Ian Richardson Filmography

Merry Christmas

Actors: Diane Kruger, Benno Fürmann, Guillaume Canet, Gary Lewis, Dany Boon, Daniel Brühl

Synopsis: The year is 1914, and as World War I continues to rage across the European countryside, four individuals stuck on the front lines find themselves faced with the unthinkable in director Christian Carion's Academy Award-nominated account of the true-life wartime event that would offer hope for peace Read More

Terry Pratchett's Hogfather

Actors: David Jason, David Warner, Ian Richardson, Joss Ackland, Marc Warren, Michelle Dockery

Synopsis: From the mind of bestselling author Terry Pratchet comes this off-the-wall holiday film. In the parallel universe of Discworld, they don't celebrate Christmas. Instead, children look forward to December 32nd, also known as Hogswatchnight, when they'll receive gifts, not from Santa Claus, but from Read More

Almost Adult

Crew: Sound/Sound Designer

Actors: Victoire Milandu, Ann Warungu, Annette Badland

Greyfriars Bobby

Actors: James Cosmo, Oliver Golding, Gina McKee, Sean Pertwee, Chris Lee, Greg Wise, Thomas Lockyer

Tomorrow La Scala!

Crew: Sound/Sound Designer

Actors: Jessica Stevenson, Samantha Spiro, Shaun Dingwall, Kulvinder Ghir, Karl Johnson

Synopsis: The feature-length debut of Francesca Joseph, Tomorrow La Scala!, is about an unusual production of a musical. Victoria (Jessical Stevenson) is the head of a small opera company that goes to maximun-security Seaworth Prison to mount a staging of Sweeney Todd. Gurad Kevin (Shaun Dingwell) warns the Read More

From Hell

Actors: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Richardson

Synopsis: The true-life horror story of Jack the Ripper gets a new spin in this screen adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell. In 1888, a ruthless and cold-blooded killer begins hunting prostitutes in East London, and while the murderer's work is savage, the mutilation of Read More

102 Dalmatians

Actors: Glenn Close, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Evans, Tim McInnerny, Ian Richardson, Gérard Depardieu

Synopsis: Glenn Close goes to the dogs once again in this sequel to 101 Dalmatians, Disney's 1996 live-action adaptation of their beloved animated classic. After three years in prison, Cruella De Vil (Close) is judged to have paid her debt to society and is set free, as she pledges to have nothing to do Read More

Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes [TV Series]

Actors: Ian Richardson, Charles Edwards

Gormenghast

Actors: Christopher Lee, Neve McIntosh, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers

Synopsis: The Groan family has led the people for years from their castle, Gormenghast. Although a new heir, Titus Groan, has just come into the world, a scheming kitchen boy, Steerpike, begins an elaborate attempt to take control. Surprisingly Steerpike faces his stiffest competition from the usually Read More

The Magician's House II

Actors: Ian Richardson, Katie Stuart, Jennifer Saunders

Synopsis: Based on the popular novel The Tunnel Behind the Waterfall by William Corlett, this British miniseries revisits the characters of The Magician's House, as three children with an interest in magic try to save the fabled Golden House, home of the good but mysterious Magician. Land developers want to Read More

The King and I

Actors: Miranda Richardson, Christiane Noll, Martin Vidnovic, Ian Richardson, Darrell Hammond, Adam Wylie

Synopsis: In this animated adaptation of the popular musical, British widow Anna Leonowens (voiced by Miranda Richardson, with singing by Christiane Noll) and her ten-year-old son Louis (Adam Wylie) travel from London to Siam in 1863. The King of Siam (Martin Vidnovic) has requested a proper English Read More

The Magician's House

Actors: Ian Richardson, Neil Pearson, Sian Phillips

Synopsis: This fantasy for the family, originally produced as a miniseries for the BBC, follows three children, Mary (Katie Stuart), William (Steven Webb), and Alice (Olivia Coles), as they spend the summer with Mary's father, who lives in the lush woods of the Golden Valley of Wales. The children encounter Read More

Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle

Synopsis: The focus of this two-part British drama was not on the fictional Sherlock Holmes but on his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle. Set in 1878, the story found young physician Conan Doyle (Robin Laing) working as an apprentice to Edinburgh forensic specialist Dr. Joseph Bell (Ian Richardson). In keeping Read More

