House House's Cuddy: 'I became baby obsessed!'

House actress Lisa Edelstein - best known as Dr. Lisa Cuddy - talks babies, Brits and bedding Rob Lowe...

Your character Cuddy suffered quite a setback to her adoption hopes last week, didn't she?
"Things fell apart because the birth mother decided to keep the baby. It was a really sad episode with an intense ending. It was one of my favourite scenes between House and Cuddy. She was in so much pain and was finally on his level. For that moment, they saw each other with absolute clarity."

Why is House so against the idea of her adopting?
"He's very jealous of her attention being shared by somebody else. He's her baby."

Has the baby storyline made you broody?
"I started getting a little baby-obsessed for a while but I don't think it has anything to do with the series. It has more to do with my age."

Do you think it can ever work for Cuddy and House?
"It depends on how you define 'work'. I think it's been working; they aren't warm, fuzzy people. They have a really great relationship the way it is and if you throw sex into the mix, the dynamic isn't going to get any easier. But neither of them would want it to be. They enjoy being sandpaper for each other."

What kind of relationship do you have with Hugh Laurie?
"We're wonderful friends. He's a really sweet, loving guy, very earnest, very hard-working. I admire him and he makes me laugh."

How is your English accent?
"Pretty good. If I imitate my ex-boyfriend from a long time ago I have an excellent English accent. He said these horrible things to me that really stuck in my head."

Oh dear. Did he put you off British men forever?
"No, I like a good Brit."

Your dad's a doctor. What does he think of the show?
"He just offers very random complaints. In one episode I felt House's pulse and I said it was 127. Apparently, when you're feeling someone's pulse, you'd come up with something that's divisible by four for some reason. It would never be 127, so that ruined the scene for him."

Who would be your ideal guest star?
"I only wish that Clint Eastwood was playing House's dad, but they had already cast his dad in the very first season, but it should have been Clint."

How did you start out on TV?
"I got a job hosting a show on MTV which I hated. I felt like an idiot doing it, but I was broke and it got me a good agent."

What was it like starring in The West Wing?
"That was a great moment in my life, because I was madly in love with Rob Lowe in high school. It was such an achievement to find myself in bed, in my underwear, with Rob Lowe."