Martin Shaw - Television

Television

Shaw began television work in 1967. Parts in one-off plays for Granada Television led to his playing hippy student Robert Croft, Lucile Hewitt's boyfriend, in Coronation Street. Another early role was booze and football-loving Welsh medical student Huw Evans in the television comedy series Doctor in the House. Huw Evans later returned in the Doctor at Large episode "Mother and Father Doing Well" as a nervous expectant father.

Shaw appeared with future co-star Lewis Collins in an episode of The New Avengers. Both played the roles of terrorists. Shaw portrayed Ray Doyle ("Agent 4-5") in the British television series The Professionals (1977–1981), opposite Collins. Shaw played another law-enforcement role in the 1990s ITV production The Chief.

In 1983, Shaw played Robert Falcon Scott in The Last Place on Earth. The series was filmed at Frobisher Bay on Baffin 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 in the 1983 TV film adaptation of the mystery novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He acted opposite Ian Richardson's Sherlock Holmes and Donald Churchill's Dr. Watson.

Rhodes is an eight part serial that aired in 1996 and was filmed on location in South Africa. Shaw's younger son, Joe, took early leave of his drama school course to play the part of the youthful Cecil Rhodes before Shaw completed Rhodes's story from the statesman's mature years to his death.

In 2001, he took the title role in the BBC drama Judge John Deed. The character gave an editorial voice to the television writer and producer G.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.

Between seasons of Judge John Deed, Shaw took the role of poetic bespectacled forensic detective Adam Dalgliesh in P.D. James's Death in Holy Orders in 2003 and The Murder Room in 2005.

After the sixth season of Judge John Deed had been filmed, Shaw appeared in the series Apparitions broadcast by the BBC in 2008. This was Shaw's first project as executive director.

In the police drama Inspector George Gently, Shaw appears in the title role.

Shaw also appeared as Sir Charles Cartwright in a 2009 adaptation of Agatha Christie's Poirot tale Three Act Tragedy.