
John Shrapnel
0 FOLLOWERS • 37 CREDITS • APR 27, 1942 - FEB 14, 2020 • 77
Biography
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

Midsomer Murders

New Tricks

Inspector Morse

Waking the Dead

Merlin

Space: 1999

Elizabeth R

Omnibus

The 10th Kingdom

Troy

Notting Hill

Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus

Theban Plays: Antigone

Invasion: Earth

King Charles III

King Lear

Between the Lines

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries

Two Deaths

Gladiator

The Three Hostages

Mirrors

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire

The Duchess

101 Dalmatians

The Woman in White

Fatherland

K-19: The Widowmaker

Poppyland

Apparitions

Theban Plays: Oedipus the King

The Burston Rebellion

The Race for Everest

Professional Foul

Predators Killing for a Living

The Return of the Flying Scotsman

Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2
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