John Shrapnel
Biography
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.
Known For
Midsomer Murders
1997
Midsomer Murders
1997
Merlin
2008
BBC Play of the Month
1965
BBC Play of the Month
1965
Natural World
1983
Screen Two
1985
Screen Two
1985
Waking the Dead
2001
ITV Playhouse
1967
New Tricks
2004
Foyle's War
2002
Filmography
Midsomer Murders
as Max Jennings · 1997
Midsomer Murders
as Leo Clarke · 1997
Merlin
as The Sarrum · 2008
BBC Play of the Month
as Duke of Cornwall · 1965
BBC Play of the Month
as Viktor Myshlaevsky · 1965
Natural World
as Narrator · 1983
Screen Two
as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland · 1985
Screen Two
as Heiger · 1985
Waking the Dead
as John Christie · 2001
ITV Playhouse
as Schoner · 1967
New Tricks
as DAC John Felsham · 2004
Foyle's War
as Raymond Brooks · 2002
Omnibus
as Zborowski · 1967
Gladiator
as Gaius · 2000
Space: 1999
as Jack Tanner · 1975
Troy
as Nestor · 2004
Private Schulz
as German Newsreel Commentator (voice, uncredited) · 1981
Jonathan Creek
as Prof. Lance Graumann · 1997
Wycliffe
as Dr. Sam Malvern · 1994
101 Dalmatians
as Skinner · 1996
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
as Sergent Mike McCaffrey · 2002
The Chief
as Dan Cheyney · 1990
Between the Lines
as Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning · 1992
Between the Lines
as D.C.C. Dunning · 1992
BBC2 Play of the Week
as McKendrick · 1977
BBC2 Play of the Week
as Robert · 1977
Kavanagh Q.C.
as Mr. Justice Griffin · 1995
Notting Hill
as PR Chief · 1999
Justice
as Roger Anderson · 1971
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
as Claudius / The Ghost (voice) · 1992
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
as Thomas Mann · 1988
The Duchess
as General Grey · 2008
The 10th Kingdom
as Governor of Prison · 2000
K-19: The Widowmaker
as Admiral Bratyeev · 2002
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
as Pompey · 2006
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
as Lord Howard · 2007
The Awakening
as Reverend Hugh Purslow · 2011
Elizabeth R
as Earl of Sussex · 1971
Mirrors
as Lorenzo Sapelli · 2008
Mr. Palfrey of Westminster
as Adrian Vyner · 1984
Edward and Mrs Simpson
as Major Alexander Hardinge · 1978
G.B.H.
as Dr Jacobs · 1991
I Am Not an Animal
as Narrator (voice) · 2004
Plays for Britain
as Voice of Leonard Brazil · 1976
Apparitions
as Cardinal Bukovak · 2008
Vanity Fair
as Lord Steyne · 1987
Coogan's Run
as Douglas Crown · 1995
Invasion: Earth
as Air Marshal Bentley · 1998
For the Greater Good
as Norman May-Boys MP · 1991
Fatherland
as General Globus · 1994
About Face
· 1989
Armchair Thriller
as Vincent Craig · 1978
Blackeyes
as Detective Blake · 1989
Nicholas and Alexandra
as Petya · 1971
True Tilda
as Reverand Glasson · 1997
Selling Hitler
as Gerd Schülte-Hillen · 1991
Bodyguards
as Commander Alan MacIntyre · 1997
The Body
as Moshe Cohen · 2001
Screenplay
as Matthias Erzberger · 1979
Alien Autopsy
as Michael Kuhn · 2006
The Woman in White
as Sir Percival Glyde · 1982
King Charles III
as Archbishop of Canterbury · 2017
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
as General Charette · 1999
Predators Killing for a Living
· 1997
Centrepoint
as Claud Wareing · 1990
Good Girl
as Christopher Wimple · 1974
The Misfit and the Matterhorn
as Narrator · 2001
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
as Psychiatrist · 1989
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
as Duncan/Seyton/Old Man · 2013
Shadow of the Sword
as Archbishop · 2005
Sorrell and Son
as Thomas Roland · 1984
The Lions Rule
as Narrator (voice) · 2017
Personal Services
as Lionel · 1987
Pope Joan
as Father James · 1972
Solo Shuttle
as Cain · 1998
Mary, Mother of Jesus
as Simon · 1999
Two Deaths
as Cinca · 1996
King Lear
as Earl of Kent · 1982
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
as Camilo · 2015
National Theatre Live: Phèdre
as Théramène · 2009
Flayed
as Robert · 1978
The Race for Everest
as Narrator · 2003
Chemical Wedding
as Crowley · 2008
Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus
as Creon · 1986
Hennessy
as Tipaldi · 1975
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
as Creon · 1986
Hamlet
as Claudius/Ghost · 2015
Gossip from the Forest
as Matthias Erzberger · 1979
Poppyland
as George Sims · 1985
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka
as Iwaszkiewicz · 1999
An Organization of Dreams
as Father · 2009
Alien Empire
as Narrator · 1996
Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes
as Narrator · 2000
Selling Hitler
as Gerd Schulte-Hillen · 1993
Timon of Athens
as Alcibiades · 1981
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
as Maj. Alexander Hardinge · 1978
The Ha-Ha
as Jamie · 1969
Once Upon a Time on the Westway
as Billy Palmer · 2007
The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story
as BKA Police Chief · 1990
King Arthur: His Life and Legends
· 1995
Alone
as Hannah · 2002
Theban Plays: Antigone
as Creon · 1986
OXI, an Act of Resistance
as Creon · 2014
Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies
as Himself (Narrator) · 2007
Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story
as Narrator (Voice) · 2017
Run.
as St. Peter · 2013
England, My England
as Samuel Pepys · 1995
The Gentleman Thief
as Monty Sinclair · 2001
The Three Hostages
as Gaudian · 1977
Troilus & Cressida
as Hector · 1981
Animals of the Ocean Desert
as Narrator · 2001
Hamlet Within
· 2022
Claim
as Lex Vandenberg · 2002
Professional Foul
as McKendrick · 1977
King Lear
as Duke of Cornwall · 1975
SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
as Narrator · 1992
The Burston Rebellion
as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland · 1985
It's Called the Sugar Plum
as Wally Zuckerman · 1969
Partition
as General Flood · 1987
Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome
as Narrator · 2004
Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece
as Narrator · 2004
Whistle
as Paul · 2002
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2
as Narrator · 2001
Wild Women of Viramba
as Narrator · 2003
Testimony
as Andre Zhdanov · 1988
Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt
as Narrator · 2004
The Tom Machine
· 1980
Hamlet
as Claudius · 1992
The Return of the Flying Scotsman
as Narrator - (Voice) · 2016
Hitting Town
as Leonard Brazil (voice) · 1976
The Victim
as Vincent Craig · 1980
Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain
as Narrator · 2014
Lion Queen
as Narrator (voice) · 1998
Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine
as Self - Narrator · 2000