See Also: House of Cards, The Final Cut

1994 British 4-part TV mini-series; the sequel to House of Cards, it starts with Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson) apparently having achieved everything he had planned; well, so we would surmise from the first series, but as the saying goes, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely - now he has his eye on controlling not only the seat of Prime Minister and the government beneath but indeed controlling the throne too. The Queen has recently died and a very Prince Charles-esque King is installed. Unfortunately the new King does not exactly see eye to eye with Urquhart on the way the country is being run; poverty is rampant, and a gas explosion at a block of flats provides an opportunity for the King to rout Urquhart in the press. The spiral as it goes leads Urquhart to attack the King from several angles, who tries to defend himself through slick PR, but eventually has to give in and abdicate; leaving his son (remarkably like Prince William) as King; Urquhart had his heart set on this because he saw that a young King would be easy to control.

As in the first series Ian Richardson is nothing short of wonderful as Urquhart; his wry asides to camera continue, and his rampant villainy is as extreme as the prior series; but his past does come back to haunt him, and he does show some moments of apparent weakness, but never fear, you know he's going to come through in the end through something sinister.

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