Continuing our series discussing British political dramas of film and TV, host Ciaran is joined by Editors Michael and Sam to discuss House of Cards a 1990 BBC drama centring on the machiavellian rise of Francis Urquhart, the Tory Chief Whip passed over for a promotion to high office after the resignation of Margaret Thatcher. We discuss; what does ethical parliamentary whipping look like? Why has the British House of Cards endured and the American remake aged poorly? And will Sebastian Payne ever win selection for a Tory seat?

The TV and films we will be covering on future podcasts

Host Sam is joined by editor-in-chief Ciaran to interview Colm Murphy, Deputy Director of the Mile End Institute and Lecturer in British Politics at Queen Mary University of London, about his new book Futures of Socialism 'Modernisation', the Labour party, and the British Left 1973-1997.

We talk about the contested meanings of Modernisation, how it came to be thought of synonymously with New Labour, whether New Labour were neoliberals, constitutional reform, and who and what the soft left are.

⁠Futures of Socialism (ISBN: 9781009278812) is out now from Cambridge University Press for £85.00⁠

Host Ciaran is joined by Social Review editor Julia, and freelance trade union journalist Alex Maguire to talk about Sherwood - a BBC drama about two killings in a former mining village in Nottinghamshire. In this episode we cover; the weird Blue Labour politics of one of the killers, how the show deals with the real life elements of the murders it portrays, and how the show covers both the spycops scandal and the politics of former 'red wall' seats.

Guardian review of Sherwood

List of films and TV shows that will be covered in future episodes

*This episode was recorded in June*