History Series / HouseOfCardsUK

In 2013, {{Creator/Netflix}} released an [[CulturalTranslation American-set]] [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS original series based on the novel]]. The UK series airs on some Creator/{{PBS}} stations in the United States, and is also available on Netflix US alongside its US remake and in the UK it is a available on BritBox.

In 2013, {{Creator/Netflix}} released an [[CulturalTranslation American-set]] [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS original series based on the novel]]. The UK series airs on some Creator/{{PBS}} stations in the United States, and is also available on Netflix alongside its US remake.

** Benjamin Landless, the American proprietor of the corrupt right-leaning ''Chronicle'' tabloid shares a resemblance with Rupert Murdoch, the Australian proprietor of several corrupt right-leaning tabloids in {{Real Life}}, and the Canadian-born former owner of ''The Daily Telegraph'', Conrad Black.
** Booza-Pitt's style of dress is strongly evocative of ex-Tory, now UKipper Neil Hamilton, who ended up losing his seat in 1997 due to being involved in the Cash for Questions scandal.

** A rather odd example in the Health Secretary in the first series, Peter {{MacKenzie}}. Physically he looks very like John Major, who at the time the series was filmed was Chancellor of the Exchequer (though by the time it finished airing was PM). However apart from being a Conservative Cabinet member he doesn't seem to have much in common with him, being racist and considered an idiot by Urquhart.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The first series, while showing Urquhart advance through the Conservative ranks
** "To Play the King" has Urquhart picking a fight with and ultimately destroying the King after he speaks out against the disastrous effects of Urquhart's government's social policies.
** "The Final Cut" shows Urquhart willing to sabotage a peace settlement in Cyprus (which he had previously spearheaded) and [[spoiler:trigger a civil war in order to beat Margaret Thatcher's record for days in office]].

** A rather odd example in the Health Secretary in the first series, Kevin McKenzie. Physically he looks very like John Major, who at the time the series was filmed was Chancellor of the Exchequer (though by the time it finished airing was PM). However apart from being a Conservative Cabinet member he doesn't seem to have much in common with him, being racist and considered an idiot by Urquhart.

* {{Whitehall}}

** Booza-Pitt's style of dress is strongly evocative of ex-Tory, now UKipper Neil Hamilton.

* YourCheatingHeart: Subverted, as aside from Sarah Harding's marriage, most of the infidelity seems to be implicitly expected.
** Elizabeth Urquhart encourages her husband to enter affairs with other women if it is politically advantageous to do so. Mrs. Urquhart is quite fond of Corder and finds his services "useful", it is heavily implied that they have an affair with FU's knowledge.
** The attempt to blackmail Patrick Woolton with an audio tape of his affair with Penny infuriates his wife: not so much because of the affair (she implies that she met him under similar circumstances), but because he was stupid enough to get caught.
** Tom Makepeace and Clare Carlsen have a fairly open affair in ''The Final Cut'', though Makepeace does not seem to enjoy the tables being turned by his wife...

* AmbitionIsEvil: Urquhart's villainy stems from his desire to become Prime Minister, after being passed over for a cabinet position in the first series. This clear-cut motivation or motif becomes far more nebulous in the sequels as he engages in other schemes for more petty reasons, but the correlation between power and corruption is always there. It's rather telling that FU has a portrait of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte - who rivals Hitler as one of England's archnemesis - in his desk.

''House of Cards'' is a British TV show and book about Conservative Party whip Francis Urquhart (played by Creator/IanRichardson), a Machiavellian schemer who aims to become prime minister by any means necessary. Based in part on ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' and in part on ''Theatre/RichardIII'', this [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] series became very popular when during the original run of the first series, which depicts Urquhart's conspiracy to become Prime Minister after UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher resigns, [[LifeImitatesArt she actually did]] a mere ten days after the first episode aired.

''House of Cards'' is a British TV show and book about Machiavellian politician Francis Urquhart (played by Creator/IanRichardson), who aims to become prime minister by any means necessary. Based in part on ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' and in part on ''Theatre/RichardIII'', this [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] series became very popular when during the original run of the first series, which depicts Urquhart's conspiracy to become Prime Minister after UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher resigns, [[LifeImitatesArt she actually did]] a mere ten days after the first episode aired.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: In ''The Final Cut'', Booza Pitt suggests to Urquhart to attend his own 65 year-birthday party to show his cabinet that "you're still the biggest swinging dick in Westminster, FU, no question about it... If one's allowed to put it that way". Even though Urquhart doesn't usually suffer others' inane remarks gladly, he bursts out laughing at this one almost immediately.

** In The Final Cut, Francis himself begins facing near-unanimous calls for him to resign as Prime Minister after an incident in Cyprus ends with his orders to the army directly resulting in the deaths of several children. Plus, his own dirty dealings throughout the show are due to be revealed to the public. However, he never gets that far: his wife has him assassinated in order to save his reputation and her retirement fund.

** Urquhart in the series is a murkier matter. He denounces Patrick Woolton as a racist and anti-Semite during his narration in the first series, but dismissively refers to the King's personal assistant as "the black girl" in the second series -- although as he says this during a confrontation with the King, it is unclear whether he means it or is just trying to get a rise out of him.

** Geoffrey Booza-Pitt, who has a reputation as a harmless, somewhat buffoonish character, but is suggested to be much more clever than he looks. In the TV series he is undone by Urquhart's manipulations, but in the books his reputation lets him hang on in the succeeding ministry.

* PlayingBothSides: Clare Carlsen in The Final Cut, knowing that the leadership issue will come to a head, becomes Urquhart's private secretary, but maintains her close contact with Tom Makepeace, divulging information about one to the other with abandon. Her plan, [[spoiler: which she implies involves her becoming the succeeding PM of either, fails after the Cyprus massacre gives Makepeace a clear route to victory and forces him to disown her]].

** Benjamin Landless, the American proprietor of the corrupt right-leaning ''Chronicle'' tabloid shares a resemblance with Rupert Murdoch, the Australian proprietor of several corrupt right-leaning tabloids in {{Real Life}}, and the Canadian-born former owner of The Daily Telegraph, Conrad Black.

* BritishBrevity: A classic example. ''House of Cards'' is a grand total of twelve episodes long - three miniseries with four episodes each - produced over five years. By contrast, [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS the American version]] has four seasons with 13 episodes each, a fifth season confirmed, and no guarantee when the US series is expected to match up with the UK version's ending.

* BiTheWay: Charles Collingbridge, the brother of the first season's PM, is noted as being "not quite sure of his sexual orientation" when drunk, which would indicate some repressed bisexuality.

** When three yobs run Urquhart's car off the road and then get out of their own vehicle looking for a fight, Corder's subordinate shoots one of them dead, wrongly (but honestly) thinking he has a gun. He immediately realises his mistake and it's obvious that the other two are no threat - but Corder shoots them in cold blood anyway.

** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]], quite literally, in ''To Play The King'' - The King decides to embark on a meet'n'greet tour through Britain without his security detail (to manifest his reputation as a 'people's monarch' and to build popular support against PM Urquhart). Urquhart, in return, exploits this by arranging a [[FalseFlagOperation 'summer theatre']] in which the King gets 'kidnapped' by a group of paid thugs and then be 'rescued' by the British Army at Urquhart's behest, making him look like a hero and the King look wreckless and naive.

* EvilIsPetty: Urquhart occasionally indulges in petty malice. When Collingridge tells his cabinet he has decided to resign he asks them to keep it secret so he can announce it on his own terms later that day. Urquhart leaks it to the press as soon as the meeting ends, causing reports to pursue Collingridge before he announces and robbing him of what dignity he had left.