House of Cards (novel)

House of Cards is a political thriller novel by British author Michael Dobbs. Published in 1989, it tells the story of Francis Urquhart, a fictional Chief Whip of the Conservative Party, and his amoral and manipulative scheme to become leader of the governing party and, thus, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (The title, "House of Cards", is a play on words. British Parliament consists of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. "Cards" and "Commons" share the "C" as the first letter while "Cards" and "Lords" share the "rds" as the last three letters. Therefore, "House of Cards" essentially combines the names of both houses of Parliament.)

A television adaptation, written by Andrew Davies and produced by the BBC was aired in 1990. A six-part radio adaptation of the first novel, written by Neville Teller aired on BBC Radio 4 in 1996. In 2013, the serial and the Dobbs novel were the basis for an American television adaptation set in Washington, D.C., commissioned and released by Netflix.

The novel was followed by two sequels: To Play the King and The Final Cut. Both were adapted for television by the BBC and aired in 1993 and 1995 respectively.