BBC Home Entertainment has detailed the Blu-ray release of Andrew Davies' House of Cards Trilogy, a critically acclaimed political television serial broadcast in three parts: House of Cards in 1990, To Play the King in 1993 and The Final Cut in 1995. All three are being made available as part of one 3-disc set on February 5, 2013.
Adapted for the screen by Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House), House of Cards is a spell-binding dissection of naked ambition, greed and rampant hypocrisy in the corridors of power. The series documents in thrilling detail the rise of Tory Chief Whip Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson, Dark City, Becoming Jane), a man with unwavering contempt for those with "no background, no bottom." With the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, a bitter internecine power struggle ensues within the Conservative Party. Urquhart schemes more devilishly than Iago to depose Thatcher's colorless John Major-style successor. And even Machiavelli would baulk at Urquhart's methods. Any and every act -- including murder -- is legitimate and the ends very much justify the means.
Special features include:
Commentary for Ep 1 of each season with Davies and star Ian Richardson
Andrew Davies on "To Play The King" controversy
TBC: Westminster Behind Closed Doors With Tony Benn
Fantastic series!! Ian Richardson (who refused a knighthood) gives the performance(s) of a lifetime!! It's great that he did commentary for this release as he has since passed away! Though the 1990s satire skews British upper-world folk, royal and commoner alike, there's still plenty of relevance here! Can't wait.
Day one for me. Never thought I'd see this on blu! This news gives me some hope that the beeb one day may release the classic 80s political thriller Edge of Darkness in highdef too.
Superb series anchored believably by the establishment figure of Ian Richardson. The Urquhart phrase "You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment" still lives on in modern political lexicon.
Imagine this is being released to tie in with the US remake scheduled for Feb 2013.
There are so many gems that would benefit from a re-master with decent subtitles for the unfortunate hearing impaired: Smiley's People, Traffik, I Claudius, The Barchester Chronicles, even Shaka Zulu and I would certainly buy Edge of Darkness.
