House of Cards, To Play the King, & The Final Cut

House of Cards, To Play the King, and The Final Cut are parts 1-3 of a British miniseries about the rise and fall of the Chief Whip of the Tories, who becomes Prime Minister and then has to keep power. They're based on a series of novels that diverge from historical record after Margaret Thatcher steps down. The first one is about how he gets power, and is, by far, the strongest. At the end of the first book/movie, the source and series diverge, as in the book, Urquhart dies, while in the movie, Mattie dies. This means that the series allows for sequels, although the author himself wrote sequels to the movie rather than the book (not unlike Jurassic Park). Ian Richardson is great as the slimy Machiavellian minister, and he makes the second two worth watching, even as they lose much of what made the first so great. To Play the King has Michael Kitchner as a Prince Charles stand-in who has become king after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and helps make the drop-off much less than in The Final Cut. Which adds a bit of backstory and kind of comes out of nowhere, not fully clicking. The entire series is a great behind the scenes look at how a Parliamentary system might work, although in a very cynical way. You might well think that I enjoyed it immensely, but I couldn't possibly comment.