House of Cards

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This article is about a television show, for the pastime, see House of cards. For the 1993 movie, see House of Cards (1993 movie).

House of Cards

Directed by	Paul Seed
Produced by	Ken Riddington
Written by	Andrew Davies Michael Dobbs
Starring	Ian Richardson Susannah Harker
Music by	Jim Parker
Distributed by	BBC
Release date(s)	November 18, 1990
Running time	4 x 50 minutes
Language	English
IMDb profile

House of Cards was a political thriller novel written by Michael Dobbs, a former Chief of Staff at Conservative Party headquarters, which was set at the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as British Prime Minister. In 1990, it was televised in a critically and popularly acclaimed television drama serial by the BBC, for which it is probably better known. The story was adapted by Andrew Davies. Dobbs's novel was also dramatised for radio for BBC World Service in 1996, by Neville Teller.

1 Overview
2 Plot
3 Trivia
4 Notable differences from the book
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Overview

In it, the fictional Chief Whip, Francis Urquhart (the initials, "F.U.", were deliberately chosen), played on TV by Ian Richardson, is seen engaging in all the skulduggery of power politics, including murder, in his efforts to become Prime Minister. Susannah Harker plays Mattie Storin, the journalist who has an affair with Urquhart. There were two sequels: To Play the King in 1994 and The Final Cut in 1995. Like House of Cards, both were also based on Dobbs's novels of the same names; however, it appears that Dobbs did not envisage writing the latter two books initially, since his ending to House of Cards differs from that of the BBC's dramatisation. The differing script allowed Dobbs to then continue the series.

Frequently during the drama Urquhart talks through the camera to the audience, breaking the 'fourth wall'. The drama also introduced the phrase "You might say that - I couldn't possibly comment" which was frequently used by Urquhart whenever he was asked a question to which he wanted to reply "Yes" but could not be quoted on. House of Cards draws heavily from Shakespeare's Macbeth and Richard III, both of which examine issues of power, unbridled ambition and corruption. Indeed, Richardson said he based his performance of the scheming Francis Urquhart on the way Shakespeare portrayed Richard III.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

House of Cards starts with Francis Urquhart sitting at a desk, commenting that "nothing lasts forever, even the most glittering reign must come to an end." He is referring to Margaret Thatcher, who in the House of Cards universe has just left office. This then requires that the Tories (for whom Urquhart is an MP and Chief Whip) elect a new leader. This new leader is Henry ("Hal") Collingridge, a decent man of whom Urquhart is secretly contemptuous ("no backbone and no bottom").

Their new leader chosen, the Tories then face the next election. They win by a narrow majority of around 24 seats and Urquhart expects to be given a senior position in the Cabinet afterwards. However, the newly elected PM does not give Urquhart a senior post, wanting him to remain Chief Whip. This antagonises Urquhart, who then resolves to get rid of Collingridge. To do this, he enlists the services of one of the Tories' PR consultants, Roger O'Neill, a former Irish rugby international who now has a cocaine habit that had been funded by his Tory expense account. Urquhart, as Chief Whip, threatens to expose this unless O'Neill does as he says.

O'Neill, a charming but unstable man, then works to undermine Collingridge. O'Neill gives an opposition MP some information that would make Collingridge look bad at Prime Minister's Questions. He also sets the scene for Urquhart himself to pose as Collingridge's alcoholic brother Charles, so that he can trade in Mendox Chemicals, a company about to benefit from the government. As a result of the latter, Collingridge becomes accused of insider trading and this, combined with his eroding image and his bad showing at the Brighton Party Conference, eventually force him to resign.

The second half of House of Cards then deals with the way Urquhart gets himself chosen as Leader of the Tories and Prime Minister. At first pretending to be unwilling to stand, he eventually announces his intention to run and goes about making sure his competitors can't win, with the help of his friend and underling, the weasel-ish Tim Stamper (played by Colin Jeavons). His rivals are eliminated as follows:

Harold Earle — Education. Blackmailed into withdrawing by pictures involving him, a rentboy and an act of fellatio.
Peter MacKenzie — Health. Hit by bad PR after an incident staged by Urquhart involving his car running over a disabled person, forced to withdraw.
Patrick Woolton — Foreign Secretary. Blackmailed into withdrawing by an audio tape of him having sex with a woman colleague of Rogers'.
Michael Samuels — Environment. The ablest of Urquhart's rivals, Samuels has his reputation tarnished when it is leaked that he was in favour of homosexuals, nuclear disarmament, and communism in his student days (the old Tory point of view frowned on these things).

Roger O'Neill himself becomes increasingly unstable, both due to his cocaine habit and the fact that a journalist, Mattie Storin, who has been following Urquhart (and indeed sleeping with him) is beginning to figure out that all of the events of the story are the work of Urquhart and, by extension, Roger. In the end, Urquhart kills Roger by getting him drunk, then mixing his cocaine with rat poison while Roger sleeps. When Roger wakes up, he leaves the Urquhart residence, takes the cocaine in the lavatory of a motorway rest-stop, and dies.

House of Cards ends with Mattie Storin looking for Urquhart at the point when it looks like his victory is certain. She eventually finds him in the Roof Garden of the Houses of Parliament, where she confronts him. He admits to what he has done, then asks whether he can trust her. Despite Mattie saying yes, he says he doesn't believe her and throws her off the roof, killing her. This is where the ending of the TV series differs from the novel; in the latter, it is Urquhart that falls to his death, knowing that Mattie will not hide her information. The book did not contain a romance between Mattie and Urquhart, as the dramatisation did.

[edit] Trivia

Main character Francis Urquhart played by Ian Richardson

There is a roof terrace which is three floors up from the House of Commons. The terrace overlooks Star Chamber Court where Post Office vans park.
By complete chance, the first BBC showing of the series exactly coincided with the real life Tory leadership contest: the dramatic removal from office of Margaret Thatcher.
There is a mathematical error in the election results as reported. Collingridge's government has a majority of 100 seats and we are told that they lose about 70 seats, leaving them with a majority of 30. Presuming that "majority" means "overall majority" as is usual then, since every seat lost by one party is a gain for the others, a loss of 70 seats from a 100-seat majority would actually result in a 40-seat deficit (although Collingridge might still lead the largest single party).

[edit] Notable differences from the book

In the book:

Mattie Storin does not have a relationship with Urquhart or even talk with him frequently; she does have a sexual relationship with John Krajewski.
Urquhart's wife is called "Miranda" and is an extremely minor character, not sharing in his schemes (in To Play the King and The Final Cut, however, she is called Elizabeth and plays a more major role, as was the style of the BBC drama).
Tim Stamper does not exist (although Dobbs introduced him in To Play the King).
Urquhart is much less self-assured and decisive.
Earle's rent boy appears in person at an important speech of his, distracting him; subsequently, Earle is harassed by reporters who have been told of his indiscretion.
At the end, Urquhart threatens to kill Mattie Storin by hitting her with a chair, but refrains in a fit of cowardice, and jumps off the roof to his death after she leaves the roof garden.
Urquhart never speaks directly to the reader; the character is written solely in a third-person perspective. In the series, he regularly speaks directly into the camera to his viewers.
The Party conference was in Bournemouth not Brighton.
Mattie Storin worked for The Telegraph not The Chronicle.

Many who have both read the book and seen the series consider the latter to be superior, owing to these differences.

[edit] See also

A Very British Coup (a similar drama of fictional contemporary British politics from another perspective)
Politics in fiction
House of Cards (film) (House of Cards was also the name of an American movie (external link) starring Kathleen Turner and Tommy Lee Jones.)