John Shrapnel
Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy (née Edwards) and journalist/author Norman Shrapnel.[1] As a stage actor, he was a member of Laurence Olivier's Royal National Theatre company and the Royal Shakespeare Company and most recently appeared as Sir Oliver Surface in The School for Scandal (directed by Deborah Warner) at the Barbican Centre in 2011. He has also appeared extensively in film and on television in roles in Elizabeth R, Z-Cars, Edward and Mrs. Simpson, 101 Dalmatians, Space: 1999, Inspector Morse, Coogan's Run, Notting Hill and Foyle's War. He presented an episode of the 1983 BBC television travel series Great Little Railways. He gave performances in three entries in the BBC Television Shakespeare plays and as Creon in the BBC's 1984 productions of the Three Theban plays of Sophocles. In America, he has starred in supporting roles as Senator Gaius in Gladiator, Nestor in Troy and Pompey in the second episode of Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. He also played the Jail Warden in the 10th Kingdom, an epic fantasy miniseries. He has the rare achievement of appearing in two episodes of Midsomer Murders as two different characters, in Death in Chorus and Written in Blood. Shrapnel appeared in an episode of Jonathan Creek as Professor Lance Graumann in the episode The Omega Man. He appears in Chemical Wedding alongside Simon Callow, telling the tale of the resurrection of occultist Aleister Crowley. Shrapnel also has experience in the field of BBC radio drama through such characters as Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse and William Gibson's Neuromancer. He is the son-in-law of Deborah Kerr through his 1975 marriage to her younger daughter Francesca Ann Bartley. They have three sons, the actors Lex Shrapnel (b.1979), Tom Shrapnel (b.1981) and the writer Joe Shrapnel (b.1976). They live in Highbury, north London.
Acted in
Hamlet Within
2022
King Charles III
2017
as Archbishop of Canterbury
Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story
2017
as Narrator (Voice)
The Return of the Flying Scotsman
2016
as Narrator - (Voice)
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
2015
as Camilo
Hamlet
2015
as Claudius/Ghost
OXI, an Act of Resistance
2014
as Creon
Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain
2014
as Narrator
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
2013
as Duncan, King of Scotland/Seyton, attendant to Macbeth/Old Man
The Awakening
2011
as Reverend Hugh Purslow
National Theatre Live: Phèdre
2009
as Théramène
An Organization of Dreams
2009
as Father
Apparitions
2008
as Cardinal Bukovak
Merlin
2008
as The Sarrum
The Duchess
2008
as General Grey
Mirrors
2008
as Lorenzo Sapelli
Chemical Wedding
2008
as Crowley
Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies
2007
as Himself (Narrator)
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
2007
as Lord Howard
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
2006
as Pompey
Alien Autopsy
2006
as Michael Kuhn
Wachau - Valley of Golden Magic
2005
as Narrator (English Version)
Shadow of the Sword
2005
as Archbishop
Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece
2004
as Narrator
Troy
2004
as Nestor
I Am Not an Animal
2004
as Narrator
Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt
2004
as Narrator
Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome
2004
as Narrator
New Tricks
2004
as DAC John Felsham
The Race for Everest
2003
as Narrator
Wild Women of Viramba
2003
as Narrator
Schönbrunn - Well of Beauty
2002
as Narrator (English Version)
Whistle
2002
as Paul
K-19: The Widowmaker
2002
as Admiral Bratyeev
Claim
2002
as Lex Vandenberg
Alone
2002
as Hannah
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
2002
as Sergent Mike McCaffrey
Animals of the Ocean Desert
2001
as Narrator
Waking the Dead
2001
as John Christie
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2
2001
as Narrator
The Body
2001
as Moshe Cohen
Supermassive Black Holes
2000
as Narrator
Gladiator
2000
as Gaius
The 10th Kingdom
2000
as Governor of Prison
Mary, Mother of Jesus
1999
as Simon
Notting Hill
1999
as PR Chief
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
1999
as General Charette
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka
1999
as Iwaszkiewicz
Lion Queen
1998
as Narrator (voice)
Invasion: Earth
1998
as Air Marshal Bentley
St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral
1997
as Narrator (English voice)
Predators Killing for a Living
1997
Jonathan Creek
1997
as Prof. Lance Graumann
Bodyguards
1997
as Commander Alan MacIntyre
Midsomer Murders
1997
as Max Jennings
Midsomer Murders
1997
as Leo Clarke
101 Dalmatians
1996
as Skinner
Two Deaths
1996
as Cinca
King Arthur: His Life and Legends
1995
Kavanagh Q.C.
1995
as Mr. Justice Griffin
England, My England
1995
as Samuel Pepys
Fatherland
1994
as General Globus
Wycliffe
1994
as Dr. Sam Malvern
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
1992
as Claudius / The Ghost (voice)
Between the Lines
1992
as Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning
Between the Lines
1992
as D.C.C. Dunning
SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
1992
as Narrator
Selling Hitler
1991
as Gerd Schulte-Hillen
G.B.H.
1991
as Dr Jacobs
The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story
1990
as BKA Police Chief
Centrepoint
1990
as Claud Wareing
About Face
1989
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
1989
as Psychiatrist
Testimony
1988
as Andre Zhdanov
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
1988
as Thomas Mann
Partition
1987
as General Flood
Personal Services
1987
as Lionel
Theban Plays: Antigone
1986
as Creon
Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus
1986
as Creon
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
1986
as Creon
The Burston Rebellion
1985
as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
Poppyland
1985
as George Sims
Natural World
1983
as Narrator
King Lear
1982
as Earl of Kent
The Woman in White
1982
as Sir Percival Glyde
Troilus & Cressida
1981
as Hector
Timon of Athens
1981
as Alcibiades
The Tom Machine
1980
Gossip from the Forest
1979
as Matthias Erzberger
Edward and Mrs Simpson
1978
as Major Alexander Hardinge
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
1978
as Maj. Alexander Hardinge
Armchair Thriller
1978
as Vincent Craig
The Three Hostages
1977
as Gaudian
Professional Foul
1977
as McKendrick
Hitting Town
1976
as Leonard Brazil (voice)
Hennessy
1975
as Tipaldi
Space: 1999
1975
as Jack Tanner
Pope Joan
1972
as Father James
Nicholas and Alexandra
1971
as Petya
Justice
1971
as Roger Anderson
Elizabeth R
1971
as Earl of Sussex
The Ha-Ha
1969
as Jamie