Biographie

Shaw is patron of the Hillside Animal Sanctuary at Frettenham, Norfolk, England. This was founded in 1995 to help and campaign for animals in need and to bring public awareness to the millions of animals suffering every day in the intensive factory farming industry.

The episode of The New Avengers (1976) in which he appeared was the first time he and Lewis Collins starred together. They later went on to star in the The Professionals (1977).

Father of Joe Shaw, Luke Shaw and Sophie Shaw.

Turned down an offer to audition for the role of James Bond in the late 1970s.

Has a negative opinion of the British press.

Although TV is exhausting, the longest performance you do there is about two minutes, and that's your whole performance, then you have a break and then you do another two minutes. Sustaining something for two hours, as you must in theatre - that's when it becomes an art form, this is when you become someone like a ballet dancer or a pianist or painter, where a lifelong training and experience is brought to the fore. So if I'm not going to dishonour and disenfranchise 45 years of work, I need to come back to the theatre whenever I can.

With TV and films - but TV especially because of the economic pressure - it is always about acting your first idea. Almost invariably the script will have been horrid too, because TV writers write under pressure, they don't have the luxury like a playwright of bringing something up and polishing it and honing it. They just dash it off.

I was an instant convert to hippiedom. I loved kaftans, long hair, crushed velvet, flared jeans, all of that stuff! And Bob Dylan, of course. I bought a guitar and learned all the songs - I even had a wire frame with a mouth organ on it to do the whole Dylan shtick. All the protests, all that stuff. I didn't go on the marches myself, though. I was probably too stoned to make my way there.

[on Inspector George Gently (2007)] Every single day on the series takes me back to that time. And I'm one of the few people on the set who can actually remember it. I was there. I'm like an unofficial consultant on the series - whenever they're wondering whether people actually used a certain phrase, or acted in a certain way back then, they ask me.

The day before an opening night I'm almost physically sick and wish I was on another planet. I have fantasies about cancelling it - the theatre could burn down, they could change their minds and I'd be free! Just before the curtain goes up, I wonder why I do this to myself.