Last night we watched House of Cards, a BBC-produced mini-series from 1990, since it turned out that my mother-in-law hadn't seen it, and I got reminded what a wonderful, wonderful little series it is. It's about a (hopefully fictional!) British politician by the name of Francis Urqhart. At the start of the series he's the Chief Whip of the Tory party, which has just won a general election. He has been promised a cabinet post, and when he doesn't get it he gets pissed off and decides that he's had enough of waiting. He then proceeds to lie, manipulate, blackmail and generally act like a complete and utter bastard until he has what he wants. Urqhart is probably the most fantastically entertaining bad guy I've ever seen, and it certainly doesn't hurt that he's being masterfully acted by Ian Richardson.
It's unfortunately not out on DVD, but only on VHS. There are two follow-up mini-series, To Play the King and The Final Cut, in which we get to see more of his even nastier wife.
It's unfortunately not out on DVD, but only on VHS. There are two follow-up mini-series, To Play the King and The Final Cut, in which we get to see more of his even nastier wife.