
Acting
Martin Shaw
Born
1945-01-21 (81)
Place of birth
Birmingham, West Midlands, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
72 titles
Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the television series The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently. He has also acted on stage and in film, and has narrated numerous audiobooks and presented various television series, including the 2006 series Martin Shaw: Aviators.
Known for
5.3The residents of Coronation Street are ordinary, working-class people, and the show follows them through regular social and family interactions at home, in the workplace, and in their local pub, the Rovers Return Inn. Britain's longest-running soap.
Coronation Street
1960
8.2From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a collection of first class deceptions.
Agatha Christie's Poirot
1989
4.3A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.
The One Show
2006
NRThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
Tony Awards
1956
6.6Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Play for Today
1970
5.6Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.
Wogan
1982
Film credits
2010s · 5 titles
6.0London, England, April 1980. Six terrorists assault the Embassy of Iran and take hostages. For six days, tense negotiations are held while the authorities decide whether a military squad should intervene.
6 Days
2017
5.0A new documentary on the Criterion Collection edition of Roman Polanski's 1971 adaptation of Macbeth featuring interviews with the director, producer Andrew Braunsberg, assistant executive producer Victor Lownes, and actors Francesca Annis and Martin Shaw.
Toil And Trouble: Making 'Macbeth'
2014
NRMartin Shaw takes a fresh look at one of the most famous war stories of them all. The actor, himself a pilot, takes to the skies to retrace the route of the 1943 raid by 617 Squadron which used bouncing bombs to destroy German dams. He sheds new light on the story as he separates the fact from the myth behind this tale of courage and ingenuity. Using the 1955 movie The Dam Busters as a vehicle to deconstruct the raid, he tries to piece together a picture of perhaps the most daring attack in the history of aviation warfare.
Dam Busters Declassified
2010
7.7Until recently geometry was 'cold', incapable of describing the irregular shape of a cloud, the slope of a mountain or the beauty of the human body. With fractal geometry, Benoit Mandelbrot gave us a language for our natural world. In this captivating documentary, the man himself explains this groundbreaking discovery.
Clouds Are Not Spheres
2010
8.0Actor and aviator Martin Shaw takes to the skies to rediscover one of the most audacious and daring raids of World War II. On the morning of 18th February 1944, a squadron of RAF Mosquito bombers, flying as low as three metres over occupied France, demolished the walls of Amiens Jail in what became known as Operation Jericho. The reasons behind the controversial raid remain a mystery to this day. This dramatic documentary investigates the missing pieces of the story, with interviews from survivors and aircrew, and tries to find out why the raid was ordered and by whom.
Operation Jericho
2011
2000s · 2 titles
6.5London's Dupayne Museum is in danger of closing since one of the trustees feels that the money expended on preserving the past could be better spent addressing the problems of living people. One of the museum's collections concerns murders committed between the world wars. When a killing that reflects one of the cases on display occurs, history seems to be repeating itself.
The Murder Room
2004
5.0100 Years Of Powered Flight takes you on a riveting flight of discovery, from the windswept coastline of Kittyhawk to the reaches of outer space and from the first frail and hesitant propeller-driven machines to the very latest jet fighters.
100 Years of Powered Flight
2003
1990s · 5 titles
NRThis classic Vegan Society video remains one of the most entertaining and informative introductions to veganism. Viewers will learn why avoiding meat, leather, dairy and eggs is not only the most healthy way to live but also the most compassionate. Highly recommended for both existing vegans and anyone considering becoming a vegan.
Truth or Dairy
1994
8.5Docudrama film exploring the efforts of World in Action researchers Ian MacBride and Chris Mullin in proving that the "Birmingham Six" only admitted to the bombing under extreme duress, and that the five IRA members were in fact responsible for the deadly attacks
Who Bombed Birmingham?
1990
3.7An escaped convict, pursued by an obsessive policeman, hides out in a travelling circus
Ladder of Swords
1990
When a local black politician is murdered an undercover police officer unveils a web of police corruption which puts lives at risk and threatens the whole community.
