Headscratchers / House of Cards (UK)

When does The Final Cut take place?

The first two episodes of The Final Cut establish that the incident on Cyprus in 1956 was "over 40 years ago" and that the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 was "almost 25 years ago", which narrows the timeframe down to some time between 1996 and 1999 (probably either 1997 or 1998). But then the third and fourth episodes establish that Urquhart is about to exceed Margaret Thatcher's record in office as Prime Minister — given that Urquhart came to power in 1990, that would mean The Final Cut is set in 2001. It's a contradiction.

• Not at all. Margaret Thatcher is said to have "four straight wins" - i.e 1979,1983,1987,1991,with her leaving office in 1992. Urquhart spends one day longer than her on office, so his time in office ends in 2005-7 (depending on how quickly Collingridge was in and out of office - realistically, that wasn't less than 6-8 months given that he fought an election). Ironically, this timing makes the Cyprus oil gambit actually fit in with real life given what oil/gas prices were doing around that time...
  • But that doesn’t match with the 1996-to-1999 timeframe given by the historical events on Cyprus. That was the point. It is a contradiction.

Why doesn't Evanghelos Passolides know where his brother's bodies are?

Evanghelos Passolides, the Greek Cypriot man who believes (correctly) that Urquhart murdered both his brothers in 1956, states that he saw it happen (this is also the only way he could possibly have known that the killer was Urquhart) without being seen himself, yet he appears to have no idea where their graves are and is actively looking for them. During the flashbacks to the murder, it appears that Urquhart tortured, killed, burned and buried the men, all in the same place. Since Passolides was supposedly present, he should know where this place is.

• Perhaps he fled, traumatised, and could never find the exact place when he tried to go back?