British actor Hugh Laurie refuses to accept his TV show HOUSE is a big hit - because he's too busy to leave the studio.

The star, who has been nominated for a Golden Globe tonight (16JAN06), admits he is baffled when TV executives show him the viewing figures.

Laurie says, "I have no real sense of its success because I never get to meet anyone I'm not working with. I have no sense of anyone watching it; I'm not sure it's even on the air.

"They show me these pieces of paper with numbers on them and I can't make head nor tail of them. They say, 'We've gone up five per cent in the left-handed six-year-old vegetarian market, which we are really excited about.'

"They gave me one yesterday with the numbers for the show that went out on Tuesday night. There was only one number I could see that had increased and I got really excited. It turned out to be the date."