Quoting Russell Coker (russell@coker.com.au):
For popular political TV shows there's The West Wing, House of Cards, and Yes Minister. I'm sure that there are some great shows about the governments of non-English speaking countries, but I don't know of them and I think it's safe to assume that the majority of Australians aren't watching them. I'm pretty sure that most Australians are familiar with at least one of those political TV shows I cited.
The one, true incarnation of 'House of Cards' in my view was the original with Ian Richardson as Francis Uruquart doing his Richard III imitation around the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. The first year (of three) was delightfully evil skullduggery, and the perfect tonic during the Thatcher era. (The latter two years saw the magic fade, a bit.) Be sure to get the DVD set because it includes, as a special feature, an utterly delightful behind-the-scenes-of-Parliament featurette hosted by the great (and now late) Tony Benn, leader of the pre-Blair Labour Party. I am aware that American television made a remake, but, based on seeing a few scenes of it, it cannot compare, despite the presence of Robin Wright. Frank Underwood is a pale, pale imitation of Francis Uruquart, and the writing just cannot compare. I would put in a few words for a couple of other series. 'The Thick of It' was utterly brilliant, an updating of 'Yes Minister'/'Yes, Prime Minister' for the new age with profanity in operatic proportions and utterly, utterly hilarious -- showing what behind-the-scenes politics is probably _really_ like. This British programme by Armando Iannucci was such a success that a transatlantic feature film tenuously connected to the series followed, 'In the Loop', which is also wonderful. Last, I would strongly recommend the Danish series 'Borgen', which British admirers aptly dubbed "the Scandinavian West Wing', a series about a (fictional) first woman prime minister and her and her party's surrounding politics. The first two years (of three) were damned near perfect. The third lacked some of the first two's fire of inspiration, but did conclude the story.