The support of his colleagues could be seen as the loyalty of a team united behind their champion, of course. But it felt more like self-preservation, by people who feared Lineker's retribution much more than they worried about fulfilling their contractual obligations to the Beeb. If his own ties to the BBC ever held him back from voicing inflammatory opinions, they no longer will. Indeed, it's likely he will now be even more outspoken – with a vested interest in controversy. Since 2018, when he began hosting a football talk show online called Behind Closed Doors, the podcast company he co-founded, Goalhanger, has expanded rapidly. It is now one of the dominant names in the new industry – a factor, no doubt, in his decision to leave the BBC. With 13 titles including the chart-topping The Rest Is... series, Goalhanger podcasts net more than 40 million audio and YouTube downloads a month. . Goalhanger's latest accounts show its assets more than tripled to £1.9 million in the 12 months to May last year. Lineker shared a now-deleted post which originated with pro-Palestine group Palestine Lobby Among the Nazis' depictions of Jewish people as rats was this poster produced by Adolf Hitler's regime during their 1940s occupation of Denmark Rumours have circulated for many years that the real Lineker was not the self-deprecating, amiable fellow viewers knew. On camera, he combined the knowing wit of his predecessor, Des Lynam, with unflappability – always ready with a quip, rolling his eyes with amused weariness when something went wrong on air. In 2016, he had the good grace to keep a bet he made with himself, after his former club Leicester City achieved the impossible by winning the Premier League. He'd joked that if that ever happened, he'd present Match Of The Day 'in just my undies'. Challenged by Leicester East's Labour MP Keith Vaz in the Commons, the then prime minister David Cameron agreed that 'absolutely' Lineker should keep his promise. Delighted, the presenter tweeted: 'It seems @David_Cameron is keen to see me in my pants. If that's what does it for you, Prime Minister . . .' Sure enough, as the new season began, Lineker appeared in the studio wearing nothing but a thong necklace and a pair of white boxer shorts emblazoned with the Leicester City badge. Breakfast TV presenter Dan Walker joked that Lineker's vanity had obliged him to do '4,000 sit-ups a day' before baring his torso. That proved the high point of the public's love affair with Lineker, one that dated back to the World Cup of 1986 when he was top scorer at the tournament in Mexico, bagging six goals in five games (including a hat-trick) and winning the Golden Boot. Even people with no interest in football fell for his charm at the 1990 World Cup in Italy. In the semi-final against Germany, his team-mate Paul Gascoigne picked up a disastrous yellow card. Knowing this meant that, even if they won the game, he would be barred from the final, Gazza was in tears. Lineker signalled to manager Bobby Robson on the bench that they needed to keep an eye on his friend. That spirit of sportsmanship seemed to matter much more than England's ultimate defeat in a penalty shoot-out. Lineker later quipped: 'Football is a simple game – 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and, at the end, the Germans win.' However in recent years the star has waded into political debates, such as his tweet from 2023 which compared ministers' language over migration to 'Germany in the 30s' Mrs Braverman said at the time she felt that Mr Lineker's remarks comparing her policies to Nazi Germany were 'disappointing' However Gary Lineker told Amol Rajan that he had the right to give his views despite impartiality rules and said he was 'right' to criticise Suella Braverman and the Tories over their immigration polices Good humour, fair play and old-fashioned decency – little surprise that advertisers wanted a slice of that. The only shock was that, when Lineker played against type as a crisp thief, the joke worked so well. Walkers marketing boss Martin Glenn, who offered the star a £200,000 deal, said: 'It was a big risk for us but it's the best thing we did.' Glenn later became CEO of the Football Association. Public affection also went a long way when Lineker began his career as a pundit. At first he was a pitchside reporter, chatting excitedly to camera with his back to the pitch. His enthusiasm was puppyish, a contrast to the urbane nonchalance of Lynam. But he learned to temper his style quickly. No one ever said Gary Lineker was slow off the mark, either as a footballer – where his pace and intelligence meant he could be in the right place to tap the ball into the net – or when threading a career path through the treacherous world of television. Still, for the first few years, he was so little employed that he had time to hone his golf swing, playing off a handicap of four. Feathers were ruffled in 2005 when he was appointed the BBC's golf presenter. Veteran commentator Peter Alliss sniped, 'He's very good at reading the autocue,' before implying that Lineker wished he was good enough to be competing, not watching. When he strayed from the autocue, he could be prone to gaffes. As the face of the BBC's 2012 Olympics coverage, he drew complaints from viewers after sniggering with designer Stella McCartney about British diver Tom Daley's 'little thing'. And despite his noisy support for Arabs against Israelis in recent years, he exposed his ignorance of Islam while commentating on a Champions League game between Montpellier and Schalke in 2011. 