House of Cards is a 1990 political thriller television drama serial by the BBC in four episodes, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was televised from 18 November to 9 December 1990, to critical and popular acclaim. The story was adapted by Andrew Davies from a novel written by Michael Dobbs, a former Chief of Staff at Conservative Party headquarters. Dobbs's novel was also dramatised for radio for BBC World Service in 1996, by Neville Teller, and had two television sequels. The House of Cards series was ranked 84th in the British Film Institute list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes in 2000. Over two decades later, the serial and the Dobbs novel were the basis for an adaptation set in Washington, D.C., commissioned and released by Netflix.