John Shrapnel
Acting
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
Acting130
tvThe Lions Rule
2017
Narrator (voice)
movieKing Charles III
2017
Archbishop of Canterbury
movieBritain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story
2017
Narrator (Voice)
movieHamlet
2015
Claudius/Ghost
movieNational Theatre Live: Macbeth
2013
Duncan/Seyton/Old Man
movieRun.
2013
St. Peter
movieThe Awakening
2011
Reverend Hugh Purslow
tvApparitions
2008
Cardinal Bukovak
tvMerlin
2008
The Sarrum
movieThe Duchess
2008
General Grey
movieMirrors
2008
Lorenzo Sapelli
movieChemical Wedding
2008
Crowley
movieHindenburg: Titanic of the Skies
2007
Himself (Narrator)
movieElizabeth: The Golden Age
2007
Lord Howard
movieOnce Upon a Time on the Westway
2007
Billy Palmer
movieAlien Autopsy
2006
Michael Kuhn
movieWachau - Valley of Golden Magic
2005
Narrator (English Version)
movieShadow of the Sword
2005
Archbishop
movieTroy
2004
Nestor
tvI Am Not an Animal
2004
Narrator (voice)
tvNew Tricks
2004
DAC John Felsham
movieThe Race for Everest
2003
Narrator
movieSchönbrunn - Well of Beauty
2002
Narrator (English Version)
tvFoyle's War
2002
Raymond Brooks
movieWhistle
2002
Paul
movieK-19: The Widowmaker
2002
Admiral Bratyeev
movieClaim
2002
Lex Vandenberg
movieAlone
2002
Hannah
tvThe Inspector Lynley Mysteries
2002
Sergent Mike McCaffrey
movieThe Gentleman Thief
2001
Monty Sinclair
tvWaking the Dead
2001
John Christie
movieThe Body
2001
Moshe Cohen
movieGladiator
2000
Gaius
tvThe 10th Kingdom
2000
Governor of Prison
movieLost on Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine
2000
Self - Narrator
movieNotting Hill
1999
PR Chief
movieHornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
1999
General Charette
movieThe Strange Case of Delfina Potocka
1999
Iwaszkiewicz
movieLion Queen
1998
Narrator (voice)
tvInvasion: Earth
1998
Air Marshal Bentley
movieSt. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral
1997
Narrator (English voice)
tvJonathan Creek
1997
Prof. Lance Graumann
tvBodyguards
1997
Commander Alan MacIntyre
tvMidsomer Murders
1997
Max Jennings / Leo Clarke
True Tilda
1997
Reverand Glasson
movie101 Dalmatians
1996
Skinner
movieTwo Deaths
1996
Cinca
tvAlien Empire
1996
Narrator
tvCoogan's Run
1995
Douglas Crown
tvKavanagh Q.C.
1995
Mr. Justice Griffin
movieEngland, My England
1995
Samuel Pepys
movieFatherland
1994
General Globus
tvWycliffe
1994
Dr. Sam Malvern
movieSelling Hitler
1993
Gerd Schulte-Hillen
movieHamlet
1992
Claudius
tvShakespeare: The Animated Tales
1992
Claudius / The Ghost (voice)
tvBetween the Lines
1992
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning / D.C.C. Dunning
SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
1992
Narrator
tvSelling Hitler
1991
Gerd Schülte-Hillen
tvG.B.H.
1991
Dr Jacobs
tvFor the Greater Good
1991
Norman May-Boys MP
movieThe Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story
1990
BKA Police Chief
Centrepoint
1990
Claud Wareing
tvThe Chief
1990
Dan Cheyney
tvBlackeyes
1989
Detective Blake
movieHow to Get Ahead in Advertising
1989
Psychiatrist
movieTestimony
1988
Andre Zhdanov
tvThe Modern World: Ten Great Writers
1988
Thomas Mann
tvVanity Fair
1987
Lord Steyne
moviePartition
1987
General Flood
movieThe Burston Rebellion
1985
Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
Poppyland
1985
George Sims
tvScreen Two
1985
Rev. Charles Tucker Eland / Heiger
tvSorrell and Son
1984
Thomas Roland
tvMr. Palfrey of Westminster
1984
Adrian Vyner
tvNatural World
1983
Narrator
movieKing Lear
1982
Earl of Kent
tvThe Woman in White
1982
Sir Percival Glyde
tvPrivate Schulz
1981
German Newsreel Commentator (voice, uncredited)
movieTimon of Athens
1981
Alcibiades
The Victim
1980
Vincent Craig
tvScreenplay
1979
Matthias Erzberger
movieGossip from the Forest
1979
Matthias Erzberger
tvEdward and Mrs Simpson
1978
Major Alexander Hardinge
movieEdward & Mrs. Simpson
1978
Maj. Alexander Hardinge
movieFlayed
1978
Robert
tvArmchair Thriller
1978
Vincent Craig
movieProfessional Foul
1977
McKendrick
tvBBC2 Play of the Week
1977
McKendrick / Robert
Hitting Town
1976
Leonard Brazil (voice)
tvPlays for Britain
1976
Voice of Leonard Brazil
movieHennessy
1975
Tipaldi
tvSpace: 1999
1975
Jack Tanner
movieKing Lear
1975
Duke of Cornwall
Good Girl
1974
Christopher Wimple
moviePope Joan
1972
Father James
tvJustice
1971
Roger Anderson
tvElizabeth R
1971
Earl of Sussex
tvOmnibus
1967
Zborowski
tvITV Playhouse
1967
Schoner
tvBBC Play of the Month
1965
Duke of Cornwall / Viktor Myshlaevsky