The Couch Potato Presents: The "House of Cards" Trilogy

[Trollheart]

Before you ask, no, this is not the version with Kevin Spacey. That's the updated American one. This is the original one broadcast on BBC in the 1980s, and it sticks much closer to the original plot. There were three series (or seasons, if you must) as you can see from the fact that it's a trilogy. The first covered the actual novel and was titled the same as it, the second was specially written and called To Play the King, while the third and final part of the series wrapped up the story in the appropriately-named The Final Cut (not to be confused with the last Pink Floyd album to feature Roger Waters).

I've always enjoyed a good political drama. The State Within, A Very British Coup, The Politician's Wife and to a lesser extent, The West Wing were all shows I got thoroughly invested in, which is odd when you think about it, as I am in no way a political animal. Oh, I watch the news and keep up with what's happening, but I'm no more interested in politics than the next guy or girl. But I suppose in the same way that I abhor the activities of the IRA or am an atheist, I can enjoy a show or film on either subject without having to subscribe to its ideals. I can watch a Biblical movie or series - or one set in those times - without having to believe in its god, or any god, and I can happily sit through a series involving the IRA and not have to have a stack of Armalite rifles out in the shed, or daub BRITS OUT on the walls of my house. It is, after all, just television.

But really, at its heart the thing about political drama is that it is, despite what you might think, interesting. The lengths some people will go to achieve their ends, good or bad, can be really shocking and/or illuminating, depending on what those ends are. So when this series began showing on I think it was UK Drama at the time, I watched it and quickly got sucked off. I mean, in. I think. Yes. Yes I do. Sucked in. Not sucked off. Much, almost all of that, if I'm honest, was due to the stunning acting of the late great Sir Ian Richardson in the main role, and of course to the writing of Michael Dobbs.

House of Cards, as I say, is a trilogy, although originally the book was not intended as such. Dobbs had to write the other two novels more or less specially for the BBC, who had dramatised the first one but decided not to end it as the writer had intended, with the death of Richardson's character, and I must say on the basis of what I have seen this was a masterstroke, because there is so much more than one book in this story.

Francis Urquhart (pronounced "urk-it") is the Chief Whip in the Conservative Party when the drama opens. For those who don't know, a Chief Whip is a member of the party keeps the other members in line, making sure they vote when needed and ensuring their continuing loyalty to the party and the leader. In simple terms, if you think of the MPs (Members of Parliament) as schoolchildren, the Chief Whip is the teacher, or perhaps the head teacher. Most fear him, many respect him and he wields considerable power within the party. But this is not enough for our man, and he has designs on the top job. Nothing particularly ground-breaking about that, you say.

But Urquhart has a dark past, and will do anything and everything to make sure it stays in the past, and dark. There are "indiscretions" from his youth which, if made public, might spell the end of his career, never mind his push for Prime Minister. The series takes place just after the tenure of Margaret Thatcher, and Urquhart always feels in her shadow, the moreso when he has to attend the unveiling of a statue in her honour. He wants to make his own mark, and is happy to do anything that helps him reach his goal.

The sheer, unbridled lust for power and the exercise of control over others are trademarks of Urquhart; he's a man who tells others how it is, and if they don't agree with him he is more than able to break them, in some cases literally. He has no compunction whatever about climbing the slippery ladder to the top, hurling those in front of him down the scaffold where they fall in a mounting heap of corpses, both figurative and literal. But apart from his desire for political power, he also has sexual predelictions which his wife not only understands, but supports, and as people are brought into his world he tests them to see if they are worthy, if not they end up just another corpse on the pile.

Something the series does very well is that Richardson will often "break the fourth wall", speaking in asides to the audience, like when he's going in to the House of Commons he turns to the camera and talks about how much fun Prime Minister's Question Time is. He also makes some darkly dramatic soliloquies, like an actor on the stage. There is not a lot of incidental music in the show, so that when some is used it has more of an effect than if it were constantly running through the programme. It's been said this reflects the Shakespeare play Richard III, and that Richardson plays Urquhart in the same way that actors (possibly including himself; he was a Shakespearian actor) portray the usurper of the throne during the Wars of the Roses. I don't know; I've seen the BBC's The Hollow Crown, which is excellent, and it could be true, but I could not say for sure.

Though each part of the trilogy takes place more or less as a self-contained show, that is, one does not lead directly into the others, certain elements from the previous ones filter in to the next as the ghosts from Urquhart's past follow him from part to part, refusing to be silent and lie down, trying to destroy him. He is without doubt the central character in the series; everything revolves around him, and a supporting character list is best reserved for each part of the trilogy, as apart from his wife and one or two others most characters serve out their time in the first, second or third part of the trilogy and have little or no bearing on the others.

Like Rik Mayall's Alan B'Stard in The New Statesman, soon to be featured in its own journal - but without the laughs - Francis Urquhart (often referred to as FU) orchestrates machiavellian plans that impact upon the lives of many, sometimes hundreds, thousands or even millions of people, and weaves around himself a web of murder, deceit, intrigue and infamy, with one of three goals in mind: power, the acquisition and then retention of it; self-preservation and that old chestnut beloved by politicans the world over, wealth. Little else matters to him, other than his sexual conquests, and even then he tires of these easily, seeing them more as challenges and an attempt to stave off the boredom of always being able to come out on top of any situation, through means fair (seldom) or foul (more often than not), and when he has wearied of his new toys he invariably tosses them aside and goes looking for a new diversion.

