House of Cards Online

One night I happened to be channel surfing looking for the next sci-fi, action, horror thriller when I happened upon PBS's broadcast of the BBC's "House of Cards." I put down the remote for a good 4 hours because what I was experiencing was something truly special. "House of Cards", of course, does not have aliens or chainsaw wielding maniacs. "HOC"'s monster is instead someone frightfully believable. Thanks to Ian Richardson's amazing performance, one can believe such a monster exists and can become PM or President. I won't beat the Shakespeare comparison horse (other users have done so and you can read their comments) but Mrs. Urquhart could easily hold her own in a series focused solely on her. Indeed, all of the characters are well-written and not dumbed-down to the viewer. If only American TV had the guts to produce something like "House of Cards" and let it end instead of dragging it on forever like the American version of "Queer as Folk." That aside, Dobbs and Davis have written a nice tidy political thriller which made me hunt down the DVD years after I saw the TV showing and made me recommend the trilogy to all my friends. I say give "House of Cards" and the sequels a try. Your remote and your intellect will thank you for it.

This is no doubt one of the best TV drama serials I've ever seen. I got it on DVD and it was so well-done that I saw the first installment (House of Cards) during one night, and the following two installments (To Play the King and The Final Cut) the following two nights. I just could not stop watching it until it was finished. It is very suspenseful, in addition to being intelligent, revealing, and I must say quite cynical. It is based on the book of the same title by Michael Dobbs, who has been a political insider and was at one point Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. He clearly knows the kinds of things that can happen in the highest echelons of power.

If one is to choose the single best thing in the serial, it is no doubt the performance by Ian Richardson. He is a highly capable and versatile actor and this may well be his best performance. It is really priceless to hear him saying "You might very well say that, I couldn't possibly comment" throughout the series. All the other actors are excellent, the screenplay is of the highest quality, and the whole production is exceptional.

"House of Cards" is an entertaining and frightening tale. Ian Richardson, playing the intelligent and ruthless Francis Urquhart, immediately draws the viewer into the tale with his wry comments to the camera, discreet confidences just between the two of you, and compels you to accompany him as the tale moves from an amusing political fantasy to something altogether darker.

The writing and acting is spot on (I must give kudos to Susannah Harker whose fine performance as Mattie Storin has, I think, been overlooked by many viewers), and the pace of the show doesn't slow until the final, shocking end.

I am constantly recommending "House of Cards" to friends, to the point of hosting viewing parties at my place every few months, and I'm not tired of watching it, yet! :) I find that anyone who enjoys such pieces as "I, Claudius" or any other involuted, political drama, will enjoy "House of Cards".

This film is excellent (10+ stars).

The characters are well cast. All the acting is excellent (there is not a bad actor in it, all are good). The directing, and especially script writing is well done (excellent).

The film drags you in so that at the end of the hour of each episode you would crawl naked across poison ivy just to watch the next episode. Although at first it may seem unusual that he talks to you; you will soon grow to love it!

With a devious wife, a brilliant affair and a whole crew of supporting actors this movie deserves awards!

This is without any doubt the best political thriller I have so far seen. Not only does everything seem so chillingly possible, I also think the actors are great, especially Ian Richardson. What I liked best was the end - it is different than the ending in Michael Dobbs' book. One should of course despise Francis Urquart, but his charm makes that very difficult. House of Cards is a must!

I'm a sucker for both British television and political thrillers in general. So having heard much about this miniseries, the first of a trilogy of miniseries's, I have been looking forward to seeing this for some time. Having seen it, I found that my expectations have not only been reached but surpassed as well. House Of Cards is one of the finest examples of the political thriller that you are likely to see anywhere.

If there is any single element that makes this miniseries as much of a success as it is, it is lead character, Francis Urquhart as played by actor Ian Richardson. Richardson plays Urquhart as a modern day (modern day being an alternate version of late 1980's or early 1990's UK) version of Shakespeare's Richard III. Urquhart is a man who,as the Chief Whip who feels unappreciated by the Prime Minister he helped to elect, sets out to bring down the Prime Minister, and then take the job of for himself. Like Richard III, Urquhart does this by laying out traps, rumors and blackmail while all the while delivering soliloquies to the audience relaying them to us the viewer. For all intents and purposes, Urquhart is a man we should hate as he does all of those things. Yet it is Richardson makes this work incredibly well and makes Urquhart a man who is ruthless yet immensely charming and likable nonetheless. It is a compliment to Richardson and his skills that he can make it all work, especially the soliloquies, while being evil yet charming all at the same time.

Backing Richardson is a fine supporting cast as well. There's Diane Fletcher as Urquhart's wife who, like Lady Macbeth, pushed her husband and his plans along which makes her a character that is almost as fascinating as her husband. There's Susannah Harker as the young, attractive reporter Mattie Storin who begins using Urquhart as a source before they start going in a dangerous direction which leads to an incredible finale. There's Miles Anderson as Roger O'Neill and Alphonsia Emmanuel as his girlfriend Penny Guy who both end up snared by Urquhart's traps and end up victims of that. There's Colin Jeavons as Urquhart's protégé Tim Stamper who has a marvelously sleazy feel to him. Last but not least there's David Lyon as the targeted Prime Minister Henry Collingridge and James Villiers as his brother Charles, who end's up being part of Urquhart's plans. Theses are only a few of those amongst others in what is a fine cast backing a great leading man.

