Landless says at 1:04 he wants to buy two ITV regions (for anyone outside
the UK, these were regional stations of the ITV television network,
affiliates if you like who would broadcast the ITV network to a part of the
UK). People forget that back before 1990 one company could only own one ITV
region. Margaret Thatcher changed all that with the 1990 Broadcasting Act
which ruined the ITV network with really only two big companies, Carlton
and Granada owning most of the regions by the end of the 1990s. How times
changed since this aired.
I initially thought Landless was supposed to be Conrad Black...and I do
think the character is supposed Canadian because, despite sounding
generically American, he does use a lot of English expressions quite
regularly, so if people are criticising the actor for a bad 'American'
accent, I don't think that's the character anyway. However, Conrad Black is
a bit of an aristo and would never be as outright vulgar as Landless.
Personally I think he's a Black/Murdoch hybrid...what a horrible thought!!!
I seem to recall Landless offering to back Urquhart but on the condition
that he would exact a great deal of patronage from him should he succeed
the leadership. It would appear that this particular thread never
materialised in "To Play the King" or "The Final Cut."
For those of you inquiring about Ian's Scottish accent, there is a scene in
either the 3rd or the last episode of the 1st series, where he pretends to
be someone else to ward off Mattie over the phone, where he's speaking with
a Scottish accent.
Forgotten what a fantastic series this was, Ian Richardson was a class
actor, not only as Francis Urquhart in House Of Cards, but also as Major
Neiumheim in Private Schulz. Nice to see it again, thanks.
In the novels Landless is a cockney. I think it's pretty clear the TV
version was intended to come across as an American. I suspect Rupert
Murdoch may have provided some inspiration for this character.
@frankenstang1973 Quite agree. Private Schulz was fantastic. I saw it when
it first aired in the 80s and someone in the UK sent me a DVD of it about
two years ago. A great story and lots of fun.