George Clooney's final episode of ER after five years in the show was screened on NBC on Thursday night to an audience of 35m people, ending speculation about how he would leave.

But the paediatrician's departure was a controversial one. Dr Ross left in disgrace after he helped to assist the death of a terminally-ill boy after the child's mother begged him to put him out of his suffering.

The episode was the conclusion of a two-part cliffhanger. Last week he was shown racing to the scene of an accident, but ended up in a crash himself.

Dr Ross won fans through his unconventional methods and his womanising. One woman he slept with on a one-night stand had a drug-induced seizure in his apartment and died.

Clooney is now reportedly planning to work on a semi-autobiographical comedy called Kilroy - about an aspiring actor struggling to make it big in Hollywood.