Château de cartes

"House of Cards" is an entertaining and frightening tale. Ian Richardson, playing the intelligent and ruthless Francis Urquhart, immediately draws the viewer into the tale with his wry comments to the camera, discreet confidences just between the two of you, and compels you to accompany him as the tale moves from an amusing political fantasy to something altogether darker.

The writing and acting is spot on (I must give kudos to Susannah Harker whose fine performance as Mattie Storin has, I think, been overlooked by many viewers), and the pace of the show doesn't slow until the final, shocking end.

I am constantly recommending "House of Cards" to friends, to the point of hosting viewing parties at my place every few months, and I'm not tired of watching it, yet! :) I find that anyone who enjoys such pieces as "I, Claudius" or any other involuted, political drama, will enjoy "House of Cards".

This is without any doubt the best political thriller I have so far seen. Not only does everything seem so chillingly possible, I also think the actors are great, especially Ian Richardson. What I liked best was the end - it is different than the ending in Michael Dobbs' book. One should of course despise Francis Urquart, but his charm makes that very difficult. House of Cards is a must!

I found the series at Best Buy (House of Cards, To Play the King and The Final Cut) all packaged together. I was really excited, because I think this is one of the best to come from the BBC. Ian Richardson was superb. Wicked and cunning. I watched the first installment the other night and was glued to my chair for 4 hours. I highly recommend this series.

"The House of Cards", based on a novel by Michael Dobbs, is a television series that is based upon one character's use, abuse and manipulation of the political system to achieve his own political goals.

Ian Richardson's performance as the malevolent Francis Urquaht is outstanding and the standards of acting in this series are upheld by Susannah Harker and Diane Fletcher.

This series of political intrigue and deception is an excellent one and I wouldn't recommend missing an episode.

One night I happened to be channel surfing looking for the next sci-fi, action, horror thriller when I happened upon PBS's broadcast of the BBC's "House of Cards." I put down the remote for a good 4 hours because what I was experiencing was something truly special. "House of Cards", of course, does not have aliens or chainsaw wielding maniacs. "HOC"'s monster is instead someone frightfully believable. Thanks to Ian Richardson's amazing performance, one can believe such a monster exists and can become PM or President. I won't beat the Shakespeare comparison horse (other users have done so and you can read their comments) but Mrs. Urquhart could easily hold her own in a series focused solely on her. Indeed, all of the characters are well-written and not dumbed-down to the viewer. If only American TV had the guts to produce something like "House of Cards" and let it end instead of dragging it on forever like the American version of "Queer as Folk." That aside, Dobbs and Davis have written a nice tidy political thriller which made me hunt down the DVD years after I saw the TV showing and made me recommend the trilogy to all my friends. I say give "House of Cards" and the sequels a try. Your remote and your intellect will thank you for it.