House Of Cards is also blessed with fine production values as well. There's some fine production design by Ken Ledsham who creates the worlds ranging from the Houses of Parliament, 10 Downing Street, press rooms and beyond. There's the cinematography of Jim Fyans and Ian Punter which brings a fine sense of atmosphere and shadows to the world of the miniseries. There's also the music by Jim Parker, especially with the main title and end title pieces which serve as a perfect start and closing to the four episodes of the miniseries. All of this, under the direction of Paul Seed, makes for some fine production values to the miniseries.

Last but not least is the script. Andrew Davies adapts Michael Dobbs novel into a fine political thriller about the effect of power on one man and how far he will go to gain power. There is a definite Richard III vibe running throughout the entire miniseries as Urquhart decides to seize power and begins to lay plans to do so. As a consequence, the plot can get fairly complex at time with Urquhart playing numerous plans at once which will require the viewer to pay just a bit more then perhaps they usually would. Also, Davies knows how to write fine dialogue especially for Urquhart including the famous line "You may think that, but I couldn't possibly comment." The script never fails to deliver right up to the shocking finale.

House Of Cards is a fine example of what the political thriller can be. From the performance of Ian Richardson as Urquhart, the performances of the supporting cast, good production values and a fantastic script as well. It is a complex story with a complex protagonist that takes a look at power and its ability to corrupt and how far one will go to achieve it and is a fine one at that.

I found the series at Best Buy (House of Cards, To Play the King and The Final Cut) all packaged together. I was really excited, because I think this is one of the best to come from the BBC. Ian Richardson was superb. Wicked and cunning. I watched the first installment the other night and was glued to my chair for 4 hours. I highly recommend this series.

"The House of Cards", based on a novel by Michael Dobbs, is a television series that is based upon one character's use, abuse and manipulation of the political system to achieve his own political goals.

Ian Richardson's performance as the malevolent Francis Urquaht is outstanding and the standards of acting in this series are upheld by Susannah Harker and Diane Fletcher.

This series of political intrigue and deception is an excellent one and I wouldn't recommend missing an episode.

That is one of the many great quotes from this film. Ian Richardson plays the character of Francis Urquhart for all it's worth, and the rest of the supporting cast is quite stellar. Paul Seed does a competent job of the direction, and has a good talent for photographing faces.

The way the Francis frequently comments (breaking the 3rd wall so to speak) encourages viewer participation, and I found myself agreeing with him, or even yelling at him during the course of the film.

If it ever comes on television, do yourself a favor and watch this one. It is long (clocks in at about 4 hours, 1 hour per episode), but it's certainly worth your while. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next part in the series, "To Play the King", which I've heard is just as good.

Attention: spoilers ahead...

FU is definitively the greatest villain ever. If you think of him as such, anyway. Ian Richardson himself deserves a Knighthood for this work of art! When I watched the whole trilogy I found myself looking at FU as a modern-day Rasputin: mysterious, women can't resist his appeal, his fate is similar (assassinated) and he was able to climb the ladders of power, assuming complete control of his position.

And for those who can compare them, this trilogy is far better, in my view, than 'The Godfather' and even 'Once Upon a Time In America'. I've never seen anything quite like this, really...it gives you a completely realistic perspective on corruption and/or corrupted politics, and each scheme set by FU is itself worth watching. There's also some dark British humour in all this, which is absolutely delightful and prevents the episodes from being boring. And it introduces beautifully the ultimate 'participative narration', as FU makes the viewer the only person he can ever trust. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. If not, go see it right away.

I could write about this forever. But I'd rather not :] I'm looking forward to read the books, and I rate the whole trilogy 10 stars. And is it really worth 10 stars? 'You might very well think that...I couldn't possibly comment.'