Nothing is outside his reach, and to give you an idea of his daring, the second part of the trilogy features his taking on of the King of England, facing down if not the most powerful then certainly the most popular and sacrosanct figure in Great Britain. Not since the time of Oliver Cromwell has an "ordinary man" stood toe to toe with the ruling monarch and dared him to best him. But all that is to come. When we first meet Francis Urquhart, as I say, he is but a humble functionary, the Chief Whip, and though wielding a certain amount of power it is nowhere near enough to satisfy his lusts, and he thinks the position a waste of his talents. He decides to make a power play, and begins to set events in motion.

And that, my friends, is where our story begins...

[Trollheart]

I should first like to offer my eternal gratitude to "ClassicDrama" (who I think is the BBC) for uploading the entire thing on YouTube. My downloaded copies refused to play for some reason, and though I bought the series long ago it was on VHS tape, and I never got it on DVD. Netflix only have the new version, the American one, so I'm indebted to the BBC for allowing the entire series to be uploaded.


Cast
Francis Urquhart, played by Sir Ian Richardson
I've already gone into the lead character above, so I won't say anything more, other than that Urquhart is the focus of the series and one of the few characters that appears in all three chapters.

Mattie Storin, played by Susannah Harker
Mattie is a bright young reporter at one of the local newspapers, who is very interested in politics. Her determination, intelligence and fearlessless attract Urquhart to her like a shark to blood, and he begins to groom her as his confidant. However, he is not averse to her womanly charms either...

Henry Collingridge, played by David Lyon
One of the candidates for the vacant position of leader of the Conservative party after the departure of Thatcher, Collingridge wins the nomination, and the election, and becomes Prime Minister. But Urquhart is not having that, and sets out to destroy him.

Elizabeth Urquhart, played by Diane Fletcher
The cold and calculating power behind Urquhart, Elizabeth supports her husband in everything he does. It is she who in fact encourages him to stand for nomination and challenge for the leadership, and she is not concerned if intimidation, injury or even murder are the tools her husband uses to attain that power.

Roger O'Neill, played by Miles Anderson
Head of publicity for the party, O'Neill is a drunk and a cocaine addict, and the perfect pawn for Urquhart to use in order that his schemes be carried out but his own hands remain clean. He blackmails O'Neill with knowledge of his addiction, and the unfortunate publicist is forced to do anything Urquhart tells him to.

Patrick Woolton, played by Malcolm Tierney
Described by Urquhart (privately) as a bully, a thug, a racist, an anti-semite, a lout and other unflattering titles, Woolton becomes the front-runner for the leadership contest after Collingridge resigns. But Urquhart has his measure, too...

Tim Stamper, played by Colin Jeavons
One of the whips, his role in the first series is somewhat minor, a flunky of Urquhart and one who carries out some of his orders, but later he will become much more important and influential.

Episode One

We see Francis Urquhart, Chief Whip of the Conservative Party, sitting at his desk looking at a framed photograph of Margaret Thatcher. "Nothing lasts forever", he intones, with an air of anticipatory satisfaction. "Even the longest, most glittering reign must come to an end some day." He turns towards the camera with a predatory smile.

With Thatcher's resignation, the Tories are looking for a new leader, and Urquhart fancies it could be Patrick Woolton, but when it turns out to be the weak and ineffectual Henry Collingridge, he is not best pleased. But what can he do, as a mere Chief Whip? He has power of a sort, certainly, but only over his own colleagues. He does not make policy, he cannot challenge for the leadership. Being in the position he is, he knows that many of his colleagues hate and fear him, and few if any would support a bid for the top job from him. Some might, out of fear or the hope that they would be rewarded when, or if, he was successful, but those few would not be enough to enable Francis Urquhart,  Chief Whip of the Conservative Party, to rise to the post of Prime Minister.

However, there is still the matter of the general election to be fought. Not a whole lot of point being the man in charge if you're not the man in charge of the whole country. In other words, who wants to be the leader of the party that got kicked out of government by the voters, that awful also-ran, runner-up word, the Opposition? And so Urquhart must do what he can to ensure victory at the polls. He has been promised a decent post in return for his support of Collingridge, and has high hopes. It turns out that the Conservatives do win the election, but with a reduced majority.

Urquhart is not at all convinced though that Collingridge is up to the task and so begins to lay plans for his removal and replacement. The first pawn to be moved on the board is Roger O'Neill, the party publicist. Turns out Collingridge has a black sheep in the family, his brother Charlie, who's something of an alcoholic and an embarrassment. Someone Urquhart can use to his advantage when the time comes. As Urquhart fumes about being passed over for promotion, and worse, all his suggestions for the cabinet reshuffle (which does not happen: everyone is left in their positions) ignored, his wife floats the suggestion that he should challenge for the leadership.

