"House of Cards" (1990) TV series

User Rating:

9.1/10   

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

31 March 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Francis Urquhart, Chief Whip, manipulates things and people to achieve his ambitions in the Houses of Parliament...

Plot Keywords:

Chief Whip | Parliament | Reporter | English Politics | Party Leader

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 3 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Ian Richardson	...	Francis Urquhart (4 episodes, 1990)
Susannah Harker	...	Mattie Storin (4 episodes, 1990)
Miles Anderson	...	Roger O'Neill (4 episodes, 1990)
Alphonsia Emmanuel	...	Penny Guy (4 episodes, 1990)
Malcolm Tierney	...	Patrick Woolton (4 episodes, 1990)
Diane Fletcher	...	Elizabeth Urquhart (4 episodes, 1990)
Colin Jeavons	...	Tim Stamper (4 episodes, 1990)
Damien Thomas	...	Michael Samuels (4 episodes, 1990)
William Chubb	...	John Krajewski (4 episodes, 1990)
Kenneth Gilbert	...	Harold Earle (4 episodes, 1990)
Christopher Owen	...	McKenzie (4 episodes, 1990)
David Lyon	...	Prime Minister Henry Collingridge (3 episodes, 1990)
Kenny Ireland	...	Ben Landless (3 episodes, 1990)
James Villiers	...	Charles Collingridge (3 episodes, 1990)
Isabelle Amyes	...	Anne Collingridge (3 episodes, 1990)
John Hartley	...	Greville Preston (3 episodes, 1990)
Nicholas Selby	...	Lord Billsborough (2 episodes, 1990)
Tommy Boyle	...	Stephen Kendrick (2 episodes, 1990)
John Arnatt	...	Sir Jasper Grainger (2 episodes, 1990)
Richard Braine	...	Kevin Spence (2 episodes, 1990)
Hugh Dickson	...	Dr. Andrew Christian (2 episodes, 1990)
Angela Rippon	...	Newsreader (2 episodes, 1990)

Runtime:

UK:50 min (4 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:12

Filming Locations:

Grand Hotel, Kings Road, Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Ian Richardson said he based his performance of the scheming Francis Urquhart on the way Shakespeare portrayed Richard III.

Quotes:

[repeated line]
Francis Urquhart: Me? Well, I'm just a backroom boy.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Peep Show: Jurying (#3.5)" (2005)

Jacobean drama for the 1990s

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!