John Shrapnel
Acting
Born: April 27, 1942 · Birmingham, England, UK
Died: February 14, 2020 (aged 77)
Highest Rated
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
Gladiator
2000
Troy
2004
Notting Hill
1999
101 Dalmatians
1996
Mirrors
2008
The Duchess
2008
The Awakening
2011
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
2007
K-19: The Widowmaker
2002
Merlin
2008
I Am Not an Animal
2004
Midsomer Murders
1997
Photos (1)
Movies (66)
Gladiator
Gaius
Troy
Nestor
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Lord Howard
101 Dalmatians
Skinner
The Duchess
General Grey
Notting Hill
PR Chief
The Awakening
Reverend Hugh Purslow
K-19: The Widowmaker
Admiral Bratyeev
Fatherland
General Globus
Mirrors
Lorenzo Sapelli
The Body
Moshe Cohen
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
General Charette
Alien Autopsy
Michael Kuhn
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
Camilo
Nicholas and Alexandra
Petya
Personal Services
Lionel
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
Duncan/Seyton/Old Man
King Charles III
Archbishop of Canterbury
Selling Hitler
Gerd Schulte-Hillen
National Theatre Live: Phèdre
Théramène
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
Maj. Alexander Hardinge
Mary, Mother of Jesus
Simon
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Psychiatrist
Hennessy
Tipaldi
Chemical Wedding
Crowley
Shadow of the Sword
Archbishop
Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus
Creon
Two Deaths
Cinca
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
Creon
An Organization of Dreams
Father
Pope Joan
Father James
The Race for Everest
Narrator
Alone
Hannah
Once Upon a Time on the Westway
Billy Palmer
Testimony
Andre Zhdanov
The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story
BKA Police Chief
The Misfit and the Matterhorn
Narrator
Run.
St. Peter
Whistle
Paul
Professional Foul
McKendrick
Hamlet
Claudius/Ghost
The Burston Rebellion
Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
Hamlet Within
2022
England, My England
Samuel Pepys
King Lear
Duke of Cornwall
Timon of Athens
Alcibiades
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2
Narrator
Gossip from the Forest
Matthias Erzberger
Hamlet
Claudius
King Arthur: His Life and Legends
1995
Theban Plays: Antigone
Creon
King Lear
Earl of Kent
Flayed
Robert
Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome
Narrator
Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece
Narrator
Animals of the Ocean Desert
Narrator
The Gentleman Thief
Monty Sinclair
Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes
Narrator
Troilus & Cressida
Hector
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka
Iwaszkiewicz
Partition
General Flood
Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story
Narrator (Voice)
Claim
Lex Vandenberg
Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt
Narrator
Lion Queen
Narrator (voice)
Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain
Narrator
TV Shows (50)
Midsomer Murders
Max Jennings · 1 eps
Midsomer Murders
Leo Clarke · 1 eps
BBC Play of the Month
Duke of Cornwall · 1 eps
BBC Play of the Month
Viktor Myshlaevsky · 1 eps
Waking the Dead
John Christie · 2 eps
Natural World
Narrator · 10 eps
New Tricks
DAC John Felsham · 1 eps
ITV Playhouse
Schoner · 1 eps
Merlin
The Sarrum · 1 eps
Omnibus
Zborowski · 1 eps
Screen Two
Rev. Charles Tucker Eland · 1 eps
Screen Two
Heiger · 1 eps
Foyle's War
Raymond Brooks · 1 eps
Space: 1999
Jack Tanner · 1 eps
Jonathan Creek
Prof. Lance Graumann · 1 eps
Wycliffe
Dr. Sam Malvern · 1 eps
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
Sergent Mike McCaffrey · 1 eps
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
Claudius / The Ghost (voice) · 1 eps
BBC2 Play of the Week
McKendrick · 1 eps
BBC2 Play of the Week
Robert · 1 eps
Kavanagh Q.C.
Mr. Justice Griffin · 1 eps
The Chief
Dan Cheyney · 1 eps
Between the Lines
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning · 13 eps
Between the Lines
D.C.C. Dunning · 1 eps
Justice
Roger Anderson · 1 eps
Private Schulz
German Newsreel Commentator (voice, uncredited) · 3 eps
The 10th Kingdom
Governor of Prison · 5 eps
Mr. Palfrey of Westminster
Adrian Vyner · 1 eps
Elizabeth R
Earl of Sussex · 3 eps
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
Pompey · 1 eps
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
Thomas Mann · 1 eps
I Am Not an Animal
Narrator (voice) · 6 eps
G.B.H.
Dr Jacobs · 3 eps
Coogan's Run
Douglas Crown · 1 eps
Invasion: Earth
Air Marshal Bentley · 6 eps
For the Greater Good
Norman May-Boys MP · 2 eps
Armchair Thriller
Vincent Craig · 4 eps
Vanity Fair
Lord Steyne · 5 eps
Edward and Mrs Simpson
Major Alexander Hardinge · 5 eps
Plays for Britain
Voice of Leonard Brazil · 1 eps
Screenplay
Matthias Erzberger · 1 eps
Blackeyes
Detective Blake · 3 eps
Apparitions
Cardinal Bukovak · 6 eps
Predators Killing for a Living
13 eps
The Woman in White
Sir Percival Glyde · 5 eps
Selling Hitler
Gerd Schülte-Hillen · 1 eps
Bodyguards
Commander Alan MacIntyre · 7 eps
The Lions Rule
Narrator (voice) · 3 eps
Sorrell and Son
Thomas Roland · 6 eps
Alien Empire
Narrator · 6 eps
