Ian William Richardson was a British actor from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Francis Ewan Urquhart is a fictional character, the villainous main protagonist of the 1990 British television serial Michael Dobbs's House of Cards trilogy of novels. In the television series he is portrayed by Ian Richardson, who is a member of the Conservative Party, Urquhart is known to be a ruthless politician who rises from Chief Whip of the Conservative Party to Prime Minister of the United Kingdom through much treachery, deception and murder. He is married to Elizabeth Urquhart, who appears to uphold a great deal of power over her at the time husband, and often identifies his virtuous powers and overriding abilities, or persuades him to use a given situation to his advantage. The protagonist had an unknown sexual relationship with Mattie Storin in the first serial and one with the character Sarah Harding in the second serial.