7
John Shrapnel
Born · April 27, 1942
Died · February 14, 2020 (77 years old)
Known For: Acting
Place of Birth: Birmingham, England, UK
Bio
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.
Hamlet Within
0.0
2022
The Lions Rule
Narrator (voice) · (3 episodes)
9.0
2017
King Charles III
Archbishop of Canterbury
6.3
2017
Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story
Narrator (Voice)
7.0
2017
The Return of the Flying Scotsman
Narrator - (Voice)
0.0
2016
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
Camilo
7.7
2015
Hamlet
Claudius/Ghost
8.2
2015
OXI, an Act of Resistance
Creon
0.0
2014
Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain
Narrator
0.0
2014
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
Duncan, King of Scotland/Seyton, attendant to Macbeth/Old Man
7.0
2013
The Awakening
Reverend Hugh Purslow
6.4
2011
National Theatre Live: Phèdre
Théramène
9.5
2009
An Organization of Dreams
Father
0.0
2009
Apparitions
Cardinal Bukovak · (6 episodes)
7.2
2008
Merlin
The Sarrum · (1 episode)
7.8
2008
The Duchess
General Grey
7.0
2008
Mirrors
Lorenzo Sapelli
6.3
2008
Chemical Wedding
Crowley
4.4
2008
Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies
Himself (Narrator)
7.0
2007
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Lord Howard
6.7
2007
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
Pompey · (6 episodes)
7.3
2006
Alien Autopsy
Michael Kuhn
5.6
2006
Wachau - Valley of Golden Magic
Narrator (English Version)
0.0
2005
Shadow of the Sword
Archbishop
5.7
2005
Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece
Narrator
0.0
2004
Troy
Nestor
7.2
2004
I Am Not an Animal
Narrator · (6 episodes)
8.6
2004
Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt
Narrator
10.0
2004
Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome
Narrator
0.0
2004
New Tricks
DAC John Felsham · (1 episode)
7.3
2004
The Race for Everest
Narrator
0.0
2003
Wild Women of Viramba
Narrator
0.0
2003
Schönbrunn - Well of Beauty
Narrator (English Version)
0.0
2002
Whistle
Paul
6.1
2002
K-19: The Widowmaker
Admiral Bratyeev
6.5
2002
Claim
Lex Vandenberg
5.5
2002
Alone
Hannah
4.6
2002
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
Sergent Mike McCaffrey · (1 episode)
7.1
2002
Animals of the Ocean Desert
Narrator
0.0
2001
Waking the Dead
John Christie · (2 episodes)
7.2
2001
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2
Narrator
7.0
2001
The Body
Moshe Cohen
5.5
2001
Supermassive Black Holes
Narrator
7.6
2000
Gladiator
Gaius
8.2
2000
The 10th Kingdom
Governor of Prison · (5 episodes)
7.6
2000
Mary, Mother of Jesus
Simon
4.5
1999
Notting Hill
PR Chief
7.3
1999
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
General Charette
7.1
1999
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka
Iwaszkiewicz
0.0
1999
Invasion: Earth
Air Marshal Bentley · (6 episodes)
6.1
1998
St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral
Narrator (English voice)
0.0
1997
Predators Killing for a Living
(13 episodes)
0.0
1997
Jonathan Creek
Prof. Lance Graumann · (1 episode)
7.5
1997
Bodyguards
Commander Alan MacIntyre · (7 episodes)
0.0
1997
Midsomer Murders
Max Jennings · (1 episode)
7.5
1997
Midsomer Murders
Leo Clarke · (1 episode)
7.5
1997
101 Dalmatians
Skinner
5.9
1996
Two Deaths
Cinca
5.4
1996
King Arthur: His Life and Legends
10.0
1995
Kavanagh Q.C.
Mr. Justice Griffin · (1 episode)
6.8
1995
England, My England
Samuel Pepys
5.0
1995
Fatherland
General Globus
6.2
1994
Wycliffe
Dr. Sam Malvern · (1 episode)
6.0
1994
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
Claudius / The Ghost (voice) · (1 episode)
6.8
1992
Between the Lines
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning · (13 episodes)
5.6
1992
Between the Lines
D.C.C. Dunning · (1 episode)
5.6
1992
SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
Narrator
4.5
1992
Selling Hitler
Gerd Schulte-Hillen
7.0
1991
G.B.H.
Dr Jacobs · (3 episodes)
6.4
1991
The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story
BKA Police Chief
6.5
1990
Centrepoint
Claud Wareing · (4 episodes)
6.0
1990
About Face
(1 episode)
6.0
1989
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Psychiatrist
6.3
1989
Testimony
Andre Zhdanov
5.7
1988
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
Thomas Mann · (1 episode)
0.0
1988
Partition
General Flood
5.0
1987
Personal Services
Lionel
6.0
1987
Inspector Morse
Dr. Julian Storrs · (1 episode)
7.8
1987
Theban Plays: Antigone
Creon
0.0
1986
Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus
Creon
0.0
1986
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
Creon
2.0
1986
The Burston Rebellion
Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
0.0
1985
Poppyland
George Sims
0.0
1985
Natural World
Narrator · (10 episodes)
7.0
1983
King Lear
Earl of Kent
6.0
1982
The Woman in White
Sir Percival Glyde · (5 episodes)
7.5
1982
Troilus & Cressida
Hector
8.0
1981
Timon of Athens
Alcibiades
7.0
1981
The Tom Machine
0.0
1980
Gossip from the Forest
Matthias Erzberger
0.0
1979
Edward and Mrs Simpson
Major Alexander Hardinge · (5 episodes)
6.2
1978
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
Maj. Alexander Hardinge
10.0
1978
Flayed
Robert
0.0
1978
Armchair Thriller
Vincent Craig · (4 episodes)
4.2
1978
The Three Hostages
Gaudian
0.0
1977
Professional Foul
McKendrick
6.0
1977
Hitting Town
Leonard Brazil (voice)
0.0
1976
Hennessy
Tipaldi
4.7
1975
Space: 1999
Jack Tanner · (1 episode)
7.1
1975
Pope Joan
Father James
6.2
1972
Nicholas and Alexandra
Petya
6.9
1971
Justice
Roger Anderson · (1 episode)
6.0
1971
Elizabeth R
Earl of Sussex · (3 episodes)
7.4
1971
The Ha-Ha
Jamie
0.0
1969