
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.
Filmograafia
- 2022Hamlet Within
- 2017Das Gesetz der Löwen (Narrator (voice))
- 2017King Charles III (Archbishop of Canterbury)
- 2017Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story (Narrator (Voice))
- 2016The Return of the Flying Scotsman (Narrator - (Voice))
- 2015Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale (Camilo)
- 2015Hamlet (Claudius/Ghost)
- 2014OXI, an Act of Resistance (Creon)
- 2014Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain (Narrator)
- 2013National Theatre Live: Macbeth (Duncan/Seyton/Old Man)
- 2013Run. (St. Peter)
- 2011The Awakening (Reverend Hugh Purslow)
- 2009National Theatre Live: Phèdre (Théramène)
- 2009An Organization of Dreams (Father)
- 2008Apparitions (Cardinal Bukovak)
- 2008Merlin (The Sarrum)
- 2008The Duchess (General Grey)
- 2008Mirrors (Lorenzo Sapelli)
- 2008Chemical Wedding (Crowley)
- 2007Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies (Himself (Narrator))
- 2007Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Lord Howard)
- 2007Once Upon a Time on the Westway (Billy Palmer)
- 2006Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (Pompey)
- 2006Alien Autopsy (Michael Kuhn)
- 2005Wachau - Land am Strome (Narrator (English Version))
- 2005The Headsman (Archbishop)
- 2004Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece (Narrator)
- 2004Trooja (Nestor)
- 2004I Am Not an Animal (Narrator (voice))
- 2004Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt (Narrator)
- 2004Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome (Narrator)
- 2004New Tricks (DAC John Felsham)
- 2003The Race for Everest (Narrator)
- 2003Wild Women of Viramba (Narrator)
- 2002Schönbrunn - Quelle der Schönheit (Narrator (English Version))
- 2002Foyle'i sõda (Raymond Brooks)
- 2002Whistle (Paul)
- 2002K-19: The Widowmaker (Admiral Bratyeev)
- 2002Claim (Lex Vandenberg)
- 2002Alone (Hannah)
- 2002The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (Sergent Mike McCaffrey)
- 2001The Gentleman Thief (Monty Sinclair)
- 2001Animals of the Ocean Desert (Narrator)
- 2001Waking the Dead (John Christie)
- 2001Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2 (Narrator)
- 2001The Body (Moshe Cohen)
- 2001The Misfit and the Matterhorn (Narrator)
- 2000Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes (Narrator)
- 2000Gladiaator (Gaius)
- 2000The 10th Kingdom (Governor of Prison)
- 2000Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine (Self - Narrator)
- 1999Mary, Mother of Jesus (Simon)
- 1999Notting Hill (PR Chief)
- 1999Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters (General Charette)
- 1999The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka (Iwaszkiewicz)
- 1998Lion Queen (Narrator (voice))
- 1998Invasion: Earth (Air Marshal Bentley)
- 1997St.Stephan – Der lebende Dom (Narrator (English voice))
- 1997Predators Killing for a Living
- 1997Jonathan Creek (Prof. Lance Graumann)
- 1997Bodyguards (Commander Alan MacIntyre)
- 1997Midsomer Murders (Max Jennings)
- 1997Midsomer Murders (Leo Clarke)
- 1997True Tilda (Reverand Glasson)
- 1996101 Dalmatians (Skinner)
- 1996Two Deaths (Cinca)
- 1996Alien Empire (Narrator)
- 1995Coogan's Run (Douglas Crown)
- 1995King Arthur: His Life and Legends
- 1995Kavanagh Q.C. (Mr. Justice Griffin)
- 1995England, My England (Samuel Pepys)
- 1994Fatherland (General Globus)
- 1994Wycliffe (Dr. Sam Malvern)
- 1993Selling Hitler (Gerd Schulte-Hillen)
- 1992Hamlet (Claudius)
- 1992Shakespeare: The Animated Tales (Claudius / The Ghost (voice))
- 1992Between the Lines (Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning)
- 1992Between the Lines (D.C.C. Dunning)
- 1992SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (Narrator)
- 1991Selling Hitler (Gerd Schülte-Hillen)
- 1991G.B.H. (Dr Jacobs)
- 1991For the Greater Good (Norman May-Boys MP)
- 1990The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story (BKA Police Chief)
- 1990Centrepoint (Claud Wareing)
- 1990The Chief (Dan Cheyney)
- 1989Blackeyes (Detective Blake)
- 1989About Face
- 1989How to Get Ahead in Advertising (Psychiatrist)
- 1988Testimony (Andre Zhdanov)
- 1988The Modern World: Ten Great Writers (Thomas Mann)
- 1987Vanity Fair (Lord Steyne)
- 1987Partition (General Flood)
- 1987Personal Services (Lionel)
- 1986Theban Plays: Antigone (Creon)
- 1986Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus (Creon)
- 1986Theban Plays: Oedipus the King (Creon)
- 1985The Burston Rebellion (Rev. Charles Tucker Eland)
- 1985Poppyland (George Sims)
- 1985Screen Two (Rev. Charles Tucker Eland)
- 1985Screen Two (Heiger)
- 1984Sorrell and Son (Thomas Roland)
- 1984Mr. Palfrey of Westminster (Adrian Vyner)
- 1983Natural World (Narrator)
- 1982King Lear (Earl of Kent)
- 1982The Woman in White (Sir Percival Glyde)
- 1981Troilus & Cressida (Hector)
- 1981Private Schulz (German Newsreel Commentator (voice, uncredited))
- 1981Timon of Athens (Alcibiades)
- 1980The Tom Machine
- 1980The Victim (Vincent Craig)
- 1979Screenplay (Matthias Erzberger)
- 1979Gossip from the Forest (Matthias Erzberger)
- 1978Edward and Mrs Simpson (Major Alexander Hardinge)
- 1978Edward & Mrs. Simpson (Maj. Alexander Hardinge)
- 1978Flayed (Robert)
- 1978Armchair Thriller (Vincent Craig)
- 1977The Three Hostages (Gaudian)
- 1977Professional Foul (McKendrick)
- 1977BBC2 Play of the Week (McKendrick)
- 1977BBC2 Play of the Week (Robert)
- 1976Hitting Town (Leonard Brazil (voice))
- 1976Plays for Britain (Voice of Leonard Brazil)
- 1975Hennessy (Tipaldi)
- 1975Space: 1999 (Jack Tanner)
- 1975King Lear (Duke of Cornwall)
- 1974Good Girl (Christopher Wimple)
- 1972Pope Joan (Father James)
- 1971Nicholas and Alexandra (Petya)
- 1971Justice (Roger Anderson)
- 1971Elizabeth R (Earl of Sussex)
- 1969It's Called the Sugar Plum (Wally Zuckerman)
- 1969The Ha-Ha (Jamie)
- 1967Omnibus (Zborowski)
- 1967ITV Playhouse (Schoner)
- 1965BBC Play of the Month (Duke of Cornwall)
- 1965BBC Play of the Month (Viktor Myshlaevsky)