House of Cards...

Is House of Cards not the best TV series ever? It's 22 years since it was first screened and I can't really think of anything that's bettered it. Hearing the theme music again as it plays it's mock pomposity over the opening titles sends a shiver up my spine.

Based on a novel by one time Chief of Staff at Conservative Party Headquarters, Ian Dobbs, House of Cards is the first in a trilogy including To Play the King and The Final Cut. Set at the demise of the Thatcher government, House of Cards is a political thriller that charts the Machiavellian scheming of Francis Urquhart as he sets his sights on becoming leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister.

Ian Richardson's portrayal of Chief Whip, Francis Urquhart (FU to his Tory chums) is splendid and Andrew Davies' scripts glint with the brilliance of a razor. The plot has resonances with both Shakespeare's Richard III and Macbeth. Richardson is said to have based Urquhart on Richard III. The role of Urquhart's wife, Elizabeth, owes much to Lady Macbeth.

One of the most effective devices used in the series is when Urquhart breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience in much the same way Shakespeare uses soliloquies. In doing so Urquhart involves us and makes us complicit in his schemes and plans. We are as guilty as he and what a pleasure that is.

I'll leave you with a few delicious Urquhart quotes:

I'm the Chief Whip. Merely a functionary. I keep the troops in line. I put a bit of stick about. I make 'em jump.

Nothing lasts forever. Even the longest, the most glittering reign must come to an end someday.

Me? Well, I'm just a backroom boy.

You might well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

Glorious...!

Today's run at 18:06
Distance	4.01 km	Time	22:01
Pace	5:29 min/km	Cadence	81 spm
Comments: Cold, foggy.