Altho scheming and malevolent, Francis Urquhart (FU) rightly sees that the new programs of compassionate-conservatism that his new Tory Prime Minister is themeing his government on is doomed to plunge the British nation back into the bad old days, with large doses of cradle-to-grave State Nannyism and Labor Unions controlling the direction of the economy, to the assured detriment of all that is productive. He also sees the necessity of respect for law-and-order as well as family- values, then proceeds to violate both great ideas in order to gain the office of PM for himself, as he dumps, blackmails, intimidates and embarrasses rival office-seekers along the way. His schemes put and end to the tenure of his current PM, with mildly-tragic side-effects...once the PM (Collingridge) is on his way back into private life, the audience realizes that it's for the best and even inwardly laugh at the man's self-induced misfortunes, as does FU, who tells us in narration "He was in the trap and screaming" from the moment he took office. Using a running and most trenchant series of direct into-the-camera appeals to the audience, FU (his nickname in the party is a very understated and appropriate pun) demonstrates that neither the Socialist-Light McKenzie nor the uncouth Bully-Boy Pat Woolton nor the Closet-Queen Harold Earle nor the "too young and too clever" Michael Samuels are going to do any good for the people. Only FU is capable of suavely and ruthlessly applying a rigorous regimen of self-reliance and toughening which most Western Societies have veered away from, much to their peril. As we proceed to the next internal election for PM (as the Brit system operates), Urquhart picks off each rival for the head office as would the strongest knight at a medieval jousting event! The triumphant knight keeps his visor down and his colors furled, so no MP running for office has any idea who it was who unhorsed him! Those who are in- the-know about most of all of these successful FU plots, e.g., the dependent and addictive Roger O'Neill (done to weak-kneed perfection by the great Miles Anderson) and Elizabeth Urquhart can either be trusted or not...and we soon surmise how long O'Neill is going to last. Many comparisons are made on this board of Mrs. FU to Lady MacBeth, but I disagree. She's played as a very upper-class Englishwoman, but her whole attitude is more like Phyllis Dietrichsen in "Double Indemnity" crossed with that of Mrs. Minniver (total amorality coupled with total devotion to her spouse and to her country!). "A politician needs a wife" FU tells us in an early scene....later we find out how much indeed he does. Interesting too is the love story of "Little Mattie" for Urquhart. A self-deluded, innocent newspaperwoman, Mattie Storin, falls for FU just as completely as the audience does. FU, to her misfortune, does not fall for her. He is merely attracted to her youthful loveliness and what good she (an up and coming political-beat reporter) can do for his suddenly-erupting career. The audience anticipates Mattie's future disappointment and FU's completely-scheming nature when she reveals, at the outset of their affair, that she wants to call him "Daddy". FU for once is floored and stutters a bit. Are his future sins about to catch up to him? What will those future sins amount to? We're intrigued and frightened. The plot drives on at all times. We're disgusted and exhilarated at the same time. We find that we're admonishing ourselves for sympathizing with this most vile and attractive man as he gives us a birds-eye view of the development of his most-cynical and heartless persona. It's just as if we're back at Twelve Oaks, cheering for Rhett Butler as he embarrasses Scarlet and thwarts her designs on Ashley. Urquhart as Rhett is shaming and courting Dame Brittania as Scarlet, convincing her eventually that the weaker Ashley Wilkes (liberalism with all it's sensitivity & caring) isn't half good enough for a woman of her "passion for living." That's the real love-story here, Leader for Nation and vice versa, and in the end, two dead bodies and several broken hearts later, Urquhart gets the object of his heart's desire!

(Some spoilers).

With many a nod and wink to Shakespeare's MACBETH, we are introduced to the dark manipulations of Francis Urquhart of the British House of Commons. Snubbed by the prime minister leading his party, and urged on by his malevolent wife, Urquhart embarks on a subtle master plan to depose the prime minister and rise to head Britain's government. So canny and devious is Urquhart's planning that the prime minister never knows what hits him; indeed he clings to his destroyer Urquhart as his only friend in what seems to be a world of traitors. The queen-pawn of Urquhart's game is an energetic, ambitious young reporter named Mattie Storin.

Most movies that have bad guys as protagonists fall flat with me (i.e. PAYBACK, PULP FICTION, THE FRENCH CONNECTION). To be successful, such movies need to give the villain a generous helping of some redeeming characteristic that makes him or her interesting. In THE GODFATHER movies, this characteristic is loyalty. In HOUSE OF CARDS, it is intelligence. Francis Urquhart is not a nice guy, and he eventually shocks both us and himself with how far he is willing to go to obtain his seat of power, but the sheer intelligence and complexity of his schemes compels our admiration. In addition to its direct debts to MACBETH, Andrew Davies' cunning screenplay borrows the Shakespearian device of having our bad guy speak soliloquies to the audience. This is hard to get away with, but Davies pulls it off with a charm reminiscent of RICHARD III or OTHELLO, and with more than a little help from Ian Richardson's beautifully dry acting. Not many actors could survive Paul Seed's seemingly insatiable appetite for closeups, but Richardson always leaves us wanting another look at that smug smile.

The dry and amused contempt for politics this movie conveys is a timeless but always welcome message. There is one telling scene where a candidate for prime minister and his wife receive an audio tape of him in a sexual liaison with his mistress. The wife remarks that she is not shocked; after all, the tape is fairly similar to how she herself met her husband. HOUSE OF CARDS is superior to its two sequels in that actual political issues play almost no role in the doings of the politicians; it's all about personal reputation and trading of favors and influence, and the two parties appear virtually identical. In contrast, TO PLAY THE KING and THE FINAL CUT are both savage, and not very effective, attacks on the ideology of Britain's Conservative party, suffering from the same difficulty American Republicans have had in convincing the voters that things are going badly for people under Clinton's administration; thus, unlike HOUSE OF CARDS, both sequels are limited in relevance to a particular time and place. Also, Seed's penchant for shots of rats, apparently intended to liken them to the characters, is just overdone. Is there a clause in BBC contracts that movies have to be a minimum of six hours long?

