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''The Final Cut'' is a 1995

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television serial, the third part of the ''

House of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structu ...

'' trilogy. Directed by Mike Vardy, the serial, based on

Michael Dobbs Michael John Dobbs, Baron Dobbs (born 14 November 1948) is a British Conservative politician and author, best known for his ''House of Cards'' trilogy. Early life and education Michael Dobbs was born on 14 November 1948 in Cheshunt, Hertfordsh ...

's 1995 novel of the same name, was adapted for television by Andrew Davies. It details the conclusion of

Francis Urquhart Francis Ewan Urquhart is a fictional character created by British politician and author Michael Dobbs. Urquhart is the main character in Dobbs's ''House of Cards'' trilogy of novels and television series: ''House of Cards'' (1990), ''To Play t ...

's reign as

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...

Plot

The serial opens with

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

shooting his

gun dog Gun dogs, or bird dogs, are types of hunting dogs developed to assist hunters in finding and retrieving game, usually quail, dove, or duck. Gun dogs are divided into three primary types: retrievers, flushing dogs, and pointing breeds. Types ...

, now too old to perform her duties – a scene which establishes the theme of the ending of a career. Shortly afterwards, Urquhart attends the fictional state funeral of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

.Margaret Thatcher's death, in the real world, did not happen until 2013, about 18 years after the series aired. He publicly praises Thatcher as his mentor, but privately begrudges her record as the longest-serving prime minister in recent history,The serial refers to Thatcher as Britain's longest-serving Prime Minister, when she was actually the seventh-longest serving. The novel does not contain this mistake, as it accurately refers to Thatcher as the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister. a record that Urquhart himself is soon to surpass. To "leave my mark on the world", Urquhart champions a treaty resolving the

Cyprus dispute The Cyprus problem, also known as the Cyprus dispute, Cyprus issue, Cyprus question or Cyprus conflict, is an ongoing dispute between Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north. Initially, with the Modern history of Cyprus#In ...

while secretly working to bring offshore

oil deposits A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

under the control of the Turkish authorities on the island so that a Turkish-British consortium will have the drilling rights; an executive of the consortium has promised to provide for Urquhart's retirement fund in return. Urquhart also has a personal connection to Cyprus: as a nineteen-year-old

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

lieutenant serving there in 1956, he killed two young

EOKA The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA; ; el, Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, lit=National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνο� ...

guerrillas while trying to get information from them. Urquhart has frequent nightmares and flashbacks of this event, and also of the murders of

Mattie Storin This article is about characters in the ''House of Cards'' trilogy other than Francis Urquhart. The trilogy consists of three separate four part serials, '' House of Cards'', '' To Play the King'' and '' The Final Cut'', all based on identica ...

and others, shown in the previous series. On a motorway near London, Urquhart's limousine is forced off the road by a car containing three drunken louts. The attackers threaten Urquhart's party with baseball bats, but are unlawfully shot dead by security staff as they approach. Urquhart himself sustains minor head injuries in the collision, but his life is not endangered. When Elizabeth arrives at hospital, he is delirious and confuses the incident on the motorway with the incident in Cyprus. Tom Makepeace, Urquhart's

Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

and

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

, chairs a cabinet meeting while Urquhart is in hospital; Urquhart considers Makepeace – the actual negotiator of the Cyprus treaty – as a potential challenger, although he does not take the threat very seriously, considering him "not a fighter" but "a sentimental dreamer". The brother of the murdered Greek Cypriot guerrillas, who witnessed their deaths, lives in London and recognises Urquhart as the soldier who killed them. He asks his daughter Maria to investigate while secretly considering taking vengeance on Urquhart. Maria's search of government records finds a report on the incident written by Urquhart, but his name is redacted. Upon being approached by Maria, Urquhart arranges for documents revealing his involvement to be excluded from a coincidental declassification of British records relating to Cyprus. But he also confides the truth to Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Urquhart appoints ambitious

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

Claire Carlsen as his

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

. Claire also happens to be Makepeace's lover. She subsequently plays the two men against each other. Encouraged by Claire, Urquhart enrages Makepeace by making a speech in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

suggesting that Britain should not adopt the European currency, but that Europe should instead adopt English as its official language. When Urquhart seeks to appoint Makepeace to the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

in a

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parlia ...

, Makepeace resigns from the government,

crosses the floor In parliamentary systems, politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a different political party than which they were initially elected under (as is the case in Canada and the United Kingdom). ...

