I was muchly saddened this morning to hear of the passing of Ian Richardson, one of the UK’s greatest character actors of recent years. He died unexpectedly in his sleep, according to his agent.
He could always be counted on to bring a degree of gravitas to any role, from the grotesque Lord Groan in Gormenghast to the Magician in the Sunday afternoon drama The Magician’s House. He was most excellent as the traitor Bill Haydon in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy opposite Alec Guinness 25 years ago, just as he was as the Chancellor in Bleak House last year. Among his other roles were Dr Joseph Bell, the “real” Sherlock Holmes, in the Murder Rooms series, and Canon Black in the patently bizarre supernatural series Strange. Of course, he was perfect as Francis Urquhart, the Machiavellian (count how many of his obituaries use that word…) Chief Whip – and later Prime Minister – in the House of Cards trilogy… so perfect, that he would later complain that people assumed he was Urquhart.
When I read that Sky One were planning to adapt Terry Pratchett’s novel Hogfather, the biggest concern I had (among many) was who they would get to play Death, who speaks only in capital letters. Ian Richardson, of course, was born to play the role, and performed with aplomb.
When I saw his name in the Radio Times, I knew the programme would be top notch. British drama lost one of its true characters today. He will be missed.