Shaw agreed to take certain roles only on the condition that he have complete freedom to rewrite his dialogue. When he appeared in "It Happened Here", a 1966 World War II film, he wrote many of his own lines, which the filmmakers later said "gave his dialogue an individual slant which enhanced his performance". He also helped in other aspects of the filmmaking, including casting; he introduced the filmmakers to Fiona Leland, who would be cast as the wife of Shaw's character in "It Happened Here". He wrote other plays, including "The Ship's Bell", "The Cliff Walk", "The Glass Maze" and "Cul de Sac". He also wrote "Poems", a collection of his personal poetry, which saw a limited print of 300 editions by publisher Exeter University.