Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 16, 1994 TAG: 9401200309
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT WILLIAMS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Combine all three of those Shakespearean villains, shake off their iambic pentameter, and there stands a truly modern villain: Francis Urquhart, an utterly amoral, murderous sociopath who happens to be Britain's prime minister.
And what a wonderful villain he is! Ian Richardson reprises his role as the vile Urquhart in the four-part political thriller ``To Play the King'' opening tonight on PBS' showcase, ``Masterpiece Theatre.'' (The program airs at 9 p.m. on WBRA-Channel 15.)
Urquhart proved himself a genuinely evil man in his rise through the House of Commons, chronicled in last season's superb ``House of Cards,'' (which repeated in two parts earlier this month).
Purely for the acquisition of power, Urquhart methodically undermined, betrayed, outsmarted and occasionally destroyed his rivals until he alone could step forward to assume the lease on No. 10 Downing St.
He also resorted to murder, killing a minion whose usefulness had ended and who threatened to expose his treachery.
And, in the final scenes of ``House of Cards,'' Urquhart broke off an affair with his lover (Susannah Harker), a journalist who had proof of his murderous schemes, by tossing her from the roof of the Houses of Parliament!
It is that guilty knowledge that he, Urquhart, willingly shares with us, his audience, in frequent asides that seem to underline his Shakespearean stature.
His anguish for Mattie's agonizing demise in ``To Play the King'' is the only evidence of conscience Urquhart so far has evinced. Is this the only flaw in his diamond-hard personality? Will it destroy him? Or does he just miss the thrill of the pursuit and seduction?
``I'm still here,'' he greets us with a hooded, reptilian smile, ``for my sins.'' Like Alexander, who wept when there was no more of the world left to conquer, Urquhart is feeling a bit melancholy.
Now that he is prime minister, what is left to him beside his private grief at killing a woman whom he may genuinely have loved?
Ah, but we're reuniting with Urquhart at the coronation of a new king (Michael Kitchen), who's reminiscent of - but not fashioned after - our own world's Prince Charles.
The king is liberal, humane and wants to help the dispossessed; Urquhart - dubbed ``FU'' by the British press - is a Tory whose opinions and policies are more conservative than Margaret Thatcher's.
Worst of all, from FU's perspective, is that the king wishes to take an activist role in humanizing His Majesty's government and its policies.
This urge to activism, to go beyond the ceremonial functions of the crown, is unheard of in the tradition of the monarchy and it is guaranteed to set him and Urquhart in opposition.
Urquhart finds his mission - and perhaps new reason for happiness - in resolving to fight, discredit and isolate the king. As Urquhart notes, disdainfully, ``My family came south (from Scotland in the 16th century) with James I of England!'' - unlike the Windsors, a come-lately bunch from Germany.
Like chess players, the two men each have forces at their disposal. The king has his oldest friend and press secretary (Nicholas Farrell) and an aide (Rowena King).
Urquhart has the unremitting support of his wife (Diane Fletcher), who's only just this side of Lady Macbeth. It is she who selects a young woman, a pollster and political operative (Kitty Aldridge) to be FU's next lover.
FU also has his political enforcer (Colin Jeavons) to advance his ends, including that of discrediting the licentious Princess Charlotte (Bernice Stegers), whose scandalous memoirs could derail the monarchy in an instant.
Thanks to Emmy winner Andrew Davies' ingenious script, based on the best sellers by Michael Dobbs, Urquhart lacks a key piece of information:
What we, the viewers know (and have known since the last scene of ``House of Cards'') is that there is a tape recording Urquhart's lover made in the last seconds of her life in which he confesses to his crimes - and kills her.
Someone - we don't know who - has the tape. How long can Urquhart survive?
Watching these wonderful characters, in conflict with themselves as well as others, and waiting for Urquhart's schemes to hatch is what makes ``To Play the King'' a first-class political thriller.
The only criticism you might have is PBS' decision to run the four episodes over a month, rather than four consecutive nights. Like Urquhart, PBS is, in the final analysis, unfathomable.
by CNB