Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

TheLittleSongbird 'House of Cards' is superlative. 'To Play the King' is great. The third series of the trilogy 'The Final Cut' (1995) may be the weakest of the three but is still very good.Everything that made 'House of Cards' and 'To Play the King' is here in 'The Final Cut' and work brilliantly. Unlike the previous two series however, a few parts veer on the improbable and the ending felt unsatisfying in its predictability and not having the punch or clarity of the ending of 'House of Cards' (the ending of 'To Play the King' was the weak link of that series but was more convincing than here). The previous two series are paced a little tighter too. Having said all this, the deviations from the source material again don't detract and the spirit and attention to character and mood detail are present.On the other hand, 'The Final Cut' visually looks wonderful, full of elegance and atmosphere in the design and class and style in the way it's filmed. It's also beautifully scored by Jim Parker with a very memorable main theme, and the direction lets the atmosphere and drama breathe but still never undermines the momentum.Andrew Davies once again also deserves a lot of the credit. The script has dry cynicism, sharp wit, dark bite and class, with some deservedly iconic lines that have since become part of popular culture. The nation's mood is brilliantly captured and the political elements are handled so truthfully and don't feel shoe-horned (it's actually essential here) or heavy-handed. The storytelling is mostly very absorbing, the depth and richness of the previous two series in the trilogy not lost.Ian Richardson is once again absolutely incredible in his best and most justifiably best known role, dominating the whole proceedings with ease. Diane Fletcher has a bigger role in 'The Final Cut' and again shows completely believability in a role that one doesn't see from her usually.Paul Freeman is especially good in support, which is mostly pretty solid apart from Nikolas Grace's sleaziness being more over-the-top than creepy.Overall, while the weakest of the three 'The Final Cut' still has a huge amount to enjoy, primarily Richardson. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Spondonman The final part of the House Of Cards mini-series trilogy isn't as good as the previous two, but still fairly entertaining and worth a watch. The production was as sharp as its BBC budget would allow, the acting was believable even if the darker plot wasn't entirely.UK Prime Minister Francis Urquhart is clinging on to power by any means but he has various cracks (no pun intended with all the nudity on display in here) appearing amongst his colleagues and friends, and also his violent past in war torn Cyprus 50 years previously is gradually catching up with him. It's more improbable than what has gone before but slimy Ian Richardson as the biggest swinger in town carries all before him, I think he talks to us more than to the other characters! Judging by the amount of sex, swearing and violence in these episodes rather less discipline is on display but it's not too distracting. Why do people seem to think it's more realistic if the characters are coarse and swearing all the time while they're watching a procession of 2D images on a flat screen on the other side of the room? My favourite bit from any of the 12 episodes was in the last one, where FU deliciously tells Booza Pitt he didn't have to resign… The predictable ending had him managing to hang on in office longer than Margaret Thatcher, was sudden and was a slight let down, but the steam had all escaped by then anyway.Overall as a whole it's an excellent time-passer, with many engrossing sections, not too many dull stretches and although it tails off a bit I would still recommend all three series.

welshNick The Final Cut is the last of the House of Cards trilogy and certainly not the best. The problem it had was how excellent its two predecessors were and it is always difficult to put 'three in a row' together. You only have to look at how awful The Godfather III was to see that. So where did it go wrong ?? The first part showed hoe FU became prime minister (excellent) and the second part showed how he crushed all opposition as PM including the Monarch (Almost as good). It was always going to be difficult to follow this up and if there was a dark secret in FU's past, surely one of his opponents would have found it when he ran for PM in the first part, particularly Pat Woolton who was foreign secretary. Well acted, quite a predictable ending, how evil is that wife of his ??? On a more comical note the fact that FU's wife is having an affair with the head of security is verging on the absurd. In its own right, not bad, but it had to much to live up to - well worth watching though but make sure you see them in the right order.

Philby-3 WARNING; SPOILER AHEAD. This mini-series is the final in the three adapted by Andrew Davies from Michael Dobbie's books (the others are `House of Cards' and `To Play the King'. Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson) has achieved his ambition to be prime minister even longer than Maggie Thatcher (whose memorial he is about to open) and is now contemplating retirement. However, his past is now catching up with him in the shape of his participation as a young man in a long-forgotten insurrection on Cyprus. What's more, his hitherto supportive wife, Elizabeth has been getting rather matey with Corder, the security goon.This is the blackest of the series and at times the dullest. The pace gets very slow and when the final bullet comes it is almost a relief. It fits though. As a noted Scottish autocrat, Lord Reith of the BBC once opined, the best form of government is despotism tempered by assassination. Churchill, on the other hand, thought that democracy was a terribly bad form of government, but far better than all the other sorts. Urquhart, the Scottish laird, needs to wear the democrat's clothes even to be a British conservative politician, but is a despot at heart. Mrs Thatcher was successful for many years as the national chief bully, but eventually hubris caught up with her in the shape of the poll tax. `F U' nearly makes it out the door, but alas, he knows too much, and, (shudder) is showing signs of weakness. Perhaps we forget that down through the ages politics has been a bloody business and the genteel veneer of present day parliamentary democracy conceals some pretty rough play.Anyway, the three `Cards' series amount to 600 minutes of great entertainment – much more fun than most airport novels and filled with incident and amusing, if not very original characters. `F U' himself, Ian Richardson, is a joy, and never has better use been made of `direct to camera' acting.