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Think for yourself

 

Martin Shaw is one of Britain's finest actors. He talks to Viva! founder Juliet Gellatley about being vegetarian, changing apathy and why Big Brother should be booted off our screens

I first met Martin Shaw on the set of Judge John Deed in 2002. The first thing that struck me was his voice - charming and masculine. A voice you want to listen to. He seemed a perfect fit for the role as a compassionate, stubborn and idiosyncratic judge with a strong sense of morality (except in his sex life) complicated by an undercurrent of fun and mischief. Tony Wardle and I were interviewing him for Viva!'s film Not in my Name, a fast-moving exposé on factory farming which features many personalities. Six years later it's in use with groups across the world. So what did he think of it?

"It's an important film and I was honoured to play a part in it. I've long believed that if people saw the misery, degradation and torture that they were party to by eating factory farmed meat, I don't think most would want to carry on because I do believe that, innately, human beings are good. Factory farming is a cruelty that no compassionate society should tolerate and I support Viva!'s campaign to end it."

Martin has been vegetarian for 37 years. He is 63 but has the energy (and physique I noticed!) of someone far younger. Does he put this down to his diet and does he enjoy being veggie? He laughs:

"Being vegetarian is central to my life. I certainly do seem to be fitter, stronger and healthier than many people around me! It really helps me cope with my hectic schedule. When you become vegetarian it actually broadens your horizon as it encourages you to try new foods that you've probably never heard of before!

"On an ideal day I'll eat fruit for breakfast then a light and simple lunch - perhaps a salad, oatcakes, hummus and sun-dried tomatoes - and something more exotic for supper, such as brown rice with roasted vegetables and coconut milk. I know I sound like an advert for a health food shop but it's just the way my body has evolved. I don't always eat squeaky clean health food though!

"I'm a keen cook and when friends come round it's nice to dazzle them with impressive vegetarian fare. They don't even notice that there's no meat. That's how I like to convince people to give vegetarianism a try - if you can win over their mouths and stomachs, then their heads are easier to persuade."

 

 
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  Martin Shaw has theatre, TV, film, radio and narration credits spanning over 40 years. He has played the lead in many prime-time TV dramas including Chief Constable Alan Cade in The Chief, Cecil Rhodes in Rhodes, Chauvelin in The Scarlet Pimpernel and Robert Kingsford in A&E. In the theatre, his roles include Elvis Presley in the critically-acclaimed Are You Lonesome Tonight? He will forever be remembered as Doyle in The Professionals even though he is better suited to the more compassionate, cerebral title role he played in BBC1's Judge John Deed. In 2007, he played the title role in George Gently, a new BBC1 detective drama set in 60s Britain. He is filming again for it this year. Living in Norfolk, Martin has three grown up children, all actors and vegetarian since birth. Martin is a Viva! patron.  

 

Martin became vegetarian after a series of intense discussions with a friend: "I came to the conclusion that if I can live well and be healthy without killing, my only justification for doing so would be for taste and I'm not prepared to cause suffering for my palate. Having said that I love vegetarian food!"

Avoiding cows' milk and eggs, Martin is almost vegan and one of his bugbears is that many restaurants (and the UK's top health spa where he has just stayed) offer eggs and even fish as a veggie choice. The issue of eggs particularly rattles him - why?

"An egg is either a chicken's period or a foetus! How in any way, shape or form can it be considered vegetarian? "Just as bad, most UK eggs come from battery cages. It's grotesquely cruel. I used to have chickens at home and they are far, far more intelligent than people think. When you see them wandering around three acres just doing what they would in the wild, it's beautiful to watch. When you come out with a bucket of corn to feed them, they're like little old ladies tucking up their skirts as they all run at you. They are absolutely wonderful animals, very, very funny. I think caging birds for eggs is one of the cruellest things."