But carping aside, the film is wickedly witty and just plain fun. Not only is Richardson giving the performance of a lifetime, but Susannah Harker does a beautiful job blending innocence and ambition, and Diane Fletcher makes me want to see her play Lady MacBeth someday. Is this the finest movie of political intrigue ever made for TV? You may very well think that - I couldn't possibly comment.

Rating: ***1/2 out of ****.

I've been hearing for years how great the House of Cards BBC series is but like a lot of other things in life, watching the series was something I always meant to do but never got round to it. Then I read the books by Michael Dobbs, found the books awful to read and went off the whole trilogy. But when I came into some money recently, I decided to take a chance and finally watch the series and by God, I'm glad I did! Forget the books! The TV series rules! This is almost 11 hours (3 DVD's) worth of top quality entertainment. My life ground to a halt for two days because I was addicted! This is the kind of drama that makes the BBC world-famous. Nothing can beat it.

Ian Richardson plays a show-stealing performance as Francis Urquhart, the government Chief Whip, who lies, cheats and tramples his way to Downing Street, leaving bodies, wannabe leaders, and carnage in his wake. The first in the series "House of Cards" sees Urquhart being snubbed and passed over for promotion by the Prime Minister Henry Collingridge (who I'm convinced is an imitation of John Major!). Urquhart vows revenge and we watch as he engineers Collingridge's downfall. Urquhart runs for the leadership and after a nasty battle with rivals, he wins by cheating & blackmail. The ending to Part One is shocking and shows how far Urquhart is prepared to go to get what he wants. The ending to part one is something which is constantly brought up in parts 2 & 3.

The next in the series, "To Play the King" is I think the best of the three. Urquhart is securely installed at number 10 when the Queen vacates her position (it isn't made clear whether she dies or abdicates). Anyway, the next in line is the King (clearly imitating Prince Charles) and Michael Kitchen plays a fantastic King who decides that he is more important than the Prime Minister. He and Urquhart butt heads as each one tries to assert their authority over the other, and it isn't helped by the King's advisors who egg him on to directly confront Urquhart. Again, the ending to part two is shocking and brutal as Urquhart decides to silence those who are plotting against him.

The last in the series, "The Final Cut" shows Urquhart in his 11th year as Prime Minister. He is set to beat Mrs Thatcher as the longest serving Prime Minister but the public are tiring of him and want him out. His Foreign Secretary, Tom Makepeace, challenges his authority and Urquhart fires him for it. But instead of silencing him, being fired makes Makepeace decide he has nothing to lose and he decides to force Urquhart out. Meanwhile, Cyprus is about to get a peace agreement and Urquhart decides that he could use the situation to make a little pension fund for himself and also silence Makepeace into the bargain. But he never counted on a secret from his past to come back to hurt him...the ending to "The Final Cut" is both stunning and unexpected.

A few little comments - there are some small differences between the books and the TV adaptation. But I think that the changes are for the better. I never liked how the books were written. Richardson breathes life into the character of Urquhart and the story changes make the stories BETTER, not worse. We also see how scheming and manipulative Mrs Urquhart is, and the thug of a protection officer, Corder, who is assigned to protect the Prime Minister. In each of the series, we see that Urquhart's ultimate downfall is due to the female company he keeps. Each woman is a Judas and a Brutus, ready to stab him in the back.

I especially like how Richardson often speaks directly into the camera as if he is directly talking to the viewers. It's as if he is bringing you into his conspiracies and asking you to take part in his dirty work. Urquhart is devious, ruthless and will do whatever it takes. You will cheer him on and root for him as he takes on his enemies like a pit bull terrier.

Oh and look out for Colin Jeavons as Tim Stamper. You'll recognise him as Inspector Lestrade from the Sherlock Holmes episodes.

So is it worth getting this DVD? To quote the Right Honourable Francis Urquhart MP, "you might very well think that but I couldn't possibly comment!"

Daniel Baker has mentioned echoes of Macbeth in HOC. One of the many clever things about it and its two sequels was the liberal use of quotations from Shakespeare and other dramatists of the period (I think I caught some from Middleton's "The Changeling").

After all, this really is Jacobean drama set in the 1990s!

The public, be it in the United States, Europe or Britain, often see their political figures at press conferences or in front of large crowds offering endless platitudes through endless speeches. Occasionally, the public sees the interesting discourse which occurs during the Prime Ministers Questions in the British Parliament or the speeches made on the floor of the House or Senate in the United States. What the public doesn't see is the internal relationships between many of the key players, and how either great achievements or small missteps can either make or break promising careers. But most of all, we the public almost never hear the internal thoughts of political operatives.

