Martin Shaw | |
|---|---|
.png) Shaw in 2020 | |
| Born | (1945-01-21)21 January 1945 (age 81) |
| Alma mater | London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Spouse(s) | [1] |
| Partner | Karen Da Silva (2003–present) |
| Children | 3 includingJoe Shaw |
| Awards | Drama Desk Award Theatre World Special Award |
Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He came to national recognition in the role of Ray Doyle inITV crime-action television drama seriesThe Professionals (1977–1983). Further notable television parts include the title roles inThe Chief (1993–1995),Judge John Deed (2001–2007) andInspector George Gently (2007–2017). He has also acted on stage and in film, and has narrated numerous audiobooks and presented various television series.
Shaw was born inBirmingham. His childhood was spent in Alleyne Grove inErdington andSutton Coldfield.[2] Shaw attendedGreat Barr School, where he excelled inEnglish literature and drama lessons.[3] At sixteen, he was offered a scholarship to a Birmingham drama school but declined.[4]
In his youth, Shaw was involved in a drunken brawl with a friend, suffering broken teeth, injuries to his face and a fractured skull, and needed cheekbone surgery.[5]
At age eighteen, Shaw moved to London to study acting at theLondon Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) from which he graduated.[6] He served his apprenticeship inrepertory as anassistant stage manager at theQueen's Theatre, Hornchurch and theBristol Old Vic.[7]
Shaw took key roles in the first revival ofLook Back in Anger (Royal Court/Criterion, 1968); in theNational Theatre'sSaturday, Sunday, Monday oppositeLaurence Olivier (1973); and inA Streetcar Named Desire presented by thePiccadilly Theatre in 1974. He later acknowledged the role ofStanley Kowalski in 'Streetcar' as a point of breakthrough in his career.[7]
In 1985, Shaw playedElvis Presley inAlan Bleasdale'sAre You Lonesome Tonight?. It told the story of Presley's last few hours. After a long run in London, the production visitedSydney,Melbourne andAdelaide in Australia.[8][9]
Shaw's portrayal of Lord Goring inAn Ideal Husband on Broadway earned him aTony Award nomination and a Drama Desk award.[7]
After filming finished on the TV seriesJudge John Deed, Shaw took the role ofThomas More inRobert Bolt's playA Man for All Seasons. Shaw's daughter, Sophie, played opposite him as More's daughter, Margaret. The production toured Britain's cities before a run in London at theTheatre Royal Haymarket.[7] In summer 2025 he reprised the role at the same theatre for a limited season.
In 2013, in a new production of the classic playTwelve Angry Men at theGarrick Theatre in London, Shaw played the part of the dissenting juror (identified as juror number 8).[10]
In 2016, Shaw toured and returned to the West End again with a production ofHobson's Choice at theVaudeville. After completing the filming of the final episode ofInspector George Gently, Shaw again toured in 2017 with the UK premiere ofGore Vidal's 1960 political pieceThe Best Man. Shaw played the part of William Russell, former US Secretary of State.[11]
Shaw began television work in 1967.[9] Parts in one-off plays forGranada Television led to his playing hippy student Robert Croft, Lucile Hewitt's boyfriend, inCoronation Street.[9] Another early role was booze and football-loving Welsh medical student Huw Evans in the television comedy seriesDoctor in the House. He later guest-starred, playing the same role, in the follow-up seriesDoctor at Large, now a nervous expectant father in the episode "Mother and Father Doing Well".[12] The actor had been introduced to international audiences via his portrayal of Horatio in the 1970Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation ofHamlet, starringRichard Chamberlain.
Shaw appeared with future co-starLewis Collins in an episode ofThe New Avengers. Both played the roles of terrorists.[9] Shaw portrayed Ray Doyle ("Agent 4-5") in the British television seriesThe Professionals (1977–1983), opposite Collins. Shaw played another law-enforcement role in the 1990s ITV productionThe Chief.[9]
In 1983, Shaw playedRobert Falcon Scott inThe Last Place on Earth. The series was filmed atFrobisher Bay near the city ofIqaluit onBaffin Island, Canada. In interview at the time, Shaw commented that he generally responded well to the testing physical conditions, particularly when they enhanced the reality of the scene. In the same year he played Sir Henry Baskerville inThe Hound of the Baskervilles, an adaptation of the novel bySir Arthur Conan Doyle. He acted oppositeIan Richardson'sSherlock Holmes and Donald Churchill'sDr. Watson.
