Talk:Francis Urquhart

New article
I have changed this from a redirect page to an article as I feel FU as the central character deserves a biography.

Pronunciation
I'd appreciate it if someone added a note on how to pronounce the chap's name.--Rubie 22:46, 18 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I thought it was urk-art, not as the article says? --84.51.154.120 20:33, 22 November 2006 (UTC)


 * The proper Scottish pronunciation would be more like Uh-kurt. The first 'r' is usually silent, more or less. An Englishman would probably pronounce it as urk-art. duncan (talk) 14:04, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Cleanup
I've done cleanup - sufficient? Good original article, hope I've done it justice. Urquhart is a significant creation and deserves his own biography, but do his wife, Henry Collingridge, Mattie Storin and Tim Stamper? I suggest they be merged with this. - AG, Stockport, 24th August 2006.

Since 24th August someone has merged Collingridge, Storin and Stamper into a "Minor characters" page, someone has added further detail about House of Cards, and someone else has subtracted other details. IMHO these are all improvements, though I've done further cleanup and restored a couple of the cuts. I believe it is worth saying that Ian Richardson played Urquhart with icy relish, because it gives an idea of how the character comes across (nowhere else stated in the article) and because it was a clear example of a definitive performance - nobody else could be imagined as Urquhart now. I have also restored the information that Margaret Thatcher fell from power during the first series, because it catapulted the serialisation to instant popularity and was much discussed at the time. I also think "Urcutt" is the best spelling for how he actually pronounced his surname on TV. Happy to discuss. - AG, Stockport, UK.

Two issues I'd like to raise for resolution:

Firstly, FU's military career. This was handled consistently in the television series when he discusses one of his rivals being a member of a left-wing student society in university. I'm paraphrasing here, but I believe the line was "Well, that was a long time ago and rather irrelevant, don't you think? We shouldn't hold something he did in his youth against him, should we? What? Me? No, no. I was far too busy as an officer in the Scots Guards for any such experimentation."

Secondly, the apparently racist comment in 'To play the King' where he refers to the Prince's deputy press assistant as 'the black girl' disparagingly. This does not stem from any inbuilt racism, rather I believe that he actually felt that membership of a racial minority was her distinguishing feature - over and above any ability or native intelligence she might have had. Given that her passionate and well meaning advice pushed the King to his eventual abdication you might well think FU's assessment of her was spot on, although I could not possibly comment. ;) - IH, Amsterdam, NL.


 * I thought Urquhart's use of the phrase 'the black girl' was intended to annoy the King.

Fettes, not Eton
According to a profile in The Independent here, the Francis Urquhart character was educated at Fettes, not Eton. — IslandGyrl (talk) 14:02, 13 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Well not to disagree with that assertively, but I definitely heard Ian R say that FU has "quite a background: Eton, Oxford and the Scots Guards" on the DVD comm. but possibly he is mistaken. Though I believe he said it alongside the director and A Davies, the screenwriter, so Dobbs, the creator was not there to correct this, if wrong. --176.253.94.29 (talk) 20:44, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

Psycho
There is increasing awareness that psychopathy is a lot more boring and less violent and much more commonplace than previously believed. The article makes no diagnosis of psychopathy, while the IMDB synopsis of the BBC series does assert it. It's central to the character and what we know he does. He dominates everyone in every relationship, including, at least in the traditionalist marrriage sense, if not the sexual sense, his wife. He causes untold misery. He uses people. He kills people. He is power hungry, although I do not believe his politics are feigned to get popularity. I have not read the books, which really define the character, so I don't know if the flashbacks of Mattie, the Cypriots etc. and self-doubt and possibly guilt that we see in the TV series, are in the book. Real guilt would imply that he DOES have a conscience. But his wife always snaps him out of it and tells him he had no choice. --176.253.94.29 (talk) 20:50, 4 July 2013 (UTC)