10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About House Of Cards

8. It's Big In China

Who knew that a series about the ruthless back-room dealings and occasional extreme, secretive violence that underpin contemporary politics would be such a hit in the US, let alone around the world. For a country that tends to be more comfortable with the idealised like of The West Wing, House Of Cards cuts close to the bone sometimes. What's even more surprising is that the show is a big hit in China. Like, a phenomenally huge hit. And considering that's a country where not a whole lot of Western media €“ or a lot of media full stop €“ gets an official release, that's really saying something. And yet the show, which is streamed through the country's Netflix equivalent Sohu, was watched by 24.5 million people as of last year. According to those same statistics, the majority of those people were government employees, with Communist Party leader Wang Qishan being a particularly big fan. Hope he's not taking notes...