A Knight in Camelot

Actors: Whoopi Goldberg, Michael York, Ian Richardson

Synopsis: In this romantic fantasy adventure, a lady scientist's experiment whisks her back to King Arthur's court. While there, the plucky lass proves that modern women are as tough as medieval men, and she soon becomes the mythical king's most favored knight. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Miss Monday

Crew: Sound/Sound Designer

Actors: Andrea Hart, James Hicks, Alex Giannini, Louise Barrett, Julie Alanagh-Brighten

Synopsis: This London-based film, the feature directorial debut of North American director Benson Lee, brought a 1998 Sundance Film Festival acting award for stage actress Andrea Hart in her first film. Beginning in black-and-white, the story opens with screenwriter Roman (James Hicks) failing to construct Read More

Dark City

Actors: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Richard O'Brien

Synopsis: Alex Proyas (The Crow) directed this noir-styled futuristic thriller, scripted by Proyas, Lem Dobbs (Kafka), and David S. Goyer (The Puppet Masters). Separated from his wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly), amnesiac John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to learn he is wanted for a Read More

The Canterville Ghost

Actors: Ian Richardson

Synopsis: In this, the sixth screen adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic story, Simon de Canterville (Ian Richardson) is trapped in his family's estate after he runs away rather than face another man in a duel. Canterville soon dies, and his ghost haunts the mansion. The fates have decreed that his soul will Read More

B.A.P.S.

Actors: Halle Berry, Martin Landau, Ian Richardson, Natalie Desselle, Troy Beyer

Synopsis: In this broad fish-out-of-water comedy, Nisi (Halle Berry) and Mickey (Natalie Desselle) are African-American women with two ambitions -- marry rich men who will give them lots of money, and open the world's first combination hair salon and soul food restaurant. However, eligible bachelors and Read More

The Fifth Province

Actors: Brian F. O'Byrne, Ian Richardson, Lia Williams, Anthony Higgins, Joan O'Hara

Synopsis: There are those who say that Ireland is comprised of five provinces: four on the earthly plane and one in the passionate domain of magic and endless possibilities. It is the latter province wherein true love abides. This hypnotic, surreal fairy tale in its latter stages makes great fun of Alfred Hitchcock Read More

The Woman in White

Actors: Tara Fitzgerald, James Wilby, Simon Callow, Ian Richardson, Andrew Lincoln

Synopsis: Along a dark country road in Cumberland, England, a ghoulish woman in white steps from the shadows to confront a foot traveler, Walter Hartright (Andrew Lincoln), bound for Limmeridge House three miles off. She asks senseless questions: "You don't suspect me of wrong, do you, Sir? Why do you Read More

Incognito

Actors: Jason Patric, Irène Jacob, Thomas Lockyer, Ian Richardson, Simon Chandler

Synopsis: European locations (UK, France, Netherlands) highlight this romantic thriller set in the art world. In New York, top forger Harry Donovan (Jason Patric) is hired by British art dealers to fake a $500,000 Rembrandt, despite pressure from his ill father (Rod Steiger) to use his talent on originals Read More

The Treasure Seekers

Actors: Gina McKee, Ian Richardson, Donald Sinden

Synopsis: Adapted from the historical novel by Edith Nesbit, this family-oriented comedy-drama concerns Richard Barnstable (Nicholas Farrell), an eccentric widower and father of five who is trying to perfect a new form of refrigeration. Barnstable's tinkering doesn't bring in much money and his children Read More

The Final Cut

Actors: Ian Richardson

Synopsis: The trilogy begun with House of Cards and To Play the King comes to a close in this two-part miniseries produced for the BBC. Francis Urquarth (Ian Richardson) has used his guile and cunning to rise to the position of Britain's Prime Minister, and with the end of his political career appearing on Read More

Catherine the Great

Actors: Brian Blessed, Mel Ferrer, Hannes Jaenicke, Ian Richardson, Omar Sharif, Jeanne Moreau, Craig McLachlan, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul McGann

Synopsis: Marvin J. Chomsky's sweeping historical drama, Catherine the Great, features Catherine Zeta-Jones as the title character. The film traces how the leader was able to skillfully manipulate both the societal institutions of the day as well as the powerful men who surrounded her in order to gain Read More

