reviewed by Charity Bishop
       

Considered both a blatantly liberal attack on conservative British politics and one of the most ingenious miniseries' of its time, The Final Cut is the last installment of the Francis Urquhart trilogy. Prime Minister in a modern England just preparing to honor former PM Margaret Thatcher for her long service, Urquhart (Ian Richardson) is determined to beat her record in office. Having gotten to his position of power through deception, lies, blackmail, seduction and every other vulgar scheme possible, the former Chief Whip of the House of Parliament is determined to stand strong and fight even when faced with probable defeat. Everyone knows his reign is coming to an end, now that he's reached the retirement age.

His wife Elizabeth (Diane Fletcher) is planning for what happens after her husband leaves the public limelight. They are quite well off but haven't reached nearly the amount of comfort acquired by other former Prime Ministers. They are privately encouraged to build up their funding by making elite underworld deals. In the meantime Urquhart is pleased to announce to the general public that the territory battles in Cyprus are now at an end. The Greeks and Turks plan to sign a peace treaty and re-divide the boundaries. Considered the crowning achievement of his career, Urquhart has it made when he's privately told that there is oil beneath the sea on one side of the boundary. Should it swing in England's favor he might make a great deal of money on such an investment. It's a dangerous business toying with national judges but nothing that his scheming wife isn't up to. Their future security is assured, the "un-corruptible judge" is influenced by his loathing for the French judge on the circuit, and everything appears to be going magnificently.

Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, all his years of "throwing a bit of stick about" in Parliament has not endeared him to the masses. There are many who would gladly like to see him go and are fully prepared to support his opponent. Tom Makepeace (Paul Freeman) has grown tired of Urquhart's strict penny-pinching policies and is prepared to take the leadership from him. The senator is carrying on a relationship with Urquhart's newly-elected personal assistant, a woman who sees both sides as a valuable opportunity to promote her own worth. In the meantime a Greek import and his daughter are searching for answers to a thirty-year-old murder in Cyprus. They cannot prove it, but strongly believe that Urquhart was behind it. What unfolds as a result is yet another lesson in political power struggles at their most hideous. Everything we've grown to learn (and abhor) about Urquhart's policies are brought back into full motion as he continues to blackmail, lean on, lure, trap, bait, and scheme his way through power circles.

This time it gets a bit worse and more conservative policies are attacked. The miniseries implies that the Euro would be best for England, something that many, many British citizens are against. The military is slandered. Private war records are requested to be made public, endangering the lives of the agents they protect. Liberal mindset is spread throughout, everything from making Urquhart an oil tycoon who negotiates borders over the promise of becoming wealthy, to minor nitpicks like accosting his false sense of morality. On every front the series is offensive and yet once you start in, you cannot swim your way free of the undercurrent. While loathing his choices, Urquhart at the same time is extremely personable. You're rooting for him to succeed. You hate that wretched little "underling" who thinks he can become Prime Minister. It's quite frightening how fond the audience becomes of such a horrible individual. And at the end, when he gets his just dues for many years of crimes, you actually feel sorry for him.

Ian Richardson accepted the role one final time on the condition that Urquhart pay for his crimes and he does, but in the meantime the audience is treated to some appalling stuff. Both earlier installments alluded to sexual liaisons but this time we get to see them first hand. There are several extremely graphic love scenes involving nudity. There are numerous other implications, mild innuendo, the strong sense that more than one of Urquhart's associates is a womanizing philanderer, and mild sexual dialogue. Corruption in all forms is present, including bribing judges, threatening an entire nation's security in order to save an elected position, and intentionally starting riots in Cyprus. Violence is harsh this time around. A sniper shoots and kills a man from the roof; we learn that it was at his wife's instruction. Urquhart has dreams/memories of shooting two men in the head in Cyprus and setting their bodies on fire. There are other flashbacks to previous murders -- a woman being thrown from a roof and two car bomb explosions. 

The Prime Minister's car is attacked on the highway and run off the road. Urquhart receives a head injury and is unconscious when his driver and guard shoot the three teen-age bullies armed with baseball bats dead. Urquhart orders soldiers to clear a road in Cyprus by any means necessary, resulting in mass bloodshed. Several children are shot and killed. They then tell the media that the boys were armed. Language is also strong due to numerous uses of s**t, b*stard, and mild abuses of profanity and deity, along with three abuses of Jesus' name and some crude terms for male body parts and masturbation. There really is no one to root for in this tattered world of corruption, no glowing light to admire from a distance. That, even more than the horrific content and slanderous attacks on conservatives, is what brings the series of Frances Urquhart to its knees.