History Series / HouseofCardsUK

* 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.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Urquhart himself, at least in the novel, is portrayed as casually dismissive of, amongst many other things, foreigners (almost immediately identifying an Indian-born constituent as trouble, and having campaigned against foreign students taking away British university spots in the past) and Jews (once describing the Jewish MP Samuels as a a "latter-day [[UsefulNotes/BenjaminDisraeli Disraeli]]").

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Urquhart himself, at least in the novel, is portrayed as casually looking down upon, amongst many other things, foreigners (almost immediately identifying an Indian-born constituent as trouble) and Jews (once describing the Jewish MP Samuels as a a "latter-day [[UsefulNotes/BenjaminDisraeli Disraeli]]").

''House of Cards'' is a British TV show and book about Machiavellian politician Francis Urquhart (played by Ian Richardson), 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.

** In the novel, the King abdicates on his own discretion and announces that he will stand for parliament and oppose Urquhart as a democratically elected MP. However, thanks to retcons between books, this isn't mentioned in the final part of the trilogy. The series two finale has Urquhart explaining why this is a bad idea, once again. See TheReasonYouSuck speech above.

** It should be noted that the Conservatives having a majority that late and Thatcher dying that soon weren't necessarily alternate universe in 1995, when the last series was actually released; by the same logic, 2001: A Space Odyssey would be set in an alternate universe. The fact that FU was PM instead of John Major, though, does make this trope apply in earnest, after all.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Tim Stamper. Though some background dialogue suggests he and his wife are looking for schools for at least one child, so his rather fey manner may not have anything to do with his sexuality.
** On the other hand it was not unheard of in British politics for gay politicians of the time to put up a Family Man charade, so it's entirely possible that's what [[TheBeard the wife and child were part of]].
** It's made considerably less ambiguous in "To Play the King" where Tim tears up a bit [[spoiler:as he explains to Sarah that he was turning over the incriminating tape after holding on to it for so long]] because he felt he had been used, and unfairly so, by Urquhart.
-->"All I wanted was to serve him. To be close to him."

* AllMenArePerverts: A refreshing aversion in ''To Play the King'' when [[spoiler:David Mycroft brings Ken Charterhouse back to his apartment. Ken asks for sex, but David, who has recently separated from his wife and is just starting to become comfortable again with his true orientation, declines, saying he hasn't slept with a man "since school." Ken doesn't seem to mind, and the two men decide to simply cuddle instead]].

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Urquhart describes [[SmugSnake Patrick Woolton]] as, "A lout, a lecher, a racist, an anti-semite and a bully." He's also genuinely haunted by murdering Mattie, and doesn't really deny the King's accusation that he's a monster

* {{Gayngst}}: [[spoiler:David Mycroft]]
* GenderBlenderName: Mattie, presumably it's short for Matilda but she's never referred to as such. Penny, with only the name to go on, assumed Mattie was a man. Author Michael Dobbs apparently lifted the name from [[http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/names/2013/02/02/matt-storin-house-cards-yes-and/8xFLJVskNatHiedGqhDvTP/story.html?s_campaign=8315 a male collegue at the Boston Globe]].

-->'''Billsborough:''' He's got a good heart...dull dog, but sound as a bell...he'd never stab you in the back, however much he disliked you.
* IdiotBall: Man of the people or not, it's most unwise for a King to tour the country without a real security detail. Not surprisingly, FU quickly sees an angle and exploits this temerity.

** Patrick Woolton is described as a racist, but never says anything indicating this. He has an affair with Penny (a black woman) yet oddly it is Roger (her long-term partner) that appears to fetishise her race, not Woolton.

* KarmaHoudini

** [[spoiler: His wife, [[LadyMacbeth who has been his willing accomplice throughout the series,]]]] apparently escapes any repercussions.

* YouBastard: Urquhart's asides to the camera help implicate the audience in his schemes; even though everything he's doing brings him a hop, skip and jump towards the MoralEventHorizon (from whichever side of the line is up to the viewer to interpret), he's so seductive and charming that the viewer can't help but want him to succeed. And he ''knows this all too well''.

* AllMenArePerverts: A refreshing aversion in ''To Play the King'' when [[spoiler:David Mycroft brings Ken Charterhouse back to his apartment. Ken asks for sex, but David, who has recently separated from his wife and is just starting to become comfortable again with his true orientation, declines, saying he hasn't slept with a man [[ExperimentedInCollege since university]]. Ken doesn't seem to mind, and the two men decide to simply cuddle instead]].

''House of Cards'' is a British TV show and book about Machiavellian politician Francis Urquhart (played by Ian Richardson), 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 MargaretThatcher resigns, [[LifeImitatesArt she actually did]] a mere ten days after the first episode aired.

* NextSundayAD: The first story is set at an unspecified but close future date when MargaretThatcher has resigned -- even closer than the writer thought, as it turned out, as she resigned during the run of the first series. The second story is set in motion by the death of Queen Elizabeth.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** The satire on Thatcherism is very 1980s. (Uniquely by a Conservative, and one who worked for her.)
** Newspapers featuring headlines about a Conservative politician having a 'pro-gay' stance seem positively quaint, now that only a minority of people are against equality.
** Mattie's colleagues fretting about what to put as the headline on the front page is a relic of the pre-Internet age, now that headlines are changed at the click of a mouse. Similarly, FU deliberately announcing something at 4pm in order for it to be reported in the evening editions of the papers.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Urquhart's reaction to [[spoiler:killing Mattie]]. He has a look of shock while it happens, and is then shaken when speaking to the audience and seems atypically desperate to justify this act of murder - to himself. He has nightmares about it well before he learns the tape exists.

* ForTheEvulz: Urquhart often goes of out of his way to antagonize people purely because he ''can'', and he clearly takes great delight in kicking his opponents while they are down.

** Played straight in ''The Final Cut'' - Urquharts own limousine is rammed off the motorway by some random trio of drunken punks in a minibus who are looking for a fight (but probably didn't realise ''whose'' limousine they just hit). Then [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in that they're promptly shot by Urquhart's own bodyguards as 'terrorists'.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Urquhart's reaction to [[spoiler:killing Mattie]]. He has a look of shock while it happens, and is afterward unusually reticent while speaking to the audience and seems far more desperate to explain his actions than normally. He has nightmares about it well before he learns the tape exists.

* AmbitionIsEvil: Urquhart's villainy stems from his desire to become Prime Minister, after being passed over for a cabinet position in the first series. An while this clear-cut motivation or motif becomes far more nebulous in the sequels as he engages in other schemes for more petty reasons, 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 Machiavellian politician Francis Urquhart (played by Ian Richardson), 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 MargaretThatcher resigns, [[LifeImitatesArt she actually did]] a mere ten days after the first episode aired.

* {{Badass}}: FU may be vile, but there's no denying his badassery. He dominates the political scene with absolute power, a bag of stunning or infamous tricks and the occasional [[BadassBoast boast]].

* ForTheEvulz: Urquhart takes delight in making people very angry, and whilst considering his retirement, remarks that there is "lots more fun to be had before that."

** Booza-Pitt's style of dress is strongly evocative of Conservative MP Neil Hamilton.

* ContrivedCoincidence: [[spoiler:Henry Collingridge's brother Charles just happens to be the only Charles Collingridge in the entire London telephone book]], which allows FU to orchestrate his gambit involving [[spoiler:a fake insider trading crisis where Charles seemingly profited off his brother's prime ministerial decisions]].

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.