The BBC's "House of Cards" gives us something we probably will never be able to enjoy in real life: the actual thoughts of someone working within the most powerful circles in politics. Ian Richardson plays Francis Urquhart, the Whip of the British Conservative Party who has taken hold of Parliament and the seat of the Prime Minister after Margaret Thatcher. In politics, "the Whip" is typically an informal position in party politics designed to keep other party members in bounds. He is there for counsel but also for discipline. From the very first, Urquhart speaks directly to us, an unseen constituency who has been privileged to hear what a leading politician really thinks about his fellow colleagues and even his thoughts about the system itself. While outwardly, Urquhart supports all the members of his party, inwardly he tells us his thoughts about all the contenders to leadership, including how he views the present Prime Minister Henry Collingridge.

Urquhart desires to influence the highest levels of his political party but seems uninterested in attaining the position of Prime Minister. As the Whip of his party, he must not only keep all elected party members in line but enact damage control if any member involves him or herself in behavior which could escalate into a scandal. To help, he allies himself with a young but precocious journalist, Mattie Storin, played brilliantly by Susannah Harker. The party Whip and the journalist form a strange but trust-worthy bond, a relationship almost like an uncle and niece. Urquhart believes by trusting someone in the press, he can at least have some influence on how the press handles the inner-workings and dealings in Parliament, be they success or failures.

Most of the series involves the many behind-the-scenes shenanigans the public rarely sees, let alone knows about. While politicians always present a facade of cool confidence and determination, we see the men behind the curtains. Their weaknesses, doubts, and hypocrisies are laid bare as if we, the audience, have been allowed to sneak inside the corridors of power. For example, a party member is caught using party funds for a cocaine habit. The Whip decides to use political black-mail to acquire his full political support. In exchange he expunges his financial record but threatens exposure if the member/addict ever breaks out of line. Things begin to heat up when the journalist learns that private research reveals the Conversative Party is in trouble with the public and must decide if there will be an internal coup d'etat.

A thoroughly compelling, excellently acted series which paved the way for the West Wing almost 10 years later. However, unlike "the West Wing", the main players are revealed as being all-too human. The Prime Minister has his doubts in the face of dwindling public support which is fueled by the exposure of a scandal. And the Whip begins to realize, partly with the help of the young journalist, that he may be underrating his own leadership qualities.

If there is anything we can glean from "House of Cards", it is as the title suggests. Politics is a house of cards, a game of subtlety, delicacy and intense strategy. Players must make their moves slowly, with precision and deftness. Well-thought-out moves can not only help the party but help the country. Hasty and ill-conceived moves can hurt party reputation and lead to losing elections. At any moment, if not played right, the cards will topple.

Heard nothing but great things about 'House of Cards', and 'To Play the King' and 'The Final Cut', and saw it to see how it compared with the US version of the same name. That show was brilliant for most of its run, but its final season saw one of the most severe declines in television in recent years. The UK version's crew in front of the camera and behind the scenes had talent that was immense.

Will always hold the US version in very high regard, or at least for the first four seasons, but to me this is superior and more consistent in quality. 'House of Cards' is superlative viewing, seeing British talent at its best, and some of the best television of the 90s. While there has been the odd gem here and there in recent years, like the period dramas and David Attenborough's nature documentaries, there has been very little on this level of brilliance. Whether it's a good or faithful adaptation of the source material feels completely insignificant, deviations are numerous and some are major but the spirit and attention to character and mood detail are present.

Visually, 'House of Cards' looks wonderful and full of elegance and atmosphere in the design and class and style in the way it's filmed. It's also beautifully scored by Jim Parker, and the direction lets the atmosphere and drama breathe but still never undermines the momentum.

Andrew Davies also deserves a lot of the credit. The script has dry cynicism, sharp wit, dark bite and class, with some deservedly iconic lines that have since become part of popular culture. The nation's mood is brilliantly captured and the political elements are handled so truthfully and don't feel shoe-horned (it's actually essential here) or heavy-handed. The storytelling is ceaselessly compelling throughout the whole four one hour episode duration, hooking one in and never letting go despite not being a series that deliberately and wisely doesn't move "fast". The ending stays with you for how it effectively shocks.

Pitch perfect casting also plays a large part. Cannot add to the vast amount of magnificent adjectives summing up the role of a lifetime acting of Ian Richardson. Have always liked him, but this is his most famous role for a reason, he has never been better and it is hard to see anybody come to his level. It is very easy to overlook the rest of the cast and say they're in the shadow, they may not dominate like Richardson does but they are just as good.

Susanna Harker has an affecting charm and Diane Fletcher also impresses in a role that sees a side of her that one wouldn't associate with her. Miles Anderson's acting here is some of his best too, he's never had a meatier character since.

