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.
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Fed up with working hard just to scrape by, Christine Painter comes up with a bold plan to become th...
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Pressure from his boss and a skin-cream client produces a talking boil on a British adman's neck....
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Fictional account of what might have happened if Hitler had won the war. It is now the 1960s and Ger...
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An evil, high-fashion designer plots to steal Dalmatian puppies in order to make an extravagant fur ...
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London bookstore owner William Thacker's quiet life turns upside down when a chance encounter with f...
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When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save ...
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Humouristic reconstruction of the 1995 scandal when two British lads were accused of having faked a ...
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When Queen Elizabeth's reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain's invading army, ...
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A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled...
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In post–War England, a writer and sometime-ghost hunter investigates a reported haunting at a boys b...
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Performing from within the walls of a deconsecrated Manchester church, Kenneth Branagh takes the lea...
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A jealous king jeopardizes his family, friendships and succession....
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| # | Name | Character | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale (2015) | Camilo | - | - |
| 2 | Hamlet (2015) | Claudius/Ghost | 4 | |
| 3 | National Theatre Live: Macbeth (2013) | Duncan/Seyton/Old Man | - | - |
| 4 | The Awakening (2011) | Reverend Hugh Purslow | 6.6 | |
| 5 | The Duchess (2008) Oscars 2009 | General Grey | 7.2 | |
| 6 | Mirrors (2008) | Lorenzo Sapelli | 6.4 | |
| 7 | Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) Oscars 2008 | Lord Howard | 7.5 | |
| 8 | Alien Autopsy (2006) | Michael Kuhn | 6.2 | |
| 9 | Troy (2004) Oscars 2005 | Nestor | 6.9 | |
| 10 | Alone (2002) | Hannah | - | - |
| 11 | K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) | Admiral Bratyeev | 6.8 | |
| 12 | The Body (2001) | Moshe Cohen | 5.7 | |
| 13 | Gladiator (2000) Top 30 in 2000s | Gaius | 8.3 | |
| 14 | Notting Hill (1999) | PR Chief | 7.1 | |
| 15 | 101 Dalmatians (1996) | Skinner | 6.3 | |
| 16 | Fatherland (1994) | General Globus | 7.5 | |
| 17 | How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) | Psychiatrist | 6 | |
| 18 | Personal Services (1987) | Lionel | 4 | |
| 19 | Hennessy (1975) | Tipaldi | - | - |
| 20 | Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) | Petya | 8 |