'A terrific effort from Karim Ait-Fana,' he burbled. 'He scored from just outside the area and then ate grass... as you do.' In fact, the devout Muslim had gone down on his knees and pressed his forehead to the earth, to thank Allah and pray. Lineker was barely repentant. 'I'm sorry,' he said, 'but I'm not aware of every player's religion.' By then, it had long been obvious that many at the Corporation actively disliked him. When he and his wife of 20 years, Michelle, divorced in 2006, rumours of his dalliances were rife. 'He is a terrible flirt,' one unnamed colleague whispered. 'If there is a pretty girl, Gary will make a beeline. He is very solicitous.' Other rumours linked him to celebrities including Ulrika Jonsson and actress Cherie Lunghi, as well as Eimear Montgomerie, the ex-wife of golfer Colin. All these stories were emphatically denied, and there is no suggestion that infidelity was the cause of Lineker's marriage break-up. He and Michelle had four sons, and had won the sympathy of the nation when their eldest child, George, was treated for leukaemia as a baby in 1991. But Harry Thompson, the producer of They Think It's All Over, who died in 2005, remarked that he was taken aback by the attention the star paid to female researchers and make-up artists. Joey Barton, also a footballer turned pundit, tweeted that Lineker had a 'vast closet of skeletons'. A much more revered figure, former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, bristled when Lineker accused him of being childish in a dispute with the BBC. 'Gary Lineker says I'm childish,' the Scot snarled. 'Well, he should know about that – he's been subjected to a lot of stuff in the media himself and I know he's had stuff stopped from getting in newspapers. So he'll understand what childish means.' Some of the 'stuff in the media' included reports of racy texts exchanged with former BBC sports presenter Tara Stout. A few months later, she was back in the headlines for streaking through Soho in nothing but a pair of bikini bottoms, as a protest against a threatened eviction notice. For Lineker, the embarrassment of all this was followed by more sexy texts made public. Lineker, then 45, became close to a blonde PR girl, 23-year-old Kate Hallam. They were seen sharing candlelit dinners in London restaurants, and she spent nights at his bachelor apartment in Surrey. But the friendship ended abruptly after she allowed a pal to see some of the saucy messages from Lineker. In one, he compared a sex act to a Chinese takeaway. He sent her a sharp rebuke: 'You have obviously been indiscreet with your friends,' and broke off contact. Shortly after that, he met lingerie model Danielle Bux, 18 years his junior at 26. They married in 2009, though this hardly meant settling down – for his 52nd birthday celebrations, he ended up at Stringfellows strip club in the West End. The marriage didn't last. Danielle wanted children and Lineker flatly refused. After seven years, they divorced. His divorce with the BBC has been coming for a lot longer. So far, it has been icily polite, with most of the acrimony hidden behind closed doors. Whether it stays that way remains to be seen.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hugh Laurie to star in Apple TV+ thriller 'The Wanted Man'
May 7 (UPI) -- House actor Hugh Laurie will star in the upcoming drama series The Wanted Man. Apple TV+ announced the casting in a press release Wednesday. The Wanted Man is an eight-episode thriller from Lupin co-creator George Kay. The show "charts the rise and fall of Felix Carmichael (Laurie), the elusive and powerful head of notorious British Crime syndicate 'The Capital,'" an official synopsis reads. Carmichael is jailed after two decades on the run when he is "betrayed by one of his own." English actor Hugh Laurie displays his national flag of the United Kingdom socks during an unveiling ceremony honoring him with the 2,593rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI The character attempts escape and revenge. The series will also star Thandiwe Newton, Fionn Whitehead, Gina McKee, Hazel Doupe and Stephen Dillane. Apple TV+ has yet to announce a release date.
The Verge
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
May 7, 2025 at 11:29 AM EDT
Wes Davis Hugh Laurie will do crime in a new Apple TV Plus show. The Wanted Man will see Laurie play Felix Carmichael, the 'elusive and powerful head of notorious British crime syndicate 'The Capital,' according to Apple's press release. After going to prison, Carmichael learns he's been betrayed, and so decides to try to escape to exact revenge. The show comes from George Kay, who also created the Idris Elba-starring Hijack. The Wanted Man 's other stars include Thandiwe Newton, Fionn Whitehead, and Gina McKee. Apple TV+ announces new thriller 'The Wanted Man,' starring Hugh Laurie [
The Verge
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Hugh Laurie will do crime in a new Apple TV Plus show.
Wes Davis The Wanted Man will see Laurie play Felix Carmichael, the 'elusive and powerful head of notorious British crime syndicate 'The Capital,' according to Apple's press release. After going to prison, Carmichael learns he's been betrayed, and so decides to try to escape to exact revenge. The show comes from George Kay, who also created the Idris Elba-starring Hijack. The Wanted Man 's other stars include Thandiwe Newton, Fionn Whitehead, and Gina McKee. Apple TV+ announces new thriller 'The Wanted Man,' starring Hugh Laurie [