Overall, really brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I of course binge watched the equally excellent Netflix 'House of Cards' and felt I should give this series a view. I'm glad I did because this series is actually far more effective than it's remake. Both are dependent on their lead characters and above any thing else they are character studies in the spirit of 'Richard III'. Kevin Spacey's Frank Underwood shares the qualities of Francis Urquhart in that they are both bold and power hungry. Ian Richardson though does not wear it on his sleeve in quite the same way Spacey does. Urquhart is all the more terrifying a character because he feels so much more alien. Richardson's Urquhart has nothing in him but ambition and rage. What we have here is a hardened sociopath who has fine tuned himself as a master politician with the British parliament as his weapon. It is a great acting achievement. Even though we know exactly what Francis Urquhart is, Richardson must always hide the knife. It is the mark of a great actor to never know the exact manner of how and when Richardson will plunge that knife. This is perhaps the most endearing aspect of 'House of Cards'. That he is so charming as he lures us in just makes everything all the more unsettling.

Ian Richardson is perfectly cast in this role. I totally believe and buy the conceit that this man has been set to the side all these years as merely a cog in the Conservative party system. He isn't handsome and on the surface he doesn't have the magnetic persona that a career in politics hinges on. Of course Urquhart is all about the layers of the man. This is a multifaceted character and so Richardson has to find ways to develop each piece. Urquhart lives and breaths his mantra of "You might very well think that but I couldn't' possibly comment". Never do we see the poor rage we know boils under the surface. Ever a consummate politician Urquhart's poker face is completely intact. Acting subtext is one of the greatest challenges an actor must face and Richardson is an absolute master. The most powerful example of this comes in the beginning of the series where Urquhart is passed over for a position in the cabinet. Richardson's face is dead still and yet the tension and desire is pure to be seen. The scene ends with a close up of Urquhart squeezing his hands to a crack. It's brilliant and entertaining.

Surprisingly we like Urquhart and Richardson makes great strides to make us like him. He is introduced to us in the most blatant reference to it's spiritual ancestor 'Richard III' through internal soliloquies and dialogues with the audience. The script clearly casts the audience as Urquhart's co conspirator in his quest for power. This is something that could on face value be played for fear or revulsion but we have to like Urquhart for this to work. Urquhart who has shown nothing but contempt for anybody but himself throughout the series is warm with the audience and above anything else treats them as his intellectual equal. He casts himself as a necessary evil in this world of endless politics and we believe him because of the cunning of Richardson's performance.

The brilliant ending of this first piece of the series has Urquhart leaving the audience with one final address. In the last ten minutes of the final episode Urquhart has committed his worst atrocity. On his way to Buckingham Palace he finally talks down the audience and puts up his defense mechanism, meaning that we were merely a pawn in his own game rather than a co player. It's not necessarily shocking or unpredictable but you really are taken a back by it. Richardson's charisma brings you dangerously close to a Machavellian madmen. Richardson like his character's mastery of deception and charm make Urquhart an all too real master villain who has the audacity to back stab the very audience.

More than 20 years after its release, House of Cards still manages to thrust a steely rapier under the viewer's skin, its view of the hostile British political maneuverings of Urquhart and his kind both riveting and shocking. By the end of four hours, Francis Urquhart had ruined several lives, brought down a prime minister and murdered two people. He then proceeded to take out a reigning monarch. Ian Richardson's performance, as Parliamentary Chief Whip Francis Urquhart, is delightful: he IS F.U. Anybody else can only pale by comparison (sorry Kevin!). Urquhart played by Ian is ruthless and immoral, but also a very capable executive, who is right about some important policy questions while his well-meaning rivals and victims are wrong.

Do yourself a favor and WATCH the original before watching the American version.

Francis Urquhart is a senior member of the British Government. He expects a promotion when the new Prime Minister, Henry Collingridge, takes office and is bitterly disappointed when this does not take place. He sets in motion a plan to usurp Collingridge and become Prime Minister. Part of his plan involves manipulating a junior political reporter, Mattie Storin, in order to gain more favourable press coverage than Collingridge. This works well initially but then Storin starts digging into recent political events.

Superb political drama. Very intriguing and highly plausible with some very sharp dialogue. The political machinations are quite believable. Quite Shakespearean in its wheels-within-wheels, examinations of the worst parts of human nature and outcome.

Great performance by Ian Richardson as Urquhart. He embodies all that is to be loathed, and yet grudgingly admired, about politics, and does so with a cunning charm and spot-on delivery. Good support by Susannah Harker as Mattie Storin.

I much preferred this, the original House of Cards, to the far more famous recent US version. The US version seemed all about Machiavellian machinations just for Machiavellian machinations' sake. There was no point to many of the intrigues and sub-plots, other to fill up space. This, the UK version, was much more focussed, was far less gratuitous in its scheming and knew when to stop.

When I first watched the U.S. Series of House of Cards, i was surprised to learn that not only was it based off a book, but also another BBC Miniseries. Whet i found was not only a good miniseries, but perhaps ones of the finest television series ever put to film. House of Cards U.K. is most impressive and gripping considering how short it is and how much story there is. Thanks to clever writing and a powerful performance from Ian Richardson, this is one of the best.

