House of Cards

Reviewer: Dylan de Thomas
Rating (out of 5): ****½

With Tony Blair stepping down as the long-time Prime Minister of Great Britain and his replacement, Gordon Brown, spending the weekend with W. at Camp David, I thought it would be a good time to recommend the excellent House of Cards trilogy of miniseries, starring veteran British actor Ian Richardson as the fictional Prime Minister Francis Urquhart.

House of Cards, the first of the three series (the other two are To Play the King and The Final Cut), with its perfect blend of Macbeth and Richard III, of humor and drama, is the best--though once you start watching, stopping is hardly an option. The most obvious influence on the character is the aforementioned Richard, with his gleeful, cool, perfectly-reasoned badness and regular catchy audience-addressing. One halfway expects Urquhart to start speaking of his winter of discontent at any moment.

The story begins with the struggle to fill the vacuum in the Conservative party following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher. Urquhart is the Tory Whip - the guy tasked with keeping those in the party in line behind the leadership. After a candidate viewed as a weak kitten is given the job - and Urquhart is passed over for a cabinet position - he starts plotting the new Prime Minister's demise. The entire enterprise is devilish and delightful, as Urquhart uses blackmail, coercion and murder to make his way to the top.

All three miniseries were adaptations of novels by Michael Dobbs, a former Chief of Staff for the Conservative Party HQ, and he uses his experience to create a feeling of verisimilitude that's palpable. Sometimes it feels as if - and this is high praise - you're watching a particularly saucy edition of Prime Minister's Questions on C-SPAN (oh, if only our President had to take pointed questions from Congress once a week, in public no less).

The writing is dense and fascinating and the actors are all top-notch, as Richardson clearly knows that he has the role of a lifetime in Urquhart and strides through the entire enterprise with a sureness and relish that's infectious. Which is the best way to describe watching the three mini-series: addictive. Once you start, it's very hard to stop.

See Also: Yes, Prime Minister, Richard III (or this one), Advise and Consent.