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.
81 movies · 49 shows
Hamlet Within
2022·0.0
King Charles III
2017·6.4
Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story
2017·7.0
The Return of the Flying Scotsman
2016·0.0
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
2015·7.7
Hamlet
2015·8.2
OXI, an Act of Resistance
2014·0.0
Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain
2014·0.0
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
2013·7.0
Run.
2013·0.0
The Awakening
2011·6.4
National Theatre Live: Phèdre
2009·7.8
An Organization of Dreams
2009·0.0
The Duchess
2008·7.0
Mirrors
2008·6.3
Chemical Wedding
2008·4.2
Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies
2007·6.8
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
2007·6.7
Once Upon a Time on the Westway
2007·0.0
Alien Autopsy
2006·5.7
Wachau - Valley of Golden Magic
2005·0.0
Shadow of the Sword
2005·5.8
Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece
2004·0.0
Troy
2004·7.2
Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt
2004·10.0
Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome
2004·0.0
The Race for Everest
2003·10.0
Wild Women of Viramba
2003·0.0
Schönbrunn - Well of Beauty
2002·0.0
Whistle
2002·6.3
K-19: The Widowmaker
2002·6.6
Claim
2002·5.1
Alone
2002·5.1
The Gentleman Thief
2001·0.0
Animals of the Ocean Desert
2001·0.0
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2
2001·7.5
The Body
2001·5.5
Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes
2000·8.0
Gladiator
2000·8.2
Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine
2000·0.0
Mary, Mother of Jesus
1999·4.1
Notting Hill
1999·7.3
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
1999·7.2
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka
1999·10.0
Lion Queen
1998·9.0
St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral
1997·0.0
101 Dalmatians
1996·5.9
Two Deaths
1996·5.6
King Arthur: His Life and Legends
1995·8.5
England, My England
1995·6.5
Fatherland
1994·6.2
Selling Hitler
1993·8.0
Hamlet
1992·0.0
SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
1992·4.0
The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story
1990·7.0
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
1989·6.3
Testimony
1988·5.6
Partition
1987·5.5
Personal Services
1987·6.1
Theban Plays: Antigone
1986·9.0
Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus
1986·8.0
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
1986·4.5
The Burston Rebellion
1985·8.0
Poppyland
1985·7.0
King Lear
1982·6.5
Troilus & Cressida
1981·8.0
Timon of Athens
1981·8.5
The Tom Machine
1980·0.0
The Victim
1980·7.0
Gossip from the Forest
1979·7.0
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
1978·10.0
Flayed
1978·0.0
The Three Hostages
1977·0.0
Professional Foul
1977·7.5
Hitting Town
1976·0.0
Hennessy
1975·5.1
King Lear
1975·10.0
Pope Joan
1972·6.1
Nicholas and Alexandra
1971·7.0
It's Called the Sugar Plum
1969·0.0
The Ha-Ha
1969·0.0