While he's mulling this bombshell over, he has a visit from Mattie Storin, a reporter who wants to get the scoop on him. Intrigued, Urquhart is actually quite suprised himself when he lets her into the house, but finds himself growing more and more impressed with the girl's intelligence. He also welcomes the opportunity to talk frankly about his dislike for the PM and his disagreement with his policies. Mattie seems to agree with him, and he sees in her a way to disseminate his views by proxy through her newspaper. He now uses her to plant the idea in her head that Lord Billsboro, the old advisor to Collingridge, is planning to take the leadership, not for himself, but for his young protoge Michael Samuels, so he can pull the strings from behind the curtain. Nothing is further from the truth, of course, but as we will see, the truth and Francis Urquhart are not only strange bedfellows, they rarely sleep together at all, and only when it is convenient for him, only when it suits his purposes. Anything that will advance his cause, remove the obstacles to his bid for leadership and destroy his enemies, Urquhart will use without a moment's hesitation, or consideration of the consquences to those on the sidelines. They are pawns, nothing more, to be used and sacrificed as required, and with as little thought.

Speaking of pawns, just such a one is Roger O'Neill. Urquhart tells him he knows about his cocaine addiction, which is bad enough, but that he's been claiming expenses in order to buy his supply! He agrees to cover the scandal up but in return Roger must work for him. He demands his "total and unquestioning loyalty", but to him personally, not to the party. He sets about using him to engineer embarrassing questions for the Prime Minister, leaking important details of government policy to the opposition. When the PM demands answers, he claims there must be a leak in the cabinet, and promises to get to the bottom of it. He starts to sow doubt in Collingridge's head, giving him the idea that one of his party colleagues is out to smear him, perhaps even oust him.

Further revelations and awkward exchanges force the PM into an embarrassing U-turn, further weakening his position, while Urquhart continues to use Roger O'Neill behind the scenes. He has an accomodation address set up in the name of C. Collingridge, something which will become clearer later. When Urquhart receives, personally, a large donation to the party from one of his constituents, he sees a chance to "put more stick about", and disguised as a foreign businessman he opens an account at a local bank and asks them to buy some shares in a medical company, under the name of .... Collingridge. When new drugs are authorised for release from the company, the shares go right up and Urquhart asks his bank to sell them, close the account and mail the closing statement to the address he had set up for Collingridge. He then withdraws all his money from the bank, returning it to the party treasurer, where it was supposed to have gone in the first place.

The money was never stolen, of course: Urquhart simply borrowed it in order to facilitate his plan, then covered his tracks, or to be more precise, laid a false trail which led exactly where he wanted it to. As the final part of his plan he meets Matties and "leaks" to her the fact that the tabloids are about to go after the Prime Minister through his brother. He professes loyalty to, and defence of the integrity of the PM, but Mattie has little sympathy for the weak Collingridge, and like Elizabeth, believes there is a far better leader for the country standing beside her.


QUOTES
Urquhart, on the election of a new leader: "Who could replace her? (Thatcher) Plenty of contenders: old warriors, young pretenders. Lord Billsboro, say. Party chairman. Too old, too familiar: tainted by a thousand shabby deals. Michael Samuels? Too young, too clever. Patrick Woolton. Bit of a lout, bit of a bully-boy. Yes it could very well be Woolton. Henry Collingridge. The people's favourite. A well-meaning fool; no background and no bottom. What, me? Oh no no no: I'm the Chief Whip, merely a functionary. I keep the troops in line. I put a bit of stick about, make them jump. And I shall of course give my absolute loyalty to whoever emerges as my leader."

Elizabeth: "What was that dreadful woman on about?"
Urquhart: "She wanted the smack of firm government."
Elizabeth: "She wanted you to smack her bottom!"

Urquhart: "A man of state needs helpers. Little elves and sprites to do his bidding." (More darkly) "Even unwitting pawns, who don't know who they serve."

Urquhart: "Nothing! Not a damn thing! And then he had the gall to ask for my support! Said his fate was in my hands! Melodramatic twaddle!"
Elizabeth: "Is it?"
Urquhart: "What?"
Elizabeth: "Isn't his fate in your hands?"
Urquhart: "No, no! I'm in charge of discipline! But I can't deliver if my troops are disaffected."
Elizabeth: "But aren't they disaffected now? His weakness, his refusal to take responsibility for firm leadership, it's going to bring this government down, sooner or later."
Urquhart: "Yes. And sooner rather than later, in my view. Unless..."
Elizabeth: "Unless he were to relinquish the leadership."
Urquhart: "He won't do that."
Elizabeth: "Unless a better man were to take the leadership from him."

Mattie Storin: "Everybody knows threats from Francis Urquhart are not idle ones."

Urquart (about Roger's cocaine habit): "I know this sounds old-fashioned, but isn't it illegal?"

Best Scenes
There's a pretty funny scene just after the government have won the election and stayed in power, when Roger O'Neill takes a call at a hotel purporting to be from the Prime Minister, though it's actually his assistant, Penny, talking dirty to him from one of the hotel bedrooms. At one point she says "And then I'd like to lick it all off, slowly" and he says "That's wonderful, Prime Minister! May I tell them that?" whereupon he proceeds to congratulate everyone, on the PM's behalf, for putting on such a wonderful advertising campaign!