Black and Blue
1992
4.0The story of Oscar Wilde's life, told by his grandson and others.
The Life and Loves of Oscar Wilde
1995
1980s · 7 titles
6.5When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1983
7.0Mel Brooks delivers an enjoyable hour of comic diversion with his lovely actress-wife Anne Bancroft, writer comedian Ronny Graham and British Shakespearean actor Jonathan Pryce. Brooks Spontaneous humor, social commentaries and zany sketches leave the audience rolling in the aisles and will leave you wanting more of Mel!
An Audience with Mel Brooks
1984
6.4A spy is looking for his old colleague who now works for the other side.
Intrigue
1988
6.2Past and present intertwine: An elderly couple returns to the hotel where they became close when they were young and flashbacks to the earlier visit reveal the origins of both their pleasures and problems. Somewhere between the past and the present, Dennis Potter attempted to find "the shape of a life, of two lives..."
Cream in My Coffee
1980
NRIn May 1981 a young Turk, Mehmet Ali Agca, shot Pope John Paul U. Who was Agca? Why did he do it? What made him want to be a killer?
The Most Dangerous Man in the World
1988
10.0In a dystopian future, the population is divided between the elite "numbers" and the destitute "names" who escape the hardships of the their lives at a magic cabaret run by Zax. When Zax falls for a slumming-it "number" he builds a robot replica of her.
Facelift
1984
9.0Adaptation of the novel by Mrs Henry Wood.
East Lynne
1982
1970s · 10 titles
6.7Sinbad and his crew intercept a homunculus carrying a golden tablet. Koura, the creator of the homunculus and practitioner of evil magic, wants the tablet back and pursues Sinbad. Meanwhile, Sinbad meets the Vizier who has another part of the interlocking golden map, and they mount a quest across the seas to solve the riddle of the map.
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
1973
7.1Scotland, 11th century. Driven by the twisted prophecy of three witches and the ruthless ambition of his wife, warlord Macbeth, bold and brave, but also weak and hesitant, betrays his good king and his brothers in arms and sinks into the bloody mud of a path with no return, sown with crime and suspicion.
Macbeth
1971
6.9Czechoslovakia, 1942. Three brave Czech patriots risk everything to rid their country of its brutal Nazi leader, SS-General Reinhard Heydrich.
Operation: Daybreak
1975
9.0A scholarly king and his three companions swear off the society of women for three years, only to have a diplomatic visit from a French princess and her three ladies-in-waiting thwart their intentions.
Love's Labour's Lost
1975
3.0When a nightclub owner buys a derelict dolphinarium, he and a young woman seem to be haunted by the ghost of Buddy Boy, the star attraction. Created as an episode of Nigel Kneale's "Beasts" horror anthology miniseries.
Beasts: Buddyboy
1976
7.0Hamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
Hamlet
1970
4.0A professional footballer suffers an injury which could jeopardise his career.
Achilles Heel
1973
1962/63: `There's never been a time for people like you an me to make it quite like there is now. You want to be a photographer. Well I think you could be a very good one, but you've got to put yourself about a bit...'
Our Kid
1977
NRA 1971 documentary by Frank Simon featuring rare footage of the film’s cast and crew at work.
Polanski Meets Macbeth
1972
8.0Living in exile after the death of their father, the grown children of a murdered and usurped king converge to exact eye-for-an-eye revenge.
Electra
1974
1960s · 3 titles
Salesman shares a bedsit with a part-time waiter with mystical beliefs. The house is owned by an eccentric old lady. When the salesman girfriend comes around for a visit, they do not get privacy they crave.
Travelling Light
1967
A young woman uses her parents' home as a psychological testing ground to research the concept of male sexual neurosis.
Two Feet Off the Ground
1969
Welfare worker Carol is attacked in a swimming pool by the attendant George Lease.
Son of the City
1967
Series credits
5.3The residents of Coronation Street are ordinary, working-class people, and the show follows them through regular social and family interactions at home, in the workplace, and in their local pub, the Rovers Return Inn. Britain's longest-running soap.
