Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw is an English stage, television and film actor best known for playing Detective Sergeant Ray Doyle in ITV’s The Professionals (1977–1983). He later took leading roles in The Chief (1993–1995), Judge John Deed (2001–2007) and Inspector George Gently (2007–2017), becoming one of the most recognisable faces in British television drama.
Shaw has been vegetarian since the 1970s and has described veganism as a core ethical issue. In a 1983 interview, he argued that if it is possible to live well and be healthy without killing animals, then taste is not a sufficient justification for doing so. He is associated with Viva! and has publicly endorsed veganism in explicitly animal rights terms, linking it to ending the suffering of farmed animals and to wider environmental stakes.
Shaw is the patron of Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norfolk, one of the UK’s largest farm animal sanctuaries, and has been listed as a supporter of animal organisations including Viva! and the Dr Hadwen Trust. He has also contributed to Viva!’s public outreach through recipes used at Viva!’s national food and information events, including the “Incredible Veggie Roadshows”.
Shaw’s public comments on veganism stay focused on first principles, animals, harm, and the choice to step out of that system. That stance has run alongside a long career in mainstream television, from action drama in The Professionals to courtroom and crime roles that kept him in prime-time for decades.
Martin is a Viva! Patron and is outspoken about animal rights and welfare issues.
“I’ve been involved with Viva! almost from the very beginning. I’ve watched and been in involved in many campaigns and my affection and admiration grows for all you do for animals, and by extension the whole planet.”
“Going vegan is central to saving animals, stopping the misery and torture that farmed animals endure. It’s also essential to saving the world. Viva! articulates the hopes and the aims of people who are conscious and want things to change – and really this is the voice of kindness and compassion and somebody needs to do it.”
“I had a mixture of feelings when I first discovered what went on in factory farms. First of all there was rage that animals could be subjected to such suffering. It was followed by a sense of guilt that I had tacitly tolerated it for so long. Finally there was a sense of relief that I didn’t have to be involved with it at all – all I needed to do was stop eating meat.”