"I couldn't possibly comment".
Urquhart uses this phrase as a code, a way to agree with or confirm something without incriminating or implicating himself, and it becomes used more and more as the series progresses. The first instances are here, when he dupes Mattie into believing his story about Lord Billsboro. When she makes the connection, as she sees it, that Billsboro is making a bid for the leadership, he smiles "You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment". He says it three times in succession to each of her deductions, leaving her in no doubt that she is right while simultaeanously ensuring he does not say it himself, or even suggest it. It's a very clever device, because it really does absolve him: should anyone say to Mattie, what did he actually say, his response could not be in any way construed as being in the affirmative, or at least, not proven satisfactorily. He may as well be saying that's your opinion, while leaving off the expected second part, that he does not share it.

Power behind the throne
Although he's an unscrupulous, morally bankrupt egotist, it's clear from the beginning that Francis Urquhart is nobody without his wife, Elizabeth. It is she who first floats the idea of his bidding for the leadership, and he looks surprised, as if he had never even considered it. She tells him he is twice the man Collingridge is, and he does not disagree. She encourages his relationship with Mattie Storin, knowing that a man like him can't restrict himself to one woman: not only for sex, but he requires a like mind, a sharp intellect, one he can mould and twist and form in his own image. He would never try this with his wife - she is already too strong a personality - but she is happy to indulge his appetites with Mattie, knowing that the relationship will bear fruit for them, politically. Urquhart is at his best when challenged, stimulated.

The Puppetmaster

Although there is one person in his life who controls him, even if he's unaware of it - harking back to his comment about pawns who don't know who they serve - Francis Urquhart is the master puppeteer, manipulating everyone he can and making them play a part in his machinations, either aiding him in his rise to glory or removing them from his path. Like Alan B'Stard, he is completely uncaring of who he hurts, wounds, kills even, the lives he destroys, the careers he wrecks and the innocents caught in the crossfire of his ambition. He sees everyone as something he can use, and he has no compunction about using them.

The Man who would be Prime Minister

When Collingridge wins the party nomination, much to his disgust, and then goes on to win the election, thus becoming the Prime Minister, Francis Urquhart is angry, particularly when it becomes quite clear that he will not be getting a cabinet position, but will be left as Chief Whip again. He is stewing about it when his wife suggests he challenge for the leadership. Once the decision has been made, he sets about implicating the PM in a scandal that is so carefully orchestrated that it can have only one outcome, while at the same time keeping any metaphorical blood off his hands. The puppet master has begun to make the marionettes dance to his tune, and it will be far from their only performance!

The user and the used

As Urquhart says himself, a man of state needs helpers, and he is always ready to draft in anyone he can to help move his plans forward. In this section I'll be detailing the people Urquhart uses in his bid for power, and how he uses them.

Henry Collingridge

His first target is his new leader, whom he publicly supports but privately despises. He does not believe Collingridge is up to the task of being PM, and said so, to us, before the election of the new leader. His wife has given him the idea of toppling him, but it will not be easy. He will, as he says himself, need little helpers, and the one who helps turn his plans into reality most here is Roger O'Neill. He has O'Neill by the balls: he has discovered the publicist's penchant for cocaine and the fact that he is charging the party for it, and in return for his silence has recruited O'Neill as a hapless footsoldier. Setting up the opposition member with information with which to embarrass the PM, organising the accomodation address in Collingridge's brother's name, helps to lay the trap and Urquhart himself completes it by buying the shares with party money. Finally, he sets it by passing the information to Mattie and waits for the prey to be caught. It will not be long.

Mattie Storin

While he is attracted to Mattie, both for her mind and her body, Urquhart will use her to make his voice anonymously known in the press. He will tell her things which she will repeat, though no possibility will ever exist of the quotes being traced back to him. He will, in effect, control her and make her say what he wants her to say. He will also use her obvious fascination with him to his advantage.

Roger O'Neill

As related above, Roger has a problem with cocaine, and Uruqhart knows this, even before he confronts him. Whether the expenses thing is made up or real, who is to say? But Roger believes it and is relieved when the Chief Whip hushes it up, preventing a scandal breaking. He is thereafter happy to do as he is told, like a good little soldier.

[Trollheart]

Episode Two

Rather than let the story about the insider trading break right away, Urquhart decides to "let that one mature for a while" and instead tips off the press to the location in France where the PM sends his alcoholic brother for his holidays, resulting in more embarrassing headlines linked to Henry Collingridge. Against this backdrop, the party conference takes place, a chance for the candidates for the leadership to surreptitiously put their case for election as the new leader of the party, and thus the new PM. Urquhart watches them, and sees Patrick Woolton as a problem. The old adage, pick out the biggest and strongest of your enemies and kick the shit out of them, comes into play.

He orders Roger O'Neill to "offer" his assistant, Penny, to Woolton, for "research", knowing the man's sexual habits. Roger is aghast, but Urquhart has him over a barrel and both know it. He must convince Penny to allow herself be seconded to the pretender to the throne. Then Urquhart has a confidential opinion poll dropped into Mattie's hands, showing that the lack of support for the Prime Minister is gaining momentum. When her editor refuses to accept it as genuine and tells her she's been set up, she decides to track down the pollster. He reluctantly confirms that the poll is genuine, but Mattie is incensed when her editor, despite this, refuses to run the story. She hears this while at the conference and realises that as the paper is owned by someone who backs the Conservatives, they have been gagged.