, and emerges as the prime minister's main adversary in Parliament. He also challenges Urquhart for the leadership of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

and forces him into a second ballot. Meanwhile, Claire advises Maria to take her case to Makepeace, who repeatedly raises the cover-up in parliament. At Makepeace's suggestion, Claire purloins the unedited report on the Cyprus killings from the secret government archive where it is stored. However, Urquhart's bodyguard, Corder – informed by the archive clerk – seizes the document from her. Makepeace's leadership challenge has attracted enough support to convince Urquhart that his position is in jeopardy. He decides to leak information regarding the oil deposits in order to stir up a conflict in Cyprus as "our Falklands" to unite Britain under his leadership. When Greek nationalists kidnap a British diplomat and the Greek Cypriot President, Urquhart deploys British troops to retrieve them. Though the troops successfully rescue the hostages, the intervention later results in the death of civilians, including young schoolgirls, largely because of the prime minister's drastic orders. Urquhart's support plummets, and when he proves unwilling to accept responsibility for the deaths or express sympathy for the victims, many MPs openly call on him to resign. While Urquhart appears defiant, his wife is worried, and she consults Corder for advice on how to save him. Corder advises "drastic measures", and informs her that he has sent a copy of Mattie Storin's tape, revealing Urquhart's role in her death, to Makepeace. Makepeace confronts the prime minister and announces that he will publish the tape, but not before Urquhart has achieved his aim of surpassing Margaret Thatcher's record. After this, Urquhart again meets Maria. The incriminating Cyprus report has been sent to Maria's father anonymously – presumably by Corder – and Maria vows to publish it. After this, Urquhart despairs, but Elizabeth consoles him: "We can be safe still!" and hints at a ploy by Corder. At the unveiling of the Margaret Thatcher memorial, on the day when Urquhart surpasses her record, a sniper in Corder's services appears on a rooftop and shoots the prime minister (and Maria's father, who had approached Urquhart with a pistol). Elizabeth had arranged for his assassination as the only way to preserve his reputation (and the retirement fund). Urquhart dies in her arms, while Corder offers his services to Makepeace, the apparent successor.

Cast

Ian Richardson Ian William Richardson (7 April 19349 February 2007) was a Scottish actor. He portrayed the Machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's '' House of Cards'' (1990–1995) television trilogy. Richardson was also a leading S ...

as Francis Urquhart, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom *

Diane Fletcher Diane Fletcher (born 17 April 1944) is an English actress. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1966. Fletcher was born in Derby, England. She played Nancy in ''Fairly Secret Army'', and has appeared in other popular British t ...

as Elizabeth Urquhart *

Isla Blair Isla Blair Glover (born 29 September 1944) is a British actress and singer. She made her first stage appearance in 1963 as Philia in the London debut of '' A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. Early life and education Isla Blair w ...

as Claire Carlsen MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary * Paul Freeman as Tom Makepeace, Deputy Prime Minister,

foreign secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

and later backbencher on the opposition side. *

Nickolas Grace Nickolas Andrew Halliwell Grace (born 21 November 1947) is an English actor known for his roles on television, including Anthony Blanche in the acclaimed ITV adaptation of ''Brideshead Revisited'', and the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1980s seri ...

as Geoffrey Booza-Pitt,

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

and later foreign secretary *

Nick Brimble Nicholas Brimble (born 22 July 1944) is an English actor whose long career has spanned theatre, television, film, and voice work. Early life Brimble was born in Bristol. His father was a schoolteacher who was also a keen amateur actor, an activ ...

as Corder, Urquhart's bodyguard * Yolanda Vazquez as Maria Passolides * Kevork Malikyan as Nures *

Julian Fellowes Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, (born 17 August 1949) is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, and a Conservative peer of the House of Lords. He is primarily known as the author of s ...

as Sir Henry Ponsonby *

Miles Richardson Miles Richardson (born 15 July 1963) is a British actor, born in Battersea, London to parents Ian Richardson (the well-known Shakespearean actor) and Maroussia Frank (daughter of dancer and critic Elizabeth Frank), both founder members of th ...

as Major Jardine

Production

* The opening scenes containing Margaret Thatcher's funeral proved controversial and generated a great deal of adverse commentary in newspapers, as it was felt to be inappropriate to show the funeral of a real person who was still alive. It also led to

demanding that his name be removed from the credits. * The episode length was reduced from 1 hour to 50 minutes.

Novel differences

In the novel, but not in the television series: * Urquhart does not kill Georgios and Euripides Pasolides in a lone operation but, as an officer, is responsible for their deaths. * Urquhart successfully thwarts the attempt to build a statue in honour of Margaret Thatcher. (Its erection is a theme—of political mortality—running through the television series.) * Makepeace does not openly challenge Urquhart for the leadership of their party but leads a popular movement against the Prime Minister. * Urquhart faces losing a general election and he is urged to resign by his Cabinet Ministers to keep his undefeated record. * Mattie Storin's murder is not mentioned and the information is not revealed to Makepeace. * Urquhart is not suspected as the murderer of Georgios and Euripides Pasolides until all is revealed at the end. * Urquhart is not assassinated on Corder's orders, but allows the brother of the men he killed in Cyprus to shoot him, making himself a martyr in the process. * Makepeace does not succeed Urquhart but is tarred by association with Urquhart's assassin as planned. * It is unclear whether Urquhart beats Margaret Thatcher's record in office as the longest-serving post-war prime minister.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Final Cut, The Television shows based on British novels House of Cards (British TV series) Peabody Award-winning television programs British political drama television series 1995 British television series debuts 1995 British television series endings 1990s British drama television series 1990s British political television series BBC television dramas Television shows written by Andrew Davies Television series produced at Pinewood Studios 1990s British television miniseries Television shows set in Cyprus Television series about prime ministers English-language television shows Television shows set in London