Words upon the Window Pane

Actors: Geraldine Chaplin, Geraldine James, Ian Richardson, John Lynch, Gerard McSorley

Synopsis: The ghosts of Jonathan Swift and friends pay a visit to two Dublin spiritualists in this Irish drama, adapted from Yeat's one-act play. In 1928, Miss McKenna, an aging spinster and the head of the Dublin Spiritual Society invites a visiting medium, Mrs. Henderson over to try to contact Jonathan Read More

To Play the King

Actors: Ian Richardson

Synopsis: This two-part British miniseries, a sequel to 1990's House of Cards, finds the shrewd but scheming conservative politician Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson) has risen to the position of Prime Minister. Urquhart soon pits himself in a battle of wits with England's newly crowned King (Michael Kitchen Read More

A Change of Place

Actors: Rick Springfield, Andrea Roth, Geordie Johnson, Stephanie Beacham, Ian Richardson

Synopsis: In this frothy outing, a helpful twin temporarily leaves college to pretend to be a fashion model in order to help keep her sister out of trouble. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Foreign Affairs

Actors: Joanne Woodward, Brian Dennehy, Eric Stoltz, Stephanie Beacham, Ian Richardson

Synopsis: Foreign Affairs was adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alison Lurie. Joanne Woodward plays Vinnie Miner, a college professor on sabbatical in England. While still on the plane, Vinnie makes the acquaintance of hard-hat tourist Chuck Mumpson (Brian Dennehy). Though she isn't too fond Read More

Dirty Weekend

Actors: Lia Williams, David McCallum, Ian Richardson, Rufus Sewell

Synopsis: Michael Winner directs a curious amalgam of his own Death Wish and Abel Ferrara's Ms. 45, in this intense, post-feminist serial-killer movie, based on the bestseller by Helen Zahavi. After an explosive love affair crashes and burns, Bella (Lia Williams) leaves London for Brighton, where she begins Read More

Remember

Actors: Donna Mills, Stephen Collins, Ian Richardson, Claire Bloom, Derek de Lint

Synopsis: This romantic mystery is based on a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford and chronicles a journalist's investigation of his bride-to-be's disappearance. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

M. Butterfly

Actors: Jeremy Irons, John Lone, Ian Richardson, Annabel Leventon, Shizuko Hoshi

Synopsis: David Cronenberg's cinematic intensity eviscerates this adaptation of David Henry Hwang's passionate stage production. Based on a true incident involving a French diplomat who carried on an affair for 18 years with a man the diplomat thought was a woman, M. Butterfly begins in 1964 Beijing when Read More

Year of the Comet

Actors: Penelope Ann Miller, Tim Daly, Louis Jourdan, Art Malik, Ian Richardson

Synopsis: In this film, young, headstrong Margaret Harwood (Penelope Ann Miller) is entrusted with a business assignment by her wine merchant father. While taking an inventory of the contents of the wine cellar of a Scottish estate, Margaret discovers an almost-priceless bottle of wine from the "year of the Read More

Nero

Actors: Sergio Castellitto, Chiara Caselli, Hugo Pratt

Synopsis: Bear witness to the rise of the most corrupt and ruthless ruler ever to preside over the Roman Empire as filmmaker Paul Marcus tells the tale of Nero's unlikely ascent to the throne, and his historical fall at the hands of his own vengeful kingdom. After murdering his sister's husband on grounds Read More

An Ungentlemanly Act

Synopsis: Stuart Urban's war film An Ungentlemanly Act transpires during the first few hours and days of the Falkland Islands War. Ian Richardson portrays the political head of the Falklands, who, surprised by the invasion by Argentineans, focuses on getting his wife to a secure location just as much as he Read More

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Actors: Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, Iain Glen, Joanna Roth

Synopsis: Much as he would later do with Shakespeare in Love (1998), writer Tom Stoppard delivered a tale of Shakespearean origin from a skewed and unexpected perspective. In this case, it's the perspective of two relatively minor characters from Hamlet, Rosencrantz (Gary Oldman) and Guildenstern (Tim Read More

