Doctor Who Vs. House of Cards

Adapted by prolific screenwriter Andrew

Davies from the novel by Michael Dobbs,

this political thriller originally aired in late

autumn 1990, during the Conservative's

leadership election following Margaret

Thatcher's resignation.

The BBC1 drama spawned two sequels -

To Play the King in 1993 and The Final Cut

(1995), whilst an American remake followed

in 2013. The trilogy earned a total of four-

teen BAFTA award nominations (winning two

and an Emmy), and House of Cards was

voted 84th in the BFI TV 100 poll of 2000.

The whole four-part serial was repeated on

BBC4 last night - it featured Ian Richardson

(1934-2007) as Francis Urquhart, Susannah

Harker, and a total of thirty Doctor Who cast

and crew connections:

• director Paul Seed was the Graff Vynda-K in The Ribos Operation
• Malcolm Tierney (Woolton) was Doland in Terror of the Vervoids, and voiced Gantha/Warder for Big Finish's 1001 Nights (2012)
• Harker (Mattie voiced Clare Keightley for Shada (2003), and Anya for Eye of Darkness (2015)
• Colin [Abel] Jeavons (Stamper) was Damon in The Underwater Menace, and George Tracey in K9 and Company
• Christopher Owen (McKenzie) was an Earthling in Meglos
• Kenneth [Alfred] Gilbert (Earle) was Richard Dunbar in The Seeds of Doom
• John [Edwin] Arnatt (Grainger) was Chancellor Borusa in The Invasion of Time 
• Richard Braine (Spence) voiced Percy Closed for The English Way of Death (2015), and Professor Linus Woolf for Entanglement (2018)
• Robert Ashby [born Rashid Suhrawardy] (Presenter) was the Borad in Timelash
• David [born Diarmuid] Blake Kelly (Goodman) was Captain Briggs in (episode 3 of) The Chase, and Jacob Kewper in The Smugglers
• Sally Faulkner (Minister) was Isobel Watkins in The Invasion, and voiced Miss Tremayne for Winter for the Adept (2000)
• Colin Dudley (Speaker) was a former production manager on The Sea Devils (6), and The Invasion of Time
• Tariq Yunus (Jhabwala) was Cass in The Robots of Death
• [George] Gertan Klauber (Blackhead) was the Galley Master in The Romans, and Ola in The Macra Terror
• Nadim [Joakim] Sawalha (Manager) voiced Swapnil Khan for The Magic Mousetrap (2009), and the Old Man for 1001 Nights
• Geoffrey Bateman (Interviewer) was Dymond in Nightmare of Eden
• Ian [Gordon Arthur] Collier (Man) was Stuart Hyde in The Time Monster, Omega in Arc of Infinity (and reprised for Big Finish's Omega in 2003), then voiced Commisar Erco Sallis for Excelis Decays (2002), and Isaac Summerfield for Death and the Daleks (2004)
• John [born Simon Alexander Lyne] Pirkis (Young Man) provided a Sphere voice for The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords
• Robin Wentworth [born Victor Roy Wheeler] (Newlands) was Professor Horner in The Daemons
• Nick Brimble (Corder) voiced Shreeni for Exotron (2007), Kith for Max Warp (2008), Dudley Jackson for The Eternal Summer (2009), Olaf Eriksson for The Book of Kells (2010), and Commander Harlan for The Conscript (2017)
• Kevork Malikyan (Naresh) was Kemel Rudkin in The Wheel in Space
• BBC newsreader Angela [May] Rippon also had a cameo role in The Star Beast (2019)
• stunt arranger Gareth Milne was George Cranleigh in Black Orchid, stunt double in Warriors of the Deep, and Mortuary Attendant in Vengeance on Varos
• Tina Maskell was also stunt performer on Boom Town and The Runaway Bride
• cinematographer Ian Punter was an assistant on Planet of the Spiders (6), and film cameraman on Resurrection of the Daleks
• Howard Billingham was film editor on The Mind of Evil too
• Ken Ledsham was also production designer on The Ribos Operation, Destiny of the Daleks and The King's Demons
• costume designer Rosalind Ebbutt began her TV career on Black Orchid
• first assistant director Nigel Taylor was AFM on The Stones of Blood
• Barrie Tharby was also film recordist on Attack of the Cybermen and The Mark of the Rani