After Margaret Thatcher's departure as Prime Minister of England, Chief Majority Whip Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson) seeks a higher office after years of learning the deepest secrets and ins and outs of politics. However when is double crossed by the spineless new P.M. Hal Collingridge, he sets out to ruin the P.M. and take power for himself. He assembles the desperate band of scoundrels and spins the web of political drama that may very well be dangerous for unsuspecting members of Parliament.

This series, based on political writer Michael Dobbs' best selling novel, is a prime example of how well balanced a political series can be without getting bogged down in the minutiae. Much like The West Wing, we are given a very complex situation and setting, and yet we are able to follow it because just enough is explained for us to know whats really happening. Andrew Davies' writing is some of the best I have ever heard in media, and really set a high bar for Beau Willimon when it came time for him to write the U.S. Series, but thats for the next review.

The best element of this series is Urquhart himself. He is played by a little known British actor named Ian Richardson, and by gum he hits out of the stratosphere. He is a very calculating man who always seems to hit the right note when he has to. What makes him even more interesting, when he shares his little asides with the audience (a wonderful idea), is that he can be a warm and quite funny individual, like a charming uncle you would visit every so often. He never once gnashes his teeth or ever goes over the top as most villains would. In fact he's very subdued and stoic, making him all the more intimidating when his lackeys must do his bidding.

When your dealing with a book the size of the Bible and turning it into a mini-series, a lot of stuff must be left in or left out to make it dramatically compelling. In the case of House of Cards U.K., just the right amount of both political jargon and human elements are left in. Sometimes it takes a second viewing to rally catch whats going on and how they are trying to deal with the situations Urquhart has spun beyond their control. It all builds up to a rather exciting conclusion which i wouldn't dream of spoiling.

This is one of the best no questions asked. I do hope that the U.S. Series will make people aware of this truly outstanding series and they will at least give it a view. As to whether this will become quite as popular as the newer one, I couldn't possibly comment. Enjoy!

I recently watched the first season of the Netflix show House of Cards and it reminded me that I had never actually seen the version which the BBC made even though it is held in high esteem. I tried to put all of that to one side in approaching the show because it is not the perfect show that some would have you believe. Instead it is a very enjoyable slice of cynicism and humor which plays out much better in a shorter run than the US version had to deal with. We join the Conservative Chief Whip Francis Urquhart as his party enters a leadership race to replace the outgoing Thatcher. Supportive of the new man, Urquhart is deeply offended when Collingridge decides that he will make no changes – depriving Urquhart of a cabinet position. With his gentlemanly exterior hiding a much darker heart, Urquhart sets out to bring down the Collingridge government from the inside, and position himself for a new job.

The shorter run and the cold British tone to this show helps the narrative because it makes it much sharper and tighter; okay it moves maybe a bit too fast at times but generally it is engaging and surprisingly satisfying in how it moves. It was screened at a time of political change and general frustration with politics (a feeling that continued into the grey years of Major and probably contributed to the massive swing towards Labor and Blair a few years later), and there is a certain gleefulness in the writing as it scandals opposition and goes beyond where required. Although it presents itself as realistic, this dark sense of humor does help the viewer to get through moments where it is most unrealistic (the hands-on approach of Urquhart sometimes feels a bit daft) and mostly it is engaging because it does it with conviction. As a satire it has a lot of teeth; okay some of the shots of rats scurrying is a bit heavy-handed, but it is infrequently used and generally the show manages to feel bitter in a way that the US version did not ever quite manage to sell.

Much has been said of Richardson in the lead and he is a delight. His clipped English gent and superiority makes the character work very well, and he makes for a very engaging and entertaining lead character. There is a downside to how good he is, and this is that the rest of the characters and cast do not quite stand up to his level. This is mainly in the writing because none of the other characters ever feel like they are even close to being his equal – whether in the hapless politicians in his sights or in the journalists who seem to take a very long time to catch on. That said there are solid performances from Harker, Anderson, Emmanuel, Fletcher and others, it is just that Richardson has the best material and the best performance.

It takes liberties with realism but it does it with a dark sense of humor that helps it work; moving slickly through twists and turns it has an enjoyable cynical coldness and drollness to it, all of which is perfectly captured by Richardson in the lead.

An absolute masterpiece in political philandering. Politics is poison. Politics is perversion. Politics is treacherous intercourse between any man and any other person, any woman and any other human with only one objective: to seize power, to retain power, to "make history" as if they could, not understanding that power is illusive and evasive, and history is not made by anything or anybody because history is and nothing else. What makes it is unknown of everybody. Big Ben here is only to dictate the time of the beginning of each episode, 9:22 a.m.

The general idea is that a plain apparatchik of the conservative party manages to push aside the successor to Margaret Thatcher, the longest- serving peace time Prime Minister, who was too weak for the job, and he becomes nothing but the brute of the job who uses young women to get his inspiration, kills them as soon as they could become dangerous, and is in fact entirely manipulated by his own wife, a new Lady Macbeth who even manages to make him confront the new king and force him to abdicate.

What's the best part of it is that it is thrilling to follow the actions of this apprentice sorcerer and to see how he manages any situation to his own advantage and yet is heading right into the wall because to succeed too long becomes dangerous for your own health in the British system where only the sovereign can last long because he or she is not supposed to play politics. It is thrilling because we know the only end can be his failure when the wall of success will become so hard that he will have to be eliminated for the simple survival of the political system.

Yet you will learn only in the very last scene who the manipulator of it all is and what his or/and her intention is too. And it is true the series is intelligent enough and well enough done that you cannot know who that manipulator is though we see his/her black gloves at crucial moments but the episode systematically mislead you to believing it (he/she) is someone else.

The series is also a very good criticism of British democracy based on the free press that is as free as a tornado in a narrow and deep gorge between two very high mountains. The press is in fact on a very short leash: make money with news and make the news if necessary to make money, like Citizen Kane used to say. Parliament is an amazing maze of corridors and staircases, a comfortable bar and a House of Commons with only one interesting session, Questions to the Prime Minister, every week or maybe more often. This Parliament is a farce in many ways, at best a circus for gladiators who have no right to kill one another but who can bruise their own and respective egos in all possible ways.

It is so easy to make the public believe what you want them to believe when you can pull the strings that hold the press. And then you can always manage someone to get killed here and there, now and then, who is embarrassing or annoying the big masters.

I am so glad I am not engulfed in such an ugly activity. And yet I am sorry everyday because of them because they terrorize my own life all the time with their own caprices and incompetence. After that you sure will loathe politics, or at best want to be one of the few who can control the game.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

It takes a lot to make Rove and bush seem like complete amateurs at the political game of deception, but Francis does just that. He is more Machiavellian than hopefully any man could be... and yet the series rings with such truth. Seekers of power will let nothing get in their way...what's a little murder or two or three. There are three parts to this work, filmed from 1990, 1994 and 1995. They were presented on BBC and PBS then. All three are brilliant not only for the writing, intrigue and perceptive look at human nature, but also for Ian Richardson's superb acting. I usually don't like it when the actor addresses the camera. But in Richardson's case, he easily convinces me that he is addressing me, directly, not the camera. It's a true gift. And his performance, with facial expressions which are so precise, so accurate, so revealing... is a great joy to watch. He is incomparable. If I were running an acting school, I would get this series, 10 hours long in toto, and have my classes watch them over and over. There is no better teacher than a great Shakesperean actor. I rarely give a "10." This work deserves every bit of it.

"POSSIBLE SPOILERS" This is a brilliant drama focusing on the exploits of Conservative whip Francis Urquart, who after being passed over for promotion to the cabinet orchestrates a vendetta against his fellow ministers until he comes out on top. Ian Richardson is superb in the lead role, and rightfully won a Bafta for the part. His asides to the camera are often very funny. There are also some other excellent characters, particularly Henry Collingridge, the innocent party leader who is forced to resign over a scandal, and Patrick Woolton, the Minister of Defence who seems to hate all of his colleagues. Unfortunately, the ending has been ruined by numerous showings on TV nostalgia shows, but it remains chilling and memorable. This is excellent, as are it's overlooked sequels, To Play the King, and The Final Cut.

WARNING: MILD SPOILER: Most English-style political thrillers are free of heroes, and 'House of Cards' is no exception. In this, the first and best of a series adapted for TV by Andrew Davies from the books of Michael Dobbie, a former Conservative party PR person, the strong trample the weak and the devious outwit the straightforward. Francis ('I'm just a backroom boy') Urquhart, as played by the ever-smiling Ian Richardson) is an engaging old Scottish Tory monster, and we can't help but admire his scramble to the top from the unlikely office of Chief Whip, even if he does leave a couple of dead bodies in his wake. He is ably assisted by his wife, a latter-day Lady Macbeth (Diane Fletcher), who is prepared to tolerate, nay encourage, Francis engaging in a little dalliance with a young female reporter (a doe-eyed Susannah Harker) for tactical reasons, and Stamper (a wonderfully slimy Colin Jeavons) Francis' assistant Whip, who, like Francis, likes to put a bit of stick about.

Ten years later, this mini series seems as fresh as ever (it appeared while Maggie Thatcher was still PM but was fortuitously set a few years into the future). But then politics doesn't change much – Machiavelli (Francis' favourite author) is just as relevant as he was 400 years ago. Throwing reporters off the roof of the Palace of Westminster may seem a little extreme in this day and age but only 20 years ago the then leader of the Liberal Party in Britain was put on trial for conspiring to murder a hairdresser who was attempting blackmail. Dobbie, having worked for the Conservative party, certainly puts the knife in himself – no-one in the cabinet is fit to be there and the only decent man, Charles Collingridge the prime minister (David Lyon), is clearly not going to be around much longer. The trouble is, 'F U' (get it?) is so personable that you get the impression that a ruthless charming right-wing manipulator is what the country needs. Well of course the country does get him, and his further political adventures are chronicled in the succeeding series, 'To Play the King' and 'The Final Cut'. Fine Friday night entertainment.