Hugh Laurie's life off-screen with wife and 3 children who followed in his footsteps

Warning! Spoilers lie ahead of The Night Manager season two… 

Hugh Laurie shocked BBC viewers with his surprise return to The Night Manager as the villainous Richard Roper in season two. While viewers were led to believe Roper had been killed in the previous season, they later learned that he had survived capture and conned his way out, ultimately coming face-to-face with protagonist Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston).

© BBC/Ink Factory/Des Willie

As the season finale airs on BBC One on Sunday night, with Hugh also serving as a producer on the series, we thought we'd take a closer look at the Blackadder, Sense and Sensibility and House star's life off screen with his wife and children, who briefly followed in his footsteps.

Who is Hugh Laurie married to?

Hugh, 66, is married to Jo Green, with whom he has been for more than 35 years. While Jo reportedly worked as an administrator, she largely remains out of the spotlight.

The pair are said to have met before Hugh starred in the hugely successful BBC comedy A Bit of Fry & Laurie, in which he appeared alongside Stephen Fry. Jo and Hugh tied the knot in June 1989, with Stephen serving as best man and later becoming godfather to all three of the couple's children.

© Alamy Stock Photo

Meet Hugh Laurie's three children

Hugh and Jo share three children. Their eldest, Charlie, was born in 1988, followed by William (Bill) in 1991, and their youngest, Rebecca, in 1992.

Considering Golden Globe-winner Hugh's impressive résumé – which includes House, Tomorrowland, Flight of the Phoenix, All the Light We Cannot See and 101 Dalmatians – it's perhaps no surprise that his children briefly dipped into acting when they were young.

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Charlie appeared as a baby in an episode of A Bit of Fry & Laurie alongside his father and godfather. Rebecca played a young version of Vivian in Wit, which starred Emma Thompson, while Bill had a small role in Hugh's sitcom Fortysomething.

Although they each had minor roles early on, it seems acting was not something they pursued into adulthood.

Hugh Laurie's life away from the cameras

Hugh tends to keep details of his family life private, but he has shared snippets over the years.

Speaking to the Daily Record in 2012, Hugh reflected on the time he spent away from his family while filming the medical drama House. The hit show ran from 2004 to 2012 and was filmed in LA, where Hugh lived for around nine months of the year, while his family reportedly remained in North London.

"It's a very difficult thing," he said, adding that he called his children every day before heading to work. "I constantly marvel at how grown-up my children are, how grown-up they're being about this. I worry about parenting at this sort of distance, but they are being so generous and so cool about it that – I mean, it might be because they're English, and they won't reveal their psychological damage until they're in their late forties."

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Meanwhile, in a 2010 interview with Daily Mail, Hugh revealed: "I wouldn't say that doing the series has made my marriage easier. Better? I don't know about that either. Doing weekly TV is like joining the Navy and going on the other side of the world for ten months of the year. 

"But the truth is that whatever challenging situation you're in, somebody somewhere has got a much more extreme version. So I think one ought to shut up and not moan about it."  

The Night Manager season two finale lands on BBC One at 9 pm on Sunday, and can be streamed on iPlayer.