Final cut

Directed by Mike Vardy
Produced by Ken Riddington
Written by Andrew Davies and Michael Dobbs
Starring Ian Richardson andDiane Fletcher
Music by Jim Parker
Distributed by BBC
Release date 5 November 1995
Running time 4 x 50 minutes

Cast
Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart, Prime Minister
Diane Fletcher as Elizabeth Urquhart
Isla Blair as Claire Carlsen MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary
Paul Freeman as Tom Makepeace, foreign secretary
Nickolas Grace as Geoffrey Booza Pitt, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and later foreign secretary
Nick Brimble as Corder, Urquhart's bodyguard
Yolanda Vazquez as Maria Passolides


Plot
The serial opens with Prime Minister Francis Urquhart burying his dog, followed by the state funeral of his predecessor, Margaret Thatcher. Urquhart publicly praises Thatcher as his mentor, but privately begrudges her longevity and her record as the longest-serving Prime Minister[1], a record that Urquhart himself is soon to surpass.

To emulate Thatcher's Falklands War, Urquhart champions a solution to the Cyprus dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots ("to inscribe my name in history", as he put it). While boundaries are fixed by five international judges, Urquhart – prompted by his wife Elizabeth – is secretly working to bring offshore oil deposits under the control of a Turkish-British consortium, which will in turn provide for his retirement fund.

Urquhart also has a personal connection to Cyprus, having, as a nineteen-year-old lieutenant, killed two young men of the EOKA terrorist group. Urquhart has frequent nightmares and flashbacks of this event, and also of the murders of Mattie Storin and others, shown in the previous serials.

On the motorway, Francis's car is attacked by three louts, who are killed in quick succession by security staff riding with him. Francis sustains head injuries in the accident, but his life is not seriously endangered. During the subsequent hospitalization, Francis has more of his recurring nightmares. When Elizabeth arrives at the hospital, he is delirious, and confuses the incident with the van with the death of the men in Cyprus, despite the uncertainty of whether the men who attacked his car were linked with the Cyprus affair. Tom Makepeace, the Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, assumes command, and it is revealed that the van incident was simply the result of road-rage.

The brother of the men killed by Urquhart has not forgotten their disappearance, and sends his daughter Maria to investigate their fate. She finds a report written by the soldier who killed her uncles, but the author is kept secret from her. She approaches Urquhart, who appears to be welcoming and eager to help. Unknown to her, he arranges that documents revealing his involvement be excluded from a coincidental declassification of documents. He also confides the truth to his wife Elizabeth.

As in the previous serials, Urquhart chooses a female protégé (although this time without the mediation of his wife). He appoints the ambitious backbencher Claire Carlsen as his Parliamentary Private Secretary. Claire also happens to be Makepeace's lover.

Urquhart considers Makepeace – the actual broker of the Cyprus dispute – as a potential challenger, although he doesn't take the threat very seriously, considering him "not a fighter" but "a sentimental dreamer". Encouraged by Claire, Urquhart snubs Makepeace by making undiplomatic suggestions regarding Europe, and by offering him the Department of Education in a Cabinet reshuffle. The angered Makepeace resigns from the government, crosses the floor, and emerges as the prime minister's main adversary in parliament. He also challenges Urquhart for the leadership of the Conservative Party and forces him into a second ballot.

Although Makepeace breaks up with Claire, she nonetheless continues to encourage both men to fight each other. She also advises Maria to take her case to Makepeace, who repeatedly raises the cover-up in parliament. Although initially reluctant, Claire purloins the incriminating document from the secret archive, but Urquhart's bodyguard, Corder – informed by the archive clerk – seizes the document from her.

Meanwhile, Urquhart has information leaked regarding the Cypriot oil deposits, in order to create an international incident that he can use as "our Falklands" to unite Britain under his leadership. In reaction, Greek nationalists kidnap a British diplomat, and later also the Greek Cypriot President, prompting a British military intervention. Though initially successful, a roadblock results in the death of civilians, including young schoolgirls, largely because of the prime minister's drastic orders. Urquhart's support plummets, and when he proves unwilling to accept responsibility for the deaths, or even to express sympathy for the victims, many MPs openly call on him to resign.

While Urquhart appears defiant, his wife is worried, and she consults Corder for advice on how to save him. Corder advises "drastic measures", and informs her that he has sent a copy of Mattie Storin's tape, revealing Urquhart's role in her death, to Makepeace.

Makepeace confronts the prime minister and announces that he will publish the tape, but not before Urquhart has achieved his aim of surpassing Margaret Thatcher's record. After this, Urquhart again meets Maria on the parliament roof. Maria has come into the possession of the incriminating document, and vows to publish it. After this, Urquhart despairs, but Elizabeth consoles him: "We can be safe still!" and hints at a ploy by Corder.

At the unveiling of the Margaret Thatcher memorial, on the day when Urquhart surpasses her record, a sniper in Corder's services appears on a rooftop and shoots the prime minister (and Maria's father, who had approached Urquhart with a pistol). Elizabeth had arranged for his assassination as the only way to preserve his reputation (and the retirement fund). Urquhart dies in her arms, while Corder offers his services to Makepeace, the apparent successor.