Document and Entity Information - shares	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2017	Oct. 23, 2017
Document And Entity Information [Abstract]
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Sep. 30, 2017
Amendment Flag	false
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Central Index Key	0000936402
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Trading Symbol	SHP, SHPG
Entity Registrant Name	Shire plc
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		908,613,457
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2017
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3