Coronation Street
1960
8.2From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a collection of first class deceptions.
Agatha Christie's Poirot
1989
4.3A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.
The One Show
2006
NRThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
Tony Awards
1956
6.6Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Play for Today
1970
5.6Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.
Wogan
1982
5.2A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.
BBC Play of the Month
1965
5.2A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.
BBC Play of the Month
1965
7.6The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.
The Professionals
1977
5.3An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.
An Audience with...
1978
7.0A British genealogy documentary series in which celebrities trace their ancestry, discovering secrets and surprises from their past.
Who Do You Think You Are?
2004
7.0Anthology series of dramatic works.
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969
7.2A war veteran turned private detective operates out of a tiny office in London’s Denmark Street. Although wounded both physically and psychologically, his unique insight and background as a military police investigator prove crucial in solving complex crimes that have baffled the police. Based on the bestselling novels written by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Strike
2017
8.2Public Eye is a British television drama broadcast from 1965 to 1975 on ITV1. Produced by ABC Television for three series, and Thames Television for a further four, the programme follows the investigations and cases handled by the unglamourous enquiry agent Frank Marker.
Public Eye
1965
7.0An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.
BBC2 Play of the Week
1977
7.9Crime drama set in the 1960s about an old-school detective trying to come to terms with a time when the lines between the police and criminals have become blurred.
Inspector George Gently
2008
6.0Playhouse Presents is a series of self-contained TV plays, made by British broadcaster Sky Arts. The series started airing on 12 April 2012, on Sky Arts 1. Each episode is written by a different writer with a different cast.
Playhouse Presents
2012
6.8Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove as the barrister Jo Mills, frequently the object of Deed's desire. A pilot episode was broadcast on 9 January 2001, followed by the first full series on 26 November 2001. The sixth and last series concluded on 18 January 2007. The programme then went on an indefinite break after Shaw became involved in another television programme, and he and Seagrove expressed a wish for the format of the series to change before they filmed new episodes. By 2009, the series had officially been cancelled. The six series produced make it the longest-running BBC legal drama. The factual accuracy of the series is often criticised by legal professionals and journalists; many of the decisions taken by Deed are unlikely to happen in a real court. The romanticised vision of the court system created by Newman caused a judge to issue a warning to a jury not to let the series influence their view of trials—referring to an episode where Deed flouts rules when called up for jury duty. Another episode led to complaints about biased and incorrect information about the MMR vaccine, leading the BBC to ban repeats of it in its original form. All six series have been released on DVD in the UK.
Judge John Deed
2001
7.0The Chief is a British crime drama transmitted on ITV from 20 April 1990 to 16 June 1995. Produced by Anglia Television, it centred on the politics at the top of a typical English police force in its continual battle to solve the problems the times, in this case the fictional Eastland of East Anglia.
The Chief
1990
7.2The New Avengers is a British secret agent fantasy adventure television series broadcast during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s series The Avengers and was developed by Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens. A joint United Kingdom-France-Canada production, the show picks up the adventures of John Steed and his team of Avengers fighting evil plots and world domination. Whereas in the original series Steed had almost always been partnered with a woman, in the new series he had two partners: Mike Gambit, a top agent, crack marksman and trained martial artist, and Purdey, a former trainee with The Royal Ballet who was an amalgam of many of the best talents from Steed's previous female partners.
The New Avengers
1976
8.1A rich and comic drama about the people of Cranford, a small Cheshire town on the cusp of change in the 1840s. Adapted from the novels by Elizabeth Gaskell.
Cranford
2007
7.2Anthology drama series.
Screen One
1989
6.9Centred on the cases of P. D. James' gentleman detective Adam Dalgliesh. In addition to his career as a policeman, Dalgliesh is also a published poet and an intensely private man.
Dalgliesh
1983
8.0In Victorian London, Louisa Leyton works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietress of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St James's.
