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House of Cards will air on UKTV's Drama from Saturday (July 12) - but the star of this four-part serial is not Kevin Spacey's ruthless Us official Frank Underwood, but rather Tory chief whip Francis Urquhart, played with charming malevolence by Ian Richardson.

Adapted by Andrew Davies - writer of Mr Selfridge, Pride and Prejudice and many more - from Michael Dobbs's original novel, the UK iteration of House of Cards was a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Scoring BAFTA and Emmy wins in the early '90s, it went on to inspire the acclaimed Netflix series.

"I feel flattered that Netflix chose to reconstruct it," says Davies. "And I'm delighted that ours has been rediscovered, and that it's going to be shown again on Drama."

Francis vs. Frank

But how does the original House of Cards compare to its modern counterpart? Though in many ways a...

The news that there is to be an American remake of the BBC’s sublime political drama House of Cards would usually be met with a fairly solid thumping followed by a staunch refusal to watch the updated series, but there are a few reasons why this is not the case.

Two names immediately draw me in: Kevin Spacey and David Fincher, both of whom are spearheading the new adaptation of the mini series, which was first adapted from the Michael Dobbs novel by Andrew Davies and Dobbs for the BBC in 1990 and had Ian Richardson in the role that would define him, that of the serpentine government minister Francis Urquhart.

Dealing with duplicity and deception and the darkly comic political machination of the post-Thatcher era, it is an impeccable work, with the fourth wall caressing Urquhart talking directly to his audience, drawing them into the conspiracy. So while I hold this,...

He’s currently busy making Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara run through thousands of takes on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in Sweden, but David Fincher has his eye on our TV screens. He’s involved with getting a Us version of acclaimed 1990s miniseries House of Cards up and running and Kevin Spacey (who was a producer on The Social Network) has jumped aboard to both act as executive producer and star as a scheming politician. House of Cards began life as Michael Dobbs’ novel, the first in a trilogy written by the former Conservative chief of staff and peppered with deep, dark observations about how politics here really works. Ian Richardson starred as chief whip Francis Urquhart (note those initials), a sinister, smart and backstabbing sort who will do anything to achieve his ambitions. Adapted for TV by Andrew Davies, it won a BAFTA for Richardson and scored an Emmy for Davies,...