WATCH THIS: Hugh Laurie naked!

Got your attention, eh? The cranky workaholic from House gets to be a blithering husband and dad in the British comedy import Fortysomething, a breathless six weeks of farcical fun.

(Check local public TV listings. In New York, Fortysomething airs on WLIW/21 Tuesday nights at 10:10 ET. In Philadelphia, it's WHYY/12 Sunday nights at 7 ET.)

Laurie not only stars but directs half the episodes of this 2003 limited series about a midlife crisis gone gonzo. He's distracted as a general practitioner with a peculiar partner, as a husband whose smart wife (Anna Chancellor of MI-5) may or may not be cheating on him, and as a father whose growing sons are getting more than he is. Every time he turns around, some bizarre kind of craziness breaks loose in his household or workplace, but he's too uptight to loosen up himself. Which doesn't explain how he ends up dressed as a Muslim woman or holding a variety of sex toys.

Did we mention that in the midst of all this accelerating lunacy Laurie strolls the street without clothes on?

I wrote a longer appreciation of this treat when it came out on DVD. You can read that review here. Then tune to the six hourlong episodes, or do the discs. You get to hear Laurie's natural British voice and savor his innate comedic flair. His 1980s British sketchcom partner Stephen Fry (A Bit of Fry and Laurie) even shows up, playing a cranky fishmonger.

There's much more to Hugh than House.