The Duchess of Duke Street
1976
7.3Sketch comedy show starring Kenny Everett.
The Kenny Everett Television Show
1982
NRSally James and guest presenters invite established stars and newcomers to contribute to a lively half-hour of music and conversation.
Six Fifty-Five Special
1981
9.5A team of doctors are committed to working on the frontline at the Accident and Emergency Department of St Victor's in Manchester. Young, dedicated, and idealistic, they're driven by the desire to give the best service possible. Their reward is neither money nor prestige, but in making a difference.
Always and Everyone
1999
7.4The Last Place on Earth is a 1985 Central Television seven part serial, written by Trevor Griffiths based on the book Scott and Amundsen by Roland Huntford. The book is an exploration of the expeditions of Captain Robert F. Scott and his Norwegian rival in polar exploration, Roald Amundsen in their attempts to reach the South Pole. The series ran for seven episodes and starred a wide range of UK and Norwegian character actors as well as featuring some famous names, such as Max von Sydow, Richard Wilson, Sylvester McCoy and Pat Roach. It also featured performances early in their careers by Bill Nighy and Hugh Grant. Subsequently Huntford's book was republished under the same name. The book put forth the point of view that Amundsen's success in reaching the South Pole was abetted by much superior planning, whereas errors by Scott ultimately resulted in the death of him and his companions.
The Last Place on Earth
1985
Jubilee 1977 is a thirteen-part 1977 BBC One television limited series produced by Pieter Rogers, an anthology centred around the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the accession on Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. It was celebrated with large-scale parties and parades in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth throughout 1977, culminating in June with the official 'Jubilee Days', held to coincide with the Queen's Official Birthday.
Jubilee 1977
1977
8.8Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
7.7A series of television drama programmes loosely based on Baroness Emmuska Orczy's series of novels, set in 1793 during the French Revolution. It stars Richard E. Grant as the hero, Sir Percy Blakeney, and his eponymous alter ego. The first series also starred Elizabeth McGovern as his wife Marguerite and Martin Shaw as the Pimpernel's archrival, Paul Chauvelin. Robespierre was played by Ronan Vibert. It was filmed in the Czech Republic and scored by a Czech composer, Michal Pavlíček.
The Scarlet Pimpernel
1999
NRCelebrating life in the UK in all its diversity – as seen through the eyes of remarkable people doing extraordinary things.
Our Lives
2017
7.5Follows the linked fates of nine bank robbers, led by George. It begins with the nine men meeting in prison during their appeal and traces each individual after the group escape from custody.
Villains
1972
6.2Detective Matthew Venn returns to the small North Devon community he grew up in with his husband and begins investigating a murder whilst coming to terms with his own traumatic past, having been excommunicated by his family and the church community they lived in.
The Long Call
2021
6.4Beasts is a series of six television plays by Manx writer Nigel Kneale, unconnected save for a bestial horror theme, made by ATV for ITV in the United Kingdom and broadcast in 1976. The series avoids typical monster horror clichès, more so focusing on psychological and supernatural themes.
Beasts
1976
7.7Adam Strange, a retired Home Office criminologist, solves bizarre cases – which have been marked "Open File" by various government departments – with the help of Hamlyn Gynt, Evelyn and Professor Marks. He employs the latest techniques in forensic investigation, which he undertakes in his own laboratory in his flat in Warwick Crescent in the Maida Vale/Little Venice area of Paddington.
Strange Report
1969
9.0For the Greater Good is a three-part 1991 BBC Two television drama serial written by G.F. Newman and directed by Danny Boyle. It centres on three politicians attempting to reform the British prison system. However, their efforts are undermined when the tabloid press exposes their private lives.
For the Greater Good
1991
Bill Peach explains the stories of the great 18th and 19th century explorers of Australia, complete with full-cast re-enactments.
The Explorers
1984
5.0The misadventures of a group of medical students.
Doctor in the House
1969
7.1Detective Adam Dalgliesh investigates the death of a young ordinand who died in mysterious circumstances.
Death in Holy Orders
2003
