John Shrapnel
Acting
127 titles
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.
Filmography
Hamlet Within
2022
The Lions Rule
2017
King Charles III
2017
Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story
2017
The Return of the Flying Scotsman
2016
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
2015
Hamlet
2015
OXI, an Act of Resistance
2014
Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain
2014
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
2013
Run.
2013
The Awakening
2011
National Theatre Live: Phèdre
2009
An Organization of Dreams
2009
Apparitions
2008
Merlin
2008
The Duchess
2008
Mirrors
2008
Chemical Wedding
2008
Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies
2007
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
2007
Once Upon a Time on the Westway
2007
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
2006
Alien Autopsy
2006
Wachau - Valley of Golden Magic
2005
Shadow of the Sword
2005
Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece
2004
Troy
2004
I Am Not an Animal
2004
Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt
2004
Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome
2004
New Tricks
2004
The Race for Everest
2003
Wild Women of Viramba
2003
Schönbrunn - Well of Beauty
2002
Foyle's War
2002
Whistle
2002
K-19: The Widowmaker
2002
Claim
2002
Alone
2002
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
2002
The Gentleman Thief
2001
Animals of the Ocean Desert
2001
Waking the Dead
2001
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2
2001
The Body
2001
Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes
2000
Gladiator
2000
The 10th Kingdom
2000
Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine
2000
Mary, Mother of Jesus
1999
Notting Hill
1999
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
1999
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka
1999
Lion Queen
1998
Invasion: Earth
1998
St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral
1997
Predators Killing for a Living
1997
Jonathan Creek
1997
Bodyguards
1997
Midsomer Murders
1997
True Tilda
1997
101 Dalmatians
1996
Two Deaths
1996
Coogan's Run
1995
King Arthur: His Life and Legends
1995
Kavanagh Q.C.
1995
England, My England
1995
Fatherland
1994
Wycliffe
1994
Selling Hitler
1993
Hamlet
1992
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
1992
Between the Lines
1992
SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
1992
Selling Hitler
1991
G.B.H.
1991
For the Greater Good
1991
The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story
1990
Centrepoint
1990
The Chief
1990
Blackeyes
1989
About Face
1989
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
1989
Testimony
1988
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
1988
Vanity Fair
1987
Partition
1987
Personal Services
1987
Theban Plays: Antigone
1986
Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus
1986
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
1986
The Burston Rebellion
1985
Poppyland
1985
Screen Two
1985
Mr. Palfrey of Westminster
1984
Natural World
1983
King Lear
1982
The Woman in White
1982
Troilus & Cressida
1981
Private Schulz
1981
Timon of Athens
1981
The Tom Machine
1980
The Victim
1980
Gossip from the Forest
1979
Edward and Mrs Simpson
1978
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
1978
Flayed
1978
Armchair Thriller
1978
The Three Hostages
1977
Professional Foul
1977
BBC2 Play of the Week
1977
Hitting Town
1976
Plays for Britain
1976
Hennessy
1975
Space: 1999
1975
King Lear
1975
Good Girl
1974
Pope Joan
1972
Nicholas and Alexandra
1971
Justice
1971
Elizabeth R
1971
It's Called the Sugar Plum
1969
The Ha-Ha
1969
Omnibus
1967
ITV Playhouse
1967
BBC Play of the Month
1965