Still fuming, she bumps into (literally) Charlie Collingridge at the bar, while Urquhart talks to Ben Landless, owner of her paper, about deposing Collingridge. When he realises which way the wind is blowing, Landless rescinds his order to block Mattie's story. Let the PM drown, he is told, or advised, and a new man, better suited to look after Landless's priorities, take his place. He then makes sure Penny's room is bugged so that he can record the assignation between her and Woolton, and confirms to the PM that his friend Billsboro is the man after his job.

Shortly afterwards the "big story" breaks, about the shares scandal. It's pretty much the final blow. It's believed - even possible to prove - that the Prime Minister's brother had bought shares in the medical company before the news broke of their new drug and the share price rocketed, making a killing in the process. Insider trading is never looked on kindly - as long as you're caught doing it - and the fact that this scandal is linked to the PM is bad news for Henry Collingridge.

Urquhart offers to have Charlie moved to a safehouse, but of course has the details leaked to the press and they're in full force when the PM's brother is moved. When the Prime Minister is presented, on national television, with irrefutable proof that he seems to have been involved in the scandal, he falls apart and it's quite clearly the end. Mattie makes a play for Urquhart, while he scoffs "I'm old enough to be your father!" She replies, "Yes, that may be something to do with it."

QUOTES

Lord Billsboro (as they discuss the theme for the upcoming Conservative Party conference, "Finding the right way", and are not happy with the word "finding"): "Perhaps going the right way?"
Urquhart: "Rather implies that the party, or someone in the party is on the way out, don't you think, Teddy (Billsboro)? With the greatest respect : Going, going, gone?"

A sly dig at Billsboro, who unbeknownst to him is one of Urquhart's targets, as he feeds Mattie the false story of the advisor's intentions to challenge for the leadership.

Urquhart (to camera): "A party conference can be many things. A show of confidence. An agonising reappraisal. Or, in this case, a series of auditions by pretenders to the throne, while the lost leader withers before our eyes."

Urquhart: "Bright girls for research. Where would the House be without them?"

Roger (as he snorts cocaine): "I can kick this stuff any time I like." The perennial cry of the addict, as they try to convince themselves it's true.

Patrick Woolton: "I'm damn glad it's you that's handling this, Francis." (taking soundings as to the level of confidence in the Prime Minister and who might replace him) "There's not many men I'd trust with a job like this." He doesn't have a clue how misplaced his trust is, or how the man now smiling obsequiously across the table from him is even now orchestrating his downfall and his removal.

The Royal "We"?

In much of his narration, at least, that directed at us, the viewers, in asides to the camera, Richardson as Urquhart uses the plural noun. He says things like "We can't do that" or "We must be careful." It's a device that's carefully chosen. It could be seen as arrogance, as when Thatcher left office and declared "We are leaving Downing Street", utilising the royal pronoun favoured by monarchs. This, many thought, made it look as if she thought or believed she was the queen of England. Urquhart though, uses this "we" in order to draw in the viewer, to take him or her into dark, shadowy corners and reveal his plans, or much of them. To make the watcher an active participant in his machiaevellan schemes. It's as if he's saying, well you could have turned me in, but you never did: you're as guilty as I am. We're in this together now, up to our necks. No point whining about it now. This theme runs right through the entire series.

Here Urquhart tells us "We must not forget that he is Her Majesty's secetary of state for  foreign affairs. We mustn't make the mistake of underestimating Patrick Woolton!"

Power behind the throne

To further cement the ties of trust between Mattie and her husband, Elizabeth makes perhaps the ultimate sacrifice, telling him he should sleep with her, and that she will do all she can to facilitate that happening. We assume Elizabeth loves her husband - nothing is ever said or shown to the contrary, and they seem to have the perfect marriage - but she realises that in order to remove any last lingering doubts about the girl, and to allow Francis to operate to his full potential, and also to draw Mattie in more and make her more dependent on, and willing to serve the interests of Urquhart, sexual intimacy is required. To her, it's not cheating, it's not adultery. It's simply necessary, something that must be done. A means to an end.

It's interesting that Urquhart is not the one who suggests - or perhaps even thinks of - this course of action, but his wife, who must really trust her husband implicitly to not only allow, but encourage him to enter into an affair with a girl who is much younger and prettier than her. She knows his head will not be turned; he values Mattie for her mind, but why not let him have a little fun too? In this respect, she is a most singular woman, and an extremely powerful character, central to every storyline in the series. She is the one from whom Urquart draws his strength, the one who reassures him later when he begins to lose focus and indeed belief in himself, and the one who will make many of the hard decisions that perhaps he cannot.

The user and the used


Henry Collingridge

Urquhart advances his  plans to get rid of the PM, by forming an alliance with Ben Landless, who is disappointed with the hoops he's having to jump through in order to get what he wants, and also in the government's poor performance. Having supported them to the hilt, he feels he has backed the wrong horse, but Urquhart tells him it's not the horse but the jockey that's the problem. Replace the rider with someone else and that horse will tear all the way to the finish line, leaving the competition trailing in his dust. So Landless releases the ban on the story Mattie had submitted, showing how badly the confidence in the Prime Minister has slid, and Urquhart inches closer to his goal. He tells Landless that he should throw his support behind Woolton, but he has plans for him too.