He playedCecil Rhodes inRhodes, an eight-part serial that aired in 1996 and was filmed on location inSouth Africa. Shaw's younger son,Joe, took early leave of his drama school course to play the part of the youthful Rhodes.[13]
Another television acting credit includes the role of Mr (later Prof) Robert Kingsford inAlways and Everyone (1999–2002), a British accident and emergency medical series, played alongsideNiamh Cusack.[14]
In 2001, he took the title role in theBBC dramaJudge John Deed.[9] The character gave an editorial voice to the television writer and producerG.F. Newman's ideas about lifestyle choices such as vegetarianism and alternative medicine as well as issues of social justice. One episode about the safety of the MMR vaccine was banned.[15][16]
Between seasons ofJudge John Deed, Shaw took the role of poetic bespectacled forensic detectiveAdam Dalgliesh inP.D. James'sDeath in Holy Orders in 2003 andThe Murder Room in 2005. After the sixth season ofJudge John Deed had been filmed, Shaw appeared in the seriesApparitions, broadcast by the BBC in 2008. This was Shaw's first project as executive director.[14]
From 2007 until 2017 he played the title role in the BBC TV seriesInspector George Gently. On 9 May 2015 Shaw recited "For the Fallen" atVE Day 70: A Party to Remember inHorse Guards Parade, London which was broadcast on BBC 1.[14]
In 2021 he played the role of Dennis Stephenson, leader of a fictitious religious cult called the Barum Brethren, in theBritBox original seriesThe Long Call. The series premiered in autumn 2021, and is based on theAnn Cleeves bestselling novel.[17]
Shaw's first film role was as an Irish communist in a 1967 television adaptation of the novel,Love on the Dole. Better known is his 1971 role ofBanquo inRoman Polanski'sMacbeth. He has also been seen as an undercoverSecond World War operative in the 1975 productionOperation Daybreak; a singing and dancing futuristic magician "Zax" inFacelift; the role of Rachid in the 1973 filmThe Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and a wanted villain leading a life on the run in a circus troupe inLadder of Swords (1989).[14]
Shaw has narrated manyaudiobooks, includingTolkien'sThe Hobbit andThe Silmarillion;Swift'sGulliver's Travels; andEmily Brontë'sWuthering Heights. In 2006, Shaw narrated and appeared in a DVD chronicling the "Merlins overMalta" project. This featured the return of a Second World WarSupermarine Spitfire andHawker Hurricane from Britain toMalta for the first time in fifty years.[14]
In December 2006, Shaw presented the six-partDiscovery Channel Real Time TV seriesMartin Shaw: Aviators, produced byTwofour, which followed the two-year restoration of hisBoeing Stearmanbiplane after it was crashed by another pilot atOld Buckenham airfield inNorfolk. Shaw fulfilled a lifetime ambition to take the controls of a Spitfire and, though take-off was not permitted, he also powered anEnglish Electric Lightning to 150 mph in three seconds along the runway atCranfield Airport. Shaw also compared notes with the builder and developer of the modernautogyro,Wing CdrKen Wallis.[14]
In 2010 he presented a documentary for theBBC titledDambusters Declassified in which he investigated and debunked some of the myths of the dambusters raid known asOperation Chastise story which had been portrayed in the booksEnemy Coast Ahead andThe Dambusters, and the filmThe Dam Busters.[14]
Among several voiceovers and appearances, in 1974, Shaw starred in a three-minute advertisement for the Mk IIFord Capri[18] and in 1987, a TV advert for theVauxhall Cavalier.[19]
In 1971, Shaw became a follower ofCharan Singh, of thecontemporary Sant Mat religion.[20]
Shaw lives inWreningham in Norfolk.[21]
On 18 August 2010, Shaw collapsed during the first act of the matinee showing ofA Country Girl atShrewsbury's Theatre Severn. His agent said he had been suffering from cracked ribs and was taking antibiotics for a severe chest infection. Anunderstudy went on in his place.[22]
Shaw has been avegetarian since about 1974.[23] He has a prominent scar on his right cheek, the result of a mugging, after which he became ateetotaller.[24]
Shaw is a celebrity activist foranimal rights andanimal welfare. He is the patron of theHillside Animal Sanctuary inFrettenham inNorfolk, acharity organisation which provides a safe home for neglected and abused animals.[25] He also supportsViva! andDr Hadwen Trust.[26]
In March 2012, he also announced that he would become the official patron to the community organisationStop Norwich UrBanisation (SNUB), the aim of which is to protectNorfolk's countryside from overdevelopment and excessive urbanisation. In the press release, he stated that he was "simply furious and upset by your plight and that of all of us who wish to live in quiet and peace. I will be your Patron and keep fighting."[27]
Shaw won two awards for his performance as Lord Goring in the 1996Broadway production ofAn Ideal Husband and was nominated for a third:
