House of Cards (1990)

Directed by

Paul Seed

Genre

drama television series

Country

United Kingdom

Length

1 season, 4 episodes

Rated

TV-14

Rating

8.1 of 10 from 161 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A Conservative Party chief whip in Britain schemes to bring down the new prime minister and take power for himself after Margaret Thatcher's resignation. He uses a young reporter to leak damaging information as part of his careful plan.

calculatingmanipulativetensedarkpoliticalcerebralruthlessslow-burn

What happens

House of Cards is a 1990 British political thriller television serial in four episodes, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was televised by the BBC from 18 November to 9 December 1990. Released to critical and popular acclaim for its writing, direction, and performances, it is considered one of the greatest British television shows ever made. The story is centred on the sudden and manipulative rise to power of the fictional chief whip of the Conservative Party, Francis Urquhart, a ruthless and Machiavellian politician. Urquhart, on the party's right wing, is frustrated over his lack of promotion in the wake of Margaret Thatcher's resignation and the moderate government which succeeds it. He conceives a calculated and meticulous plan to bring down the new prime minister and succeed him, on the same lines as William Shakespeare's play Richard III (which Urquhart often quotes). During this drawn-out and ruthless coup, his life is complicated by his relationship with a young female reporter named Mattie Storin, whom he uses to leak sensitive information in confidence. The question of whether the serial's ending is a tragedy (in the same vein as Shakespeare's Macbeth) is left to the viewer. Andrew Davies adapted the story from the 1989 novel of the same name by Michael Dobbs, a former chief of staff at Conservative Party headquarters. Neville Teller also dramatised Dobbs's novel for the BBC World Service in 1996, and it had two television sequels (To Play the King and The Final Cut). The opening and closing theme music for this TV series is entitled "Francis Urquhart's March", by Jim Parker. House of Cards was ranked 84th in the British Film Institute list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes in 2000. In 2013, the serial and the Dobbs novel were the basis for an American adaptation set in Washington, D.C., commissioned and released by Netflix as the first ever major streaming service television show. This version was also entitled House of Cards, and starred Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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• A Very British Coup (1988)
• The Chief (1990)
• Die Kinder (1990)
• The Thick of It (2005)
• The Final Cut (1995)
• The Gravy Train (1990)
• Yes Minister (1980)