Paging Dr House…

Our girl’s telly obsession saved her dad’s life

As I laid the table, a familiar theme tune played from the telly in the other room…

It was 9 May, and my daughter Kodie, 19, was in the living room watching yet another episode of her favourite show, House, the hit medical drama starring Hugh Laurie as Dr Gregory House.

She had all the DVDS and would watch them back to back. My hubby Barry, 56, was in the kitchen having a cuppa when, at around 5.30pm, Kodie wandered in to chat with him. Suddenly, there was a loud thump, and Kodie started screaming, ‘Dad! Dad! Dad!’. I rushed into the kitchen to find Barry sprawled on the floor. His face was white and his body was bright red. He wasn’t breathing. Kodie was ringing 999… ‘We need to do CPR,’ she said. I’d done a first-aid course 25 years ago, but now I was struggling to remember what to do. I began, muddling through in a panic, but Kodie interrupted. ‘You’re doing it wrong, Mum,’ she said, kneeling down with me. ‘You’re not doing it hard enough.’ I didn’t