Urquhart's plans are so carefully laid, and he covers his tracks so well that when things begin to spiral out of control it is to he that Collingridge turns, rather than his usual faithful advisor. Doubt has been placed in his mind about Teddy Billsboro's loyalty, and he foolishly believes that Urquhart is the only man he can now trust, playing directly into the hands of his assassin.

Charles Collingridge

Knowing all too well the "weaknesses" of the PM's brother, Urquhart sees him as the perfect patsy. He sets up the accomodation address in his name (well, has Roger do it) and lodges the money, buying the shares and having a statement sent to the address, all of which implicates both Collingridge brothers. He then tells Henry that he can have Charlie moved to a safe house, but makes sure the press are anonymously notified, to put further pressure on the PM.

Patrick Woolton

Tying two "puppets" together in the one scheme, Urquhart uses his power over Roger O'Neill to pressure him into asking Penny to sleep with Woolton, while making sure the room is bugged, so that he now has something to use against him, when the opportunity presents itself. He's certainly playing the long game, and as all of this plays out he smiles and assures Woolton that, when the time comes, should he declare, then he, Urquhart, will support him.

The Puppet Master

Playing into Landless's dissatisfaction with the government and the problems it's causing his business empire expanding, Urquhart arranges for the media magnate to switch allegiances, or rather, back Patrick Woolton against Henry Collingridge, little realising he is actually backing Urquhart himself, who has smiled at the prospect of becoming PM but hinted that should such a thing happen, Landless would not lose by it. Indeed, by helping him out, he would have a friend in the current Chief Whip.

Notable scenes

As Urquhart delivers the "terrible news" about Billsboro to the Prime Minister, he sympathises with him and Collingridge says, without looking at him, "You're a good man, Francis." Urquhart pats his shoulder and retires, his expression that of a vampire that sense his prey is almost in reach, and wait to administer the killing blow. He's only short of a cape and fangs to complete the picture.

Again, as he consoles Collingridge and the man declares "We're not finished yet", Urquhart raises his eyes to camera in a knowing smile; he knows the man is practically dead and buried, and the sweetest part is, the one upon whom the PM is lavishing such praise and thanks is the very man who has dug that grave and is now forcing him into it. But he is unable to see that, and thinks Urquhart one of his staunchest allies, one of the few men he can still trust.

[Trollheart]

Episode Three

The Prime Minister has called his cabinet together unexpectedly, to advise them that he is about to tender his resignation. It's greeted with less than surprise, more a feeling of why did it take so long? Urquhart of course is delighted. One major obstacle out of the way. Now he has to make sure nobody else takes the seat of power he has set his sights on. Blood will flow, literally as well as metaphorically. Mattie though begins to wonder privately if Collingridge wasn't framed? The whole situation is just a little too unbelievable, particularly as she has met the brother and can't believe him capable of such guile or even financial competence. Or any competence, come to think of it.

When she visits Urquhart she declares her desire to sleep with him, and says that she wants to call him "daddy". He has no problem with this, but cautions her that their affair must remain completely private. Word about it must never get out. He is however unaware that she is recording everything on a dictaphone. Urquhart meets Ben Landless who says he will support his run for the leadership if he can get it all done within a month: Urquhart has not enough support yet to challenge. If not, Landless frankly tells him he will go with Patrick Woolton instead. He doesn't care who gets in, once it's a man he can use, who owes him big and who will make life easier for him.

Mattie's friend John, who also works at the paper, has also started thinking conspiracy, and he has located Charlie Collingridge. He and Mattie go to talk to the PM's brother who is in a discrete and exclusive sanitorium. After talking to the befuddled old codger Mattie is even more convinced that there is no way Charlie was involved in any shares scam, and she's beginning to wonder if his brother was either. She doesn't know, though, as she's talking to him that she's being observed. Urquhart has of course got spies in the camp, and they report back to him. When they see the press pass on her car, alarm bells begin to go off. Urquhart does not want the tabloids snooping around here!

He is of course furious when he realises that it's Mattie who's been poking around, and directs Roger O'Neill to send her a warning. A brick crashes through her window, with a threatening note attached to it. Terrified, she calls John who comes over and advises her to drop the story; it's just not worth this. But later she talks to Urquhart, who concedes there must be a conspiracy against the Collingridges, and says he will find out what he can. The leadership race begins, but true to his plan, Urquhart does not declare, standing "statesmanlike", as one TV reporter puts it, above the infighting, seeming unconcerned with and calling himself unworthy of the position, happy to do the job he does so well. Of course, this is all very carefully calculated: he wants people to think this is how he feels, especially his colleagues in the party. Nobody suspects his true intentions, so nobody considers him a threat and nobody moves against him. Even to his own private secretary, the formidable Tim Stamper, he pretends he is not interested in the job. In his heart, Urquhart trusts no-one.

Having uncovered enough about this conspiracy to take it to her editor, Mattie is dismayed when she is told she is being removed from the political staff. Urquhart meanwhile has orchestrated a situation where, through his contact with Landless, he is actually being asked to run for prime minister, against his wishes. Apparently. Everything is falling into place. People have been played, circumstances have been manipulated, and the threads of a very dark and complicated tapestry are finally beginning to be pulled together to form one simple image: Francis Urquhart at Number Ten.