When he replies it is with precision. He delivers his words in a measured way without obvious emotion. The outcome is that when Martin Shaw reaches a conclusion it has the ring of absolute truth about it and only a fool would disagree with him. For Martin, how we treat animals is inextricably linked to how we treat each other. He is utterly convincing: "I think a whole raft of our problems as human beings would be solved by being sensitive to the plight of other creatures. To me it is as clear as the fact that night follows day - if you care about animals and are kind to them, if you don't tolerate cruelty to them, you won't tolerate it elsewhere in society."

If that isn't enough of a reason to go veggie then saving the environment makes it imperative. "People are waking up to the fact that we have a serious environmental problem. To be green, you really must be vegetarian, preferably vegan. It's good to drive smaller cars and to reduce your carbon footprint in other ways but the most powerful thing you can do is to change the way you eat. The planet cannot afford us not to."

We talk about overfishing, how threequarters of the world's oceans are on the point of ecological collapse and how there is utter inaction by government. Martin is a political and spiritual animal and talks eloquently on the tragedy of short-term consumerist policies. "All governments go for the short-term solution because their primary concern is to be re-elected. They're afraid that anything radical will be unpopular. Only when the public says 'save the world' and mean it will governments start to change.

"Look at the US! One minute the administration denied that global warming was happening and then, almost overnight, they realised that it could be a serious electoral issue for them and immediately did an about-turn. It's really down to us to save the planet because governments won't do it. Their priority is to look after big corporations." With the planet practically on its knees, I ask Martin what I'm asked all the time - is global public opinion going to change in time?" He responds:

"Public opinion will change but whether it's in time. We have to pray that it is but in the meantime we have to transform ourselves. Campaigns are important and information is vital but radical change comes from people copying other people." Does television play any part in the public's general apathy? "If we're given constant chewing gum for the eyes and if executives continue to dumb down programmes to gain more viewers then of course people will stop thinking. They'll be anaesthetised and apathetic!"

Is that what's happening? "Absolutely, but there are people fighting it. The BBC are doing some extremely good work but there are still elements trying to make things simpler and easier for people - let's get the viewing figures without looking at the big picture. The big picture is like a muscle - use it or lose it! We have to use our minds, think and make choices and sometimes we have to watch things that are difficult to understand or provocative rather than pap."

Sadly, Viva! and all other pressure groups find it hard to gain coverage on mainstream TV unless they have an 'A' list celebrity on board. Martin has strong feelings on this - not surprising considering he gives very few interviews and refuses to play the celebrity game. "I absolutely detest the whole concept of 'celebrity' - it's grotesque! But hopefully it's changing. Big Brother is getting much smaller audiences and the reality programmes are starting to struggle." Martin played the lead role in Judge John Deed for all its six series during prime time on BBC1. It was written and produced by BAFTA award-winning writer GF Newman, who also happens to be a Viva! supporter and vegetarian, as is costar Jenny Seagrove.

"I've never had so many letters for a single programme in the 40 years I've worked in television," reveals Martin. "They all say the same thing 'thank God for quality television and for programmes which treat their audiences as adults'. Judge John Deed has something social and important to say."

Why don't more dramas tackle important issues? "The public should tell executives if that's what they want because the executives believe the opposite. If we were to screen public executions or wall-to-wall pornography they'd get record viewing figures. It's easy to get viewers by showing those things that are distasteful and horrible. Executives have to realise their responsibility and by that I don't mean censorship - in fact I don't like strict censorship any more than I like stupidity."

And does Martin feel that there is a feeling of individual and collective responsibility growing in the UK? "I think responsibility is growing - but very slowly. Children who come from a violent, drunken home are likely to be damaged by that. In households where the parents tell lies then you're going to have children who don't trust. It's the same with politics. Many politicians are untrustworthy and mendacious, as are our journalists, by and large. The problem is so widespread that people believe it's simply the nature of politics. Young people wonder why they should behave well when the state behaves badly - why should people have integrity when there's no integrity above them?

"That makes it even more vital that Viva! continues to set an example for us all. Going vegetarian is central to saving animals, stopping the misery and torture that farm 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."
 

 

 

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