Monsignor Quixote

Actors: Alec Guinness, Leo McKern

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Graham Greene, Alec Guinness stars as the title character, a descendent of Don Quixote. After he is appointed monsignor, he sets off with a leftist politician (played by Leo McKern) on an adventure reminiscent of the Cervantes novel. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

The Gravy Train Goes East

Actors: Christoph Waltz, Ian Richardson, Anita Zagaria, Jacques Sereys, Judy Parfitt

Synopsis: This four-part, four-hour British miniseries was a sequel to Malcolm Bradbury's 1990 TV effort The Gravy Train. Christoph Waltz returned to the role of Dorfman, a terminally idealistic member of the European Economic Council. This time around, the teeny-tiny Balkan state of Slaka hoped to join the Read More

The Plot to Kill Hitler

Actors: Brad Davis, Madolyn Smith, Ian Richardson

Synopsis: In this drama, based on a true story and set in 1944, a German war hero attempts to save his country from Hitler's evil schemes by devising a daring plot to overthrow him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

House of Cards

Actors: Ian Richardson

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Michael Dobbs, the British miniseries House of Cards was the first entry in a darkly satirical trilogy about ruthless, unscrupulous Conservative MP Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson). Determined to advance himself politically, socially, and financially, Urquhart would stop at Read More

The Phantom of the Opera

Actors: Jean-Pierre Cassel, Ian Richardson, Burt Lancaster, Teri Polo, Charles Dance

Synopsis: This adaptation of Gaston Leroux's indefatigable "grand guignol" piece The Phantom of the Opera stars British actor Charles Dance as Erik the Phantom. This adaptation by playwright Arthur Kopit soft-pedals the horrific elements of the story to concentrate on the love the tragic Erik bears toward Read More

The Gravy Train

Actors: Christoph Waltz, Ian Richardson, Anita Zagaria, Jacques Sereys, Judy Parfitt

Synopsis: The Gravy Train was the first of two British miniseries focusing on the seriocomic misadventures of Dorfman (Christoph Waltz), a new member of the European Economic Council. Embarking upon his diplomatic career with stars in his eyes, Dorfman was quickly disillusioned by the infighting, pettiness Read More

Twist of Fate

Actors: Ben Cross, Veronica Hamel, John Glover, Bruce Greenwood, Sarah Jessica Parker

Synopsis: The four-part British miniseries Pursuit, based upon Robert L. Fish's novel of the same name, was first telecast in the United States as the two-part "movie special" Twist of Fate. Bruce Greenwood essayed the leading role of Helmut Von Schraeder, an ex-S.S. officer on the run after conspiring to Read More

Burning Secret

Actors: Faye Dunaway, Klaus Maria Brandauer, David Eberts, Ian Richardson

Synopsis: Set in the years just after World War I at an upper-class winter spa, this period drama concerns the sickly son, Edmund (David Eberts), of American diplomat Mr. Tuchman (Ian Richardson). Edmund is accompanied to the spa with his ice-boned mother Sonya (Faye Dunaway) to recuperate from an asthmatic Read More

Whoops Apocalypse

Actors: Loretta Swit, Peter Cook, Rik Mayall, Ian Richardson

Synopsis: Tipping the scales on the Monty Python-esque side of broad comedy, this outrageous and classically British farce is a series of episodes involving the U.S., a small Caribbean nation, the British government, and the military. The American president is a former clown who dies after asking someone to Read More

King of the Wind

Troubles

Synopsis: Ireland's long history of political turmoil is put under the spotlight in director Chris Morahan's film Trouble, which centers around the shell-shocked Major Archer (Ian Charleson), who, despite his engagement to another, finds himself falling for Sarah (Emer Gillepsie), a pationate Irish Read More

Cry Freedom

Actors: Kevin Kline, Penelope Wilton, Denzel Washington, Kevin McNally

Synopsis: Richard Attenborough directed this dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko (Denzel Washington Read More

The Fourth Protocol

Actors: Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Joanna Cassidy, Ned Beatty, Betsy Brantley, Ray McAnally

Synopsis: Scripted by Frederick Forsyth from his own novel, The Fourth Protocol is a fact-based spy thriller. The titular protocol is a secret agreement between America, Britain and Russia to cease smuggling nuclear weapons into their respective countries. This figures into the schemes of several rogue Read More

