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.
Known For
Credits
- 2022 · Hamlet Within as
- 2017 · King Charles III as Archbishop of Canterbury
- 2017 · Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story as Narrator (Voice)
- 2016 · The Return of the Flying Scotsman as Narrator - (Voice)
- 2015 · Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale as Camilo
- 2015 · Hamlet as Claudius/Ghost
- 2014 · OXI, an Act of Resistance as Creon
- 2014 · Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain as Narrator
- 2013 · National Theatre Live: Macbeth as Duncan, King of Scotland/Seyton, attendant to Macbeth/Old Man
- 2011 · The Awakening as Reverend Hugh Purslow
- 2009 · National Theatre Live: Phèdre as Théramène
- 2009 · An Organization of Dreams as Father
- 2008 · Apparitions as Cardinal Bukovak
- 2008 · Merlin as The Sarrum
- 2008 · The Duchess as General Grey
- 2008 · Mirrors as Lorenzo Sapelli
- 2008 · Chemical Wedding as Crowley
- 2007 · Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies as Himself (Narrator)
- 2007 · Elizabeth: The Golden Age as Lord Howard
- 2006 · Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire as Pompey
- 2006 · Alien Autopsy as Michael Kuhn
- 2005 · Wachau - Valley of Golden Magic as Narrator (English Version)
- 2005 · Shadow of the Sword as Archbishop
- 2004 · Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece as Narrator
- 2004 · Troy as Nestor
- 2004 · I Am Not an Animal as Narrator
- 2004 · Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt as Narrator
- 2004 · New Tricks as DAC John Felsham
- 2004 · Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome as Narrator
- 2003 · The Race for Everest as Narrator
- 2003 · Wild Women of Viramba as Narrator
- 2002 · Schönbrunn - Well of Beauty as Narrator (English Version)
- 2002 · Whistle as Paul
- 2002 · K-19: The Widowmaker as Admiral Bratyeev
- 2002 · Claim as Lex Vandenberg
- 2002 · Alone as Hannah
- 2002 · The Inspector Lynley Mysteries as Sergent Mike McCaffrey
- 2001 · Animals of the Ocean Desert as Narrator
- 2001 · Waking the Dead as John Christie
- 2001 · Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2 as Narrator
- 2001 · The Body as Moshe Cohen
- 2000 · Supermassive Black Holes as Narrator
- 2000 · Gladiator as Gaius
- 2000 · The 10th Kingdom as Governor of Prison
- 1999 · Mary, Mother of Jesus as Simon
- 1999 · Notting Hill as PR Chief
- 1999 · Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters as General Charette
- 1999 · The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka as Iwaszkiewicz
- 1998 · Lion Queen as Narrator (voice)
- 1998 · Invasion: Earth as Air Marshal Bentley
- 1997 · St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral as Narrator (English voice)
- 1997 · Predators Killing for a Living as
- 1997 · Jonathan Creek as Prof. Lance Graumann
- 1997 · Bodyguards as Commander Alan MacIntyre
- 1997 · Midsomer Murders as Max Jennings
- 1997 · Midsomer Murders as Leo Clarke
- 1996 · 101 Dalmatians as Skinner
- 1996 · Two Deaths as Cinca
- 1995 · King Arthur: His Life and Legends as
- 1995 · Kavanagh Q.C. as Mr. Justice Griffin
- 1995 · England, My England as Samuel Pepys
- 1994 · Fatherland as General Globus
- 1994 · Wycliffe as Dr. Sam Malvern
- 1992 · Shakespeare: The Animated Tales as Claudius / The Ghost (voice)
- 1992 · Between the Lines as Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning
- 1992 · Between the Lines as D.C.C. Dunning
- 1992 · SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich as Narrator
- 1991 · Selling Hitler as Gerd Schulte-Hillen
- 1991 · G.B.H. as Dr Jacobs
- 1990 · The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story as BKA Police Chief
- 1990 · Centrepoint as Claud Wareing
- 1989 · About Face as
- 1989 · How to Get Ahead in Advertising as Psychiatrist
- 1988 · Testimony as Andre Zhdanov
- 1988 · The Modern World: Ten Great Writers as Thomas Mann
- 1987 · Partition as General Flood
- 1987 · Personal Services as Lionel
- 1987 · Inspector Morse as Dr. Julian Storrs
- 1986 · Theban Plays: Antigone as Creon
- 1986 · Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus as Creon
- 1986 · Theban Plays: Oedipus the King as Creon
- 1985 · The Burston Rebellion as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
- 1985 · Poppyland as George Sims
- 1983 · Natural World as Narrator
- 1982 · King Lear as Earl of Kent
- 1982 · The Woman in White as Sir Percival Glyde
- 1981 · Troilus & Cressida as Hector
- 1981 · Timon of Athens as Alcibiades
- 1980 · The Tom Machine as
- 1979 · Gossip from the Forest as Matthias Erzberger
- 1978 · Edward and Mrs Simpson as Major Alexander Hardinge
- 1978 · Edward & Mrs. Simpson as Maj. Alexander Hardinge
- 1978 · Flayed as Robert
- 1978 · Armchair Thriller as Vincent Craig
- 1977 · The Three Hostages as Gaudian
- 1977 · Professional Foul as McKendrick
- 1976 · Hitting Town as Leonard Brazil (voice)
- 1975 · Hennessy as Tipaldi
- 1975 · Space: 1999 as Jack Tanner
- 1972 · Pope Joan as Father James
- 1971 · Nicholas and Alexandra as Petya
- 1971 · Justice as Roger Anderson
- 1971 · Elizabeth R as Earl of Sussex
- 1969 · The Ha-Ha as Jamie