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.

Filmography

• 2022Hamlet Within
• 2017Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story — Narrator (Voice)
• 2017King Charles III — Archbishop of Canterbury
• The Lions Rule — Narrator (voice)
• 2016The Return of the Flying Scotsman — Narrator - (Voice)
• 2015Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale — Camilo
• 2015Hamlet — Claudius/Ghost
• 2014Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain — Narrator
• 2014OXI, an Act of Resistance — Creon
• 2013National Theatre Live: Macbeth — Duncan/Seyton/Old Man
• 2013Run. — St. Peter
• 2011The Awakening — Reverend Hugh Purslow
• 2009An Organization of Dreams — Father
• 2009National Theatre Live: Phèdre — Théramène
• Apparitions — Cardinal Bukovak
• 2008Chemical Wedding — Crowley
• Merlin — The Sarrum
• 2008Mirrors — Lorenzo Sapelli
• 2008The Duchess — General Grey
• 2007Elizabeth: The Golden Age — Lord Howard
• 2007Once Upon a Time on the Westway — Billy Palmer
• 2006Alien Autopsy — Michael Kuhn
• Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire — Pompey
• 2005Shadow of the Sword — Archbishop
• I Am Not an Animal — Narrator (voice)
• New Tricks — DAC John Felsham
• 2004Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt — Narrator
• 2004Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece — Narrator
• 2004Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome — Narrator
• 2004Troy — Nestor
• 2003The Race for Everest — Narrator
• 2003Wild Women of Viramba — Narrator
• 2002Alone — Hannah
• 2002Claim — Lex Vandenberg
• Foyle's War — Raymond Brooks
• 2002K-19: The Widowmaker — Admiral Bratyeev
• The Inspector Lynley Mysteries — Sergent Mike McCaffrey
• 2002Whistle — Paul
• 2001Animals of the Ocean Desert — Narrator
• 2001Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2 — Narrator
• 2001The Body — Moshe Cohen
• 2001The Gentleman Thief — Monty Sinclair
• 2001The Misfit and the Matterhorn — Narrator
• Waking the Dead — John Christie
• 2000Gladiator — Gaius
• 2000Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes — Narrator
• The 10th Kingdom — Governor of Prison
• 1999Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters — General Charette
• 1999Mary, Mother of Jesus — Simon
• 1999Notting Hill — PR Chief
• 1999The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka — Iwaszkiewicz
• Invasion: Earth — Air Marshal Bentley
• 1998Lion Queen — Narrator (voice)
• 1998Solo Shuttle — Cain
• Bodyguards — Commander Alan MacIntyre
• Jonathan Creek — Prof. Lance Graumann
• Midsomer Murders — Max Jennings, Leo Clarke
• Predators Killing for a Living
• True Tilda — Reverand Glasson
• 1996101 Dalmatians — Skinner
• Alien Empire — Narrator
• 1996Two Deaths — Cinca
• Coogan's Run — Douglas Crown
• 1995England, My England — Samuel Pepys
• Kavanagh Q.C. — Mr. Justice Griffin
• 1995King Arthur: His Life and Legends
• 1994Fatherland — General Globus
• Wycliffe — Dr. Sam Malvern
• 1993Selling Hitler — Gerd Schulte-Hillen
• Between the Lines — Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning, D.C.C. Dunning
• 1992Hamlet — Claudius
• 1992SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich — Narrator
• Shakespeare: The Animated Tales — Claudius / The Ghost (voice)
• For the Greater Good — Norman May-Boys MP
• G.B.H. — Dr Jacobs
• Selling Hitler — Gerd Schülte-Hillen
• Centrepoint — Claud Wareing
• The Chief — Dan Cheyney
• 1990The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story — BKA Police Chief
• About Face
• Blackeyes — Detective Blake
• 1989How to Get Ahead in Advertising — Psychiatrist
• 1988Testimony — Andre Zhdanov
• The Modern World: Ten Great Writers — Thomas Mann
• 1987Partition — General Flood
• 1987Personal Services — Lionel
• Vanity Fair — Lord Steyne
• 1986Theban Plays: Antigone — Creon
• 1986Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus — Creon
• 1986Theban Plays: Oedipus the King — Creon
• 1985Poppyland — George Sims
• Screen Two — Rev. Charles Tucker Eland, Heiger
• 1985The Burston Rebellion — Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
• Mr. Palfrey of Westminster — Adrian Vyner
• Sorrell and Son — Thomas Roland
• Natural World — Narrator
• 1982King Lear — Earl of Kent
• The Woman in White — Sir Percival Glyde
• Private Schulz — German Newsreel Commentator (voice, uncredited)
• 1981Timon of Athens — Alcibiades
• 1981Troilus & Cressida — Hector
• 1980The Tom Machine
• 1980The Victim — Vincent Craig
• 1979Gossip from the Forest — Matthias Erzberger
• Screenplay — Matthias Erzberger
• Armchair Thriller — Vincent Craig
• 1978Edward & Mrs. Simpson — Maj. Alexander Hardinge
• Edward and Mrs Simpson — Major Alexander Hardinge
• 1978Flayed — Robert
• BBC2 Play of the Week — McKendrick, Robert
• 1977Professional Foul — McKendrick
• 1977The Three Hostages — Gaudian
• 1976Hitting Town — Leonard Brazil (voice)
• Plays for Britain — Voice of Leonard Brazil
• 1975Hennessy — Tipaldi
• 1975King Lear — Duke of Cornwall
• Space: 1999 — Jack Tanner
• Good Girl — Christopher Wimple
• 1972Pope Joan — Father James
• Elizabeth R — Earl of Sussex
• Justice — Roger Anderson
• 1971Nicholas and Alexandra — Petya
• 1969It's Called the Sugar Plum — Wally Zuckerman
• 1969The Ha-Ha — Jamie
• ITV Playhouse — Schoner
• Omnibus — Zborowski
• BBC Play of the Month — Duke of Cornwall, Viktor Myshlaevsky

Appearances as themselves (2)

• 2007Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies — Himself (Narrator)
• 2000Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine — Self - Narrator