Honestly, if you grew up with British television, Martin Shaw is basically a permanent fixture of the living room. You know the face. That slightly stern, authoritative gaze, the silver hair that seems to have been perfectly coiffed since about 1995, and a voice that could make reading a grocery list sound like a High Court summons. But there is a weird thing about Shaw. People tend to categorize him by whichever decade they first found him.
For some, he is the perm-wearing, gun-toting Ray Doyle. For others, he is the rebellious judge in the red robes. And for a whole generation of Sunday night viewers, he is the melancholic George Gently.
The reality of martin shaw movies and tv shows is a bit more complicated—and a lot more interesting—than just a list of "tough guy" roles. He’s an actor who has spent half his career trying to escape the roles that made him famous, only to end up defining the genre of British prestige drama anyway.
The Professional He Tried to Forget
Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way. The Professionals. If you mention Martin Shaw to anyone over the age of fifty, they immediately think of Ray Doyle. It was the late 70s, and CI5 was the coolest thing on ITV. Shaw and Lewis Collins (as Bodie) were the ultimate "hard man" duo, driving Ford Capris through cardboard boxes and sporting some truly adventurous knitwear.
But here is the kicker: Shaw kind of hated it.
He’s been famously vocal about feeling "disenfranchised" by the role. He once called it a "one-dimensional show" and felt like he was playing an "Action Man doll" rather than an actor. It’s funny because, to the audience, Doyle was the "sensitive" one—the ex-detective who cared about the people on his beat. Behind the scenes, Shaw was actually trapped in a contract he desperately wanted out of. He even claimed the producers timed the filming schedule specifically to stop him from taking other work.
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Despite the friction, you can't deny the impact. The Professionals didn't just make him a star; it created a blueprint for the "buddy cop" dynamic that British TV has been trying to replicate for forty years.
Rebranding as the Face of Justice
After years of being the guy with the gun, Shaw shifted gears into the guy with the gavel. If The Professionals was the first act, the 2000s belonged to Judge John Deed.
This show was massive. It was also, if we’re being real, totally ridiculous from a legal standpoint. The British Film Institute once pointed out how unlikely it would be for a judge to preside over cases where his ex-wife was the prosecutor and his girlfriend was the defense. It was a total conflict-of-interest nightmare.
Yet, people loved it. Why? Because John Deed was a maverick. He was a vegetarian, a womanizer, and a man who constantly told the "establishment" to get stuffed.
Shaw brought a specific type of energy to Deed—a mix of intellectual arrogance and genuine compassion. The show tackled heavy topics too, some of which got it into hot water. There was a famous 2006 episode about the MMR vaccine that caused so much controversy the BBC actually banned it from being repeated in its original form.
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The Gently Era: A Masterclass in Longevity
If you want to see Martin Shaw at his most nuanced, you have to look at Inspector George Gently. Running from 2007 to 2017, this was where the "action hero" finally settled into being a "character actor."
Set in the 1960s North East, the show followed an old-school London copper trying to make sense of a world that was changing way too fast. It wasn't really a "whodunnit" in the traditional sense. It was more of a character study about a man dealing with the murder of his wife and the slow erosion of his own values.
His chemistry with Lee Ingleby (who played the younger, more hot-headed Bacchus) was the secret sauce. It mirrored the Bodie and Doyle dynamic but with twenty layers of extra gravity and sadness. When the show ended in 2017, Shaw admitted he got surprisingly emotional during his final speech. For a man who spent the 80s trying to distance himself from TV crime, he ended up giving the genre its most dignified exit.
The Stage and the "Other" Stuff
You might not know that Shaw is a massive theater nerd. I mean, the man was nominated for a Tony Award.
In 1996, he took An Ideal Husband to Broadway and won a Drama Desk Award for playing Lord Goring. He’s played Elvis Presley on stage. He’s played Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons (even reprising it in 2025 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket).
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He’s also the guy you’ve heard but maybe didn’t realize. If you’ve ever listened to the audiobook of Tolkien’s The Silmarillion or The Hobbit, that’s him. His voice has that "Old Testament" weight that works perfectly for high fantasy.
The Recent Years: Cult Leaders and Religion
Lately, Shaw has been leaning into darker, more ambiguous territory. In 2021, he popped up in The Long Call as Dennis Stephenson, the leader of a religious cult called the Barum Brethren.
It was a jarring shift. Seeing "George Gently" as a manipulative, creepy cult leader was a shock to the system, but it proved that even in his late 70s, he isn't interested in just playing the "kindly grandfather" role. He’s still got that edge.
Practical Insights for the Martin Shaw Fan
If you’re looking to dive into his filmography, don’t just stick to the hits. Here is a quick roadmap for a better viewing experience:
- For the Thrills: Watch the first two seasons of The Professionals. The chemistry is undeniable, even if the plots are dated.
- For the Drama: Find the Apparitions (2008) miniseries. He plays an exorcist. It’s dark, weird, and totally different from his usual police work.
- For the Classics: Check out Roman Polanski's Macbeth (1971). Shaw plays Banquo. It’s a brutal, muddy, brilliant piece of cinema.
- For the "Comfort" Watch: Inspector George Gently is the ultimate Sunday afternoon binge. Start from the pilot and watch the world change from 1964 to 1970.
The career of Martin Shaw isn't just a list of credits; it’s a record of how British masculinity on screen evolved from the "tough guy" 70s to the more sensitive, reflective 21st century. Whether he’s wearing a leather jacket or a judicial robe, he’s always been the most interesting person in the room.
To see how his style has changed over the decades, you can compare his early work in Doctor in the House with his more recent turn in C.B. Strike.