Mattie rings around for someone to confirm her story, and ends up talking to Penny when she can't get Roger O'Neill. She is shocked, as she tells Mattie that she drove Roger to her house when he put the brick through her window, but she thought Mattie was a man. In the course of their conversation she tells her also about her and Roger's part in setting up Charles Collingridge's accomodation address, and Mattie begins to see the whole picture. She however goes to see Urquhart and tells him what she has learned, unwittingly putting both Penny and Roger in deep danger.

QUOTES

Urquhart (about Collingridge): "He was in the trap and screaming from the moment he took office. We simply put the poor bastard out of his agony. After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well."

Mattie: "I think you know I'd like to do anything you asked me to do."
Urquhart: "Hardly the words of an independent young woman."
Mattie: "Oh but they are. I'm nobody's toy. I don't get chosen, I choose. And I'm not interested in anyone's taboos about age."
If only Mattie knew how well she was being played she might not feel so confident. "I don't get chosen?" She has been, and right from the start when Urquhart set his sights on her. "Nobody's toy"? She's Urquhart's to do with as he wishes, and all the time she'll think it's her controlling him, when the opposite is true.

Ben Landless: "What his article will say is Little Mikey Samuels has taken an early lead in the polls and he's running around telling the world he's got the whole thing sewn up."
Urquhart: "How do you know he's taken an early lead?"
Landless: "I don't know if he has or not! I'm just telling ya what we're gonna put in the paper!"

Urquhart (in voiceover): "So hard to know who to trust in these suspicious days. Does passion engender trust? Not necessarily. And yet, we all would wish to feed on certainties, to hear the word "always" and believe it true. She trusts me absolutely, I believe. I trust she does. And I? I trust her absolutely, to be absolutely human."

The Royal "We"

At the opening of this episode, all the MPs have been called to an emergency meeting. Urquhart delights in such things: "An emergency cabinet meeting. Always sends a nice little thrill of anticipation down the spine. Someone's in trouble. Someone's going to get it in the neck. But not us, eh?"

After hearing the PM's intention to resign, he can barely contain himself and turns sharply to the camera, to us, with a stern admonishment: "Not feeling guilty, I hope?" he chides. "If you are feeling any pangs of pity crush them now, grind them under your heel, like old cigar butts." It's clear he has no such conscience.

Waiting to see the soon-to-be-gone PM Urquhart frowns "Yes, I know, very irritating to be waiting on yesterday's man, but even a disgraced prime minister has his uses. So it becomes us to be humble and honest  good old  Francis Urquhart still. Doggedly devoted; such a comfort in a crisis!" He can't suppress a bitter little laugh at the irony.

[Trollheart]

Episode Four

Urquhart has accepted the nomination for leadership of the party, and with only six days to go to the ballot he sets about crippling or removing his rivals. He arranges for a protest to descend on the wheelchair factory where the Health Minister is making a visit, resulting in the accidental running down of someone in a wheelchair, ironically, removing Mackenzie from the running, and moves on to Harold Earle, who was caught some time ago in a compromising position with a rent boy. With two of the less than top runners removed he is left with only two real opponents, Patrick Woolton and Michael Samuels. He can't find anything on Samuels, but he has already laid plans for Woolton.

The first ballot to elect a leader does not prove anything; Urquhart gets a decent showing, but no more so than his two closest rivals, and the vote goes to a second ballot in a week. Roger O'Neill shows up at Francis's office and is clearly close to breaking point. Urquhart tells him to come down to his country house at the weekend and he'll sort everything, while castigating Mattie for having spoken to him and made his job harder. Meanwhile his plans proceed apace, and Patrick Woolton's wife receives the tape recording of his session with Penny. She is disgusted but believes it to be an attempt at blackmail, which could not have come at a worse time, politically.

However when he goes to confront Penny, and she says it wasn't her that sent the tape, he gets a call (at her apartment) from Urquhart, voice heavily disguised, to advise him that pulling out of the leadership race is the only alternative open to him now. He does so, very reluctantly, and gives his support to Urquhart, not because he likes him or because he suspects he was behind the taping, but simply because he hates him less than Michael Samuels. The lesser of two evils, you see. Woolton had already made his feelings clear to Urquhart about Samuels when he was the Chief Whip and sounding him out, so Urquhart knows how much he hates the man. He'd do anything to stop Samuels being PM, and if that means that he has to support and help elevate Francis Urquhart to power, then he'd rather it was him than Samuels!

Thinking about her rebuke at Urquhart's hands earlier, Mattie now wonders how it is that the Chief Whip knew she had contacted Roger O'Neill? He's not, so far as she knows, connected with the publicist, so how could he find out? She starts putting things together, the jigsaw beginning to fall into place, and a horrible suspicion is forming in her mind. Roger comes to visit Urquhart, but when he hears that there is to be no promotion for him in Urquhart's cabinet he loses it, and Urquhart sees he is too loose a cannon to be allowed free. While Roger sleeps in a drunken haze, he takes his bag, cuts his cocaine with rat poison and returns it to him before he awakes.

Urquhart packs him off in a hurry and when later, half-asleep, he pulls off the motorway and takes a hit of his cocaine he is later found dead in the men's room. As Mattie tries to put the pieces together, she keeps discounting Urquhart until she no longer has any choice: the evidence is mounting up and she is now unable to ignore that the man she was having an affair with could do such things. Armed with her frightening new theory, she goes to speak to Urquhart, desperate to hear that she is wrong. She's told by Stamper he's on the roof garden, and rushes up there to meet him. There, she demands the truth, and gets it. Urquhart confesses to everything, and then throws her off the roof. As her body hits, her dictaphone falls out of her pocket, and an unknown hand picks it up.

QUOTES

Urquhart: "Right. Mackenzie, Health. No chance of getting him into a demo at a hospital, I suppose?"
Stamper: "Oh no. He doesn't go to hospitals anymore. Kept getting beaten up by the nurses!"

Mackenzie's PA: "You'll meet Doctor Sinita Bramacheri (sp?), that's the cybernetics engineer who designed the award-winning chair."
Mackenzie (disinterestedly): "Indian, is he?"
PA: "She is a British citizen, Minister, born in Coventry."

Urquhart (in voiceover): "Playing with the hopes and dreams of a daughter; now gentle, now hard. Rebuking and rewarding, chastising and forgiving. The pleasures of a father, of a father of daughters. What greater power is there than that? Why should a man want more? Why should I yearn to be everybody's daddy?"

Stamper (reading): "Health Minister maims cripple in hit and run incident."
Urquhart: "Oh dear, the poor man must have panicked. Right, next."
(How do you maim a cripple, exactly?)

Urquhart: "Be dreadfully ungentlemanly to bring that up again. And a man's private life should be his private life, surely?"
Stamper: "Yes, on the other hand, getting sucked off for sixpence in a second class compartment is hardly Prime Ministerial behaviour."
Urquhart: "Yes you do have a point there."

Urquhart: "I guarantee you Roger, that come Sunday you'll have nothing to worry about ever again. and that's a promise." This is in fact a chilling presentiment as to what is to come, did Roger but know it, but at least Urquhart will not be accused of not keeping his word.

Roger: "Don't you bloody try to sell me short, you old bugger! After all I've done for you! I lied for you, I stole for you! Oh God! I lost the best girl in the world for you! If you try to leave me stranded in the shit I'll drag you down with me till you're blind and drowned!"

Mattie: "Did you kill Roger O'Neill?"
Urquhart: "Yes."
Mattie: "How?"
Urquhart: "Rat poison. He had to be put down. He's at peace now."
This is twice now that Urquhart has referred to humans, people who got in his way, as animals, as beasts who had to be put down. It's clear he cares nothing for the ordinary man, or indeed anyone other than himself, and possibly his wife. Even in the first episode, we see him as a country gent, shooting birds (pheasants?) on his estate, and the parallel couldn't be clearer: Urquhart is one of nature's hunters, a predator, and Heaven help you if you become his quarry!

Urquhart (to camera): "Something made me turn around. I must have heard her. I had absolutely no chance of preventing her. Yes, I knew her, slightly. She was a very talented young woman. But rather highly strung. She had interviewed me on several occasions. I understand she was very upset about losing her job as political correspondent at a national newspaper." (Here, his speech turns into a radio address as he heads towards Buckingham Palace, ready to take his place as Prime Minister of the country) "Death is always sad, but the sudden and unexpected death of a young and talented person, on the threshold of her career, is especially upsetting."

Urquhart's final soliloquy to camera: "No, I have nothing to say. No. No. Don't you see? I had to do it. How could I have trusted her? You might very well think that. I could not possibly comment."


The real Urquhart

As the series progresses (this is the last in the first chapter but there are two more) we begin to see the mask of quiet respectability and genial humour fall from Francis Urquhart's face, and the monster that lurks behind it begins to tear its way through, blinking harshly in the light, snarling at the world and laughing evilly at how it has conned people.

The first time we really see this is when Urquhart rebukes Mattie for having contacted Roger O'Neill and Penny: she found out more than she was supposed to know, and it has put him in a very difficult position, one he did not expect to be in and one which upsets his plans. But the real face only looks out when Roger comes to see him, and threatens to blow the lid on their arrangement. Urquhart seizes him and growls warningly at him, his words like ice and his eyes like the blazing fires of Hell. All pretence to gentlemanly conduct and restraint is gone, and we can see the bully, the megalomaniac, the man who would be king, who will let nobody - nobody! - stand in his way. When he looks into those fearsome eyes, Roger O'Neill must surely fear for his life.

We see the real Urquhart in all his dark glory right at the end, when realising Mattie suspects his crimes, confirming them to her and unable to take the risk that her love for him will ensure her silence, he kills her, throwing her off the top of the roof garden. We can see it actually pains him to do this, and yet he is willing to sacrifice a young life in order to remove any threat to his upcoming coronation as it were. This act, however, will haunt him for the rest of his life, and become one of the things that eventually leads to his downfall.

Power behind the throne

As Urquhart spikes Roger O'Neill's cocaine he seems to talk to the camera, but at the very last, as he slips off his rubber gloves he hands them towards a second pair of hands which accept them; obviously Elizabeth has been watching, observing, and knows exactly what her husband is doing. She quite clearly approves of the murder, not only because she has already stated she does not like O'Neill, but because he is a liability, an impediment to Francis's rise to power, and she, like he, will allow nothing to stand in the way of that. When Roger has gone they share a conspiratorial smile and a kiss: partners in crime. Literally.