History Creator / MichaelDobbs

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: In ''The Final Cut'', Urquhart and the Cabinet go to see a production of ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar''. The director, who hates Urquhart (quite probably because he is said to have abolished the Arts Council) goes out of his way to ensure that the actor who plays Caesar is heavily made-up to resemble Urquhart. For his part, F.U. recognises this and goes out of ''his'' way to indicate that he finds this to be ActuallyPrettyFunny, to the director's annoyance.

* The Francis Urquhart trilogy; a.k.a. the ''House of Cards'' trilogy

* BardOnBoard: The Urquhart novels draw heavily on ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' and ''Theatre/RichardIII''.

* ParentsAsPeople: In ''The Lords' Day'', the American President and the British Prime Minister are both put through the emotional wringer by the fact that their sons (both of whom are only children) are not only among the hostages, but singled out as the first ones the terrorists will execute. [[spoiler: This impairs their political judgement in several ways; the epilogue states that the Prime Minister resigned shortly after the siege, although the President went on to get re-elected.]]

** ''House of Cards'' (1989) -- made into a TV miniseries in 1990

* The Francis Urquhart trilogy
** ''House of Cards'' (1989)
** ''To Play the King'' (1992)
** ''The Final Cut'' (1994)

[[folder:Works by Michael Dobbs]]
!! The Francis Urquhart trilogy
* ''House of Cards'' (1989)
* ''To Play the King'' (1992)
* ''The Final Cut'' (1994)

!! The Tom Goodfellowe trilogy
* ''Goodfellowe MP'' (1997)
* ''The Buddha of Brewer Street'' (1997)
* ''Whispers of Betrayal'' (2000)

!! The Winston Churchill novels
* ''Winston's War'' (2002)
* ''Never Surrender'' (2003)
* ''Churchill's Hour'' (2004)
* ''Churchill's Triumph'' (2005)

!! The Harry Jones novels
* ''The Lords' Day'' (2007)
* ''The Edge of Madness'' (2008)
* ''The Reluctant Hero'' (2010)
* ''Old Enemies'' (2011)
* ''A Sentimental Traitor'' (2012)
* ''A Ghost at the Door'' (2013)

!! Standalone novels
* ''Wall Games'' (1990)
* ''Last Man to Die'' (1991)
* ''The Touch of Innocents'' (1994)
* ''First Lady'' (2006)
[[/folder]]

Michael John Dobbs, Baron Dobbs of Wylye (born 14 November 1948) is a British author and politician. He is best known for his first novel, ''House of Cards'', which was adapted into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUK a popular (and very timely) TV series]], which was later remade into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS an even more popular TV series with an American setting]]. Dobbs, once described as "Westminster's baby-faced hit man", worked closely with two Prime Ministers — UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher and UsefulNotes/JohnMajor — and was [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever ennobled]] in 2010.

** Being an overweight, left-of-centre politician from a working-class background (in particular, his having been a sailor in the Merchant Navy) whose career has been blighted by a sex scandal, Archie Wakefield in ''The Lords's Day'' is basically an older John Prescott (Tony Blair's deputy).

Michael John Dobbs, Baron Dobbs of Wylye (born 14 November 1948) is a British author and politician. He is best known for his first novel, ''House of Cards'', which was adapted into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUK a popular (and very timely) TV series]], which was later remade into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS an even more popular TV series with an American setting]]. Dobbs, once described as "Westminster's baby-faced hit man", has worked closely with two Prime Ministers — UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher and UsefulNotes/JohnMajor — and was [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever ennobled]] in 2010.

Michael John Dobbs, Baron Dobbs of Wylye (born 14 November 1948) is a British author and politician. He is best known for his first novel, ''House of Cards'', which was adapted into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUK a popular (and very timely) TV series]], which was later remade into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS an even more popular TV series with an American setting]]. Dobbs, once described as "Westminster's baby-faced hit man", has worked closely with three Prime Ministers — UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, UsefulNotes/JohnMajor and UsefulNotes/DavidCameron.

** In ''The Lords' Day'', Harry Jones works out that, although the terrorists are in it more for revenge than Islamic fundamentalism, they were put up to the job by [[spoiler: a former KGB spy who now lives in London]]. However, there is in fact [[spoiler: a man ''behind this man'', who at the end is revealed to be Robert T. Paine, the American Ambassador who wants revenge for the death of his only son in Afghanistan.]]

Michael John Dobbs, Baron Dobbs of Wylye (born 14 November 1948) is a British author and politician. He is best known for his first novel, ''House of Cards'', which was adapted into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUK a popular (and very timely) TV series]], which was later remade into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS an even more popular TV series with an American setting]].