The Final Cut - Episode 4

The finale of The Final Cut begins with the consequences of Urquhart's last gamble. The news that there is oil off Cyprus has rocked Greek Cyprus, and serious unrest has broken out. Rebels seize the British High Commission and hold the High Commissioner hostage. Urquhart, who had hoped for exactly this kind of crisis, launches a strong-arm offensive.

A swift triumph restores his standing at home and leaves Tom Makepeace floundering. Claire Carlsen, meanwhile, learns the truth about her boss's war record.

The Army rescues the High Commissioner and the Greek Cypriot President from captivity. Then a convoy carrying them back to the capital is halted by a group of schoolgirls, flanked by soldiers, and Urquhart again orders strong-arm tactics. The incident ends in tragedy. Some of the schoolgirls are killed, and his refusal to accept responsibility or sympathy turns many MPs against him.

The headlines scream for his resignation. Urquhart appears defiant, but Elizabeth is worried, and she consults Corder, who advises drastic measures. He also tells her he has sent a copy of Mattie Storin's tape to Makepeace. Makepeace confronts Urquhart and announces that he will publish the tape, but only after Urquhart has beaten Margaret Thatcher's record as the longest-serving Prime Minister. Maria Passolides receives the incriminating Cyprus report anonymously, and vows to publish it too.

Urquhart despairs, but Elizabeth consoles him and hints at a plan of Corder's. At the unveiling of Thatcher's memorial, on the day he passes her record, Maria's father approaches him with a pistol. A sniper working for Corder shoots Urquhart, and then Maria's father.

Elizabeth and Corder had arranged the assassination as the only way to preserve her husband's reputation, and their retirement fund. Urquhart dies in his wife's arms, and Corder offers his services to Makepeace, the apparent successor. TVDB puts it more briefly: when the end finally comes, no one is more surprised than Urquhart.

The ending departs from Michael Dobbs's novel, in which Urquhart is not assassinated on Corder's orders but lets the brother of the men he killed shoot him, making himself a martyr. In the novel it is also unclear whether he beats Thatcher's record.

Mike Vardy directed, and the cast includes David Henry as General Gough, Miles Richardson as Major Jardine and John Rowe as Sir Clive Watling. Ian Richardson plays Urquhart to the end, with Diane Fletcher as Elizabeth and Nick Brimble as Corder.

The episode was shown on 26 November 1995. IMDb voters give it 8.3 out of 10, the best score of the serial, though the trilogy's ratings fall from 8.5 for the first serial to 8.0 for the last.