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John Shrapnel profile
Actor

John Shrapnel

Acting

Career Snapshot

Explained

These indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.

Acting credits

105

Prolific

Very extensive acting filmography.

TMDB popularity

2.4

Moderate attention

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Movies: 69Series: 36

TMDB ID: 940

IMDb ID: nm0795344

Known for: Acting

Born: April 27, 1942

Died: February 14, 2020

Age: 77

Place of birth: Birmingham, England, UK

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1965 - 2022

Years active: 58

Average TMDB rating: 6.84

Wikidata: Q1375689

Also known as

John Morley Shrapnel

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.

Series

Series

Series credits linked with John Shrapnel.

The Lions Rule poster
9.0

The Lions Rule

as Narrator (voice) • 3 eps

2017 Series
Apparitions poster
7.2

Apparitions

as Cardinal Bukovak • 6 eps

2008 Series
Merlin poster
7.8

Merlin

as The Sarrum • 1 eps

2008 Series
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire poster
7.4

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire

as Pompey • 1 eps

2006 Series
I Am Not an Animal poster
8.6

I Am Not an Animal

as Narrator (voice) • 6 eps

2004 Series
New Tricks poster
7.4

New Tricks

as DAC John Felsham • 1 eps

2004 Series
Foyle's War poster
7.9

Foyle's War

as Raymond Brooks • 1 eps

2002 Series
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries poster
7.2

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries

as Sergent Mike McCaffrey • 1 eps

2002 Series
Waking the Dead poster
7.2

Waking the Dead

as John Christie • 2 eps

2001 Series
The 10th Kingdom poster
7.6

The 10th Kingdom

as Governor of Prison • 5 eps

2000 Series
Invasion: Earth poster
6.1

Invasion: Earth

as Air Marshal Bentley • 6 eps

1998 Series
Predators Killing for a Living poster

Predators Killing for a Living

13 eps

1997 Series
Jonathan Creek poster
7.5

Jonathan Creek

as Prof. Lance Graumann • 1 eps

1997 Series
Bodyguards poster

Bodyguards

as Commander Alan MacIntyre • 7 eps

1997 Series
Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

Midsomer Murders

as Max Jennings • 1 eps

1997 Series
Kavanagh Q.C. poster
7.0

Kavanagh Q.C.

as Mr. Justice Griffin • 1 eps

1995 Series
Wycliffe poster
6.0

Wycliffe

as Dr. Sam Malvern • 1 eps

1994 Series
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales poster
6.3

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales

as Claudius / The Ghost (voice) • 1 eps

1992 Series
Between the Lines poster
5.2

Between the Lines

as Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning • 13 eps

1992 Series
G.B.H. poster
6.2

G.B.H.

as Dr Jacobs • 3 eps

1991 Series
The Chief poster
6.0

The Chief

as Dan Cheyney • 1 eps

1990 Series
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers poster

The Modern World: Ten Great Writers

as Thomas Mann • 1 eps

1988 Series
Vanity Fair poster

Vanity Fair

as Lord Steyne • 5 eps

1987 Series
Screen Two poster
6.8

Screen Two

as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland • 1 eps

1985 Series
LN
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