Porterhouse Blue

Actors: David Jason, Ian Richardson, Tim Preece, Roy Evans, John Rogan, Earl Rhodes, Bob Goody

Synopsis: Author Tom Sharpe's outrageous best-seller about the power struggle that emerges when the dean of a Cambridge University dies before naming his successor gets the big screen treatment in director Robert Knights' four-part comedy. Porterhouse College is an institute of higher education steeped in Read More

Blunt: The Fourth Man

Actors: Ian Richardson, Michael Williams, Anthony Hopkins

Synopsis: Robin Chapman based his teleplay for the 1986 BBC production Blunt: The Fourth Man on a true story. Ian Richardson plays Sir Anthony Blunt, an above-reproach aristocrat and renowned art expert. In 1951, Blunt sells out his country by helping turncoat British spy Donald MacLean (Michael McStay) Read More

Brazil

Actors: Jonathan Pryce, Michael Palin, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond

Synopsis: Brazil constitutes Terry Gilliam's enormously ambitious follow-up to his 1981 Time Bandits. It also represents the second installment in a trilogy of Gilliam films on imagination versus reality, that began with Bandits and ended in 1989 with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. To create this wild Read More

Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy

Actors: Ian Richardson, Vladek Sheybal, Sam Dastor, Nicol Williamson, Malcolm Terris

Synopsis: Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy was a 6-part British miniseries, first telecast in the US on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. The series covers the years 1946 through 1947, during which time the British government granted independence to India. War hero Lord Mountbatten (Nicol Williamson), although Read More

Star Quality

Actors: Susannah York

Synopsis: This 5-part Masterpiece Theatre TV presentation was adapted from several short stories by Noel Coward. Though the personnel and settings change from week to week, the episodes are linked (sometimes very tenuously) by their relationship to the world of Theatre and the Performing Arts. In the first Read More

The Master of Ballantrae

Synopsis: It was not unusual in the 1980s for a British TV miniseries to resurface in America in the form of a re-edited feature-length "movie." The Master of Ballantrae, based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, offered a unique reversal on this process. Originally telecast in the United States as a Read More

Secret Lives of the British Prime Ministers

Synopsis: Made for British television, this is a series of plays which focuses on the more sensational aspects of the lives of several notable men who were at some time British Prime Minister, including among others, Lloyd George and Disraeli. ~ Mark Hockley, All Movie Guide Read More

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Actors: Ian Richardson, Martin Shaw, Nicholas Clay, Denholm Elliott

Synopsis: In this classic mystery story, Sherlock Holmes (Ian Richardson) is requested to investigate deaths around the Baskerville mansion because Henry (Martin Shaw), the last direct heir to the Baskerville fortune is worried that he may die by their unique curse; a ghost hound has eliminated his Read More

Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four

Actors: Ian Richardson, David Healy, Thorley Walters, Terence Rigby, Joe Melia

Synopsis: Based on a Sherlock Holmes story, the Sign of Four is about an ex-convict out to wreak vengeance on an army major (Thorley Walters) who left him stranded in a penal colony while making off with a valuable stash of treasure. But with a flat, dull treatment of both the story and its characters Read More

The Woman in White

Actors: Alan Badel, Diana Quick, Deidra Norris, Daniel Gerroll, Jenny Seagrove

Synopsis: Written in 1860 and previously filmed in 1912, 1914, 1917, 1929, and 1948, Wilkie Collins' gothic novel The Woman in White eventually resurfaced in miniseries form for British television. The plot was set in motion by the diabolical Count Fosco (Alan Badel), who tried to get his grubby mitts on a Read More

A Cotswold Death

Synopsis: The Cotswold Death was originally produced for British television. The title alludes to a tiny English village, where Ian Richardson serves as police inspector. Richardson's quietude is disturbed when an Arab shiek is murdered within his jurisdiction. "Why here?" is the question the inspector must Read More

Gauguin the Savage

Actors: David Carradine, Lynn Redgrave

Synopsis: The story of Paul Gaugin (1848-1903), the Parisian stockbroker who left his job, his wife and his five children for the life of an artist in Tahiti, was superbly fictionalized in Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence. Gaugin the Savage is the same story with no names changed, told in two Read More

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Actors: Alec Guinness, Michael Aldridge, Bernard Hepton, Ian Richardson,