Steve Whatley
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Steve Whatley (1959 - November 7, 2005) was a British television presenter and consumer expert who became a founding member of the QVC Shopping Channel's presentation team and also regularly made short consumer article appearances on the popular ITV1 daytime show, This Morning (for 12 years in total). Steve Whatley became a something of a 'cult' figure as one of the UK's first Home Shopping Channel presenters.
Steve Whatley was charismatic on camera and loved to be the centre of attention. He was one of the first QVC UK presenters when it first began broadcasting in October 1993 along with Debbie Flint, Paul Lavers, and Julia Roberts. Steve Whatley was forced to leave QVC UK in September 1997 after excessive discussion of Diana, Princess of Wales in the 'sell' for a TSV (Today's Special Value) item of jewellery the day before her funeral. There had also been complaints about him behaving inappropriately to members of staff.
His presenting style was camp and slightly comical, with constant detailed reference to the product in front of him. But behind the camera he was serious about the products he sold, with frequent disagreements with production staff about the best way to sell the item. He was a perfectionist and this caused production problems, because if he couldn't get something just right, he would rather not do it at all. In September 1997 Steve left QVC and returned to his love of the theatre appearing in various different pantomime productions and plays for several years.
He made numerous appearances on ITV's 'This Morning' doing short pieces using various QVC gadgets and other high street products to explaining which one was best value for money. He coined the phrase 'consumer journalist' which meant he tested things and wrote articles about them.
A few years after leaving QVC Steve Whatley joined the team of Ideal World and with Paul Lavers and Debbie Flint He helped launched the new channel as a rival to QVC. Ideal World helped shake up the UK Home Shopping industry by leading with a relaxed style of humour and fun that caused others to drop their 'hard sell' approach. Ideal world unfortunately burned to the ground in Early 2001, in an unexplained fire which devastated their warehouse and studio area. (They were off air for several weeks). Although Ideal World continued to broadcast after the incident in a different building it was not the same for the preceeding couple of years. But Steve helped to re-build the channel to become what is now the leading British-owned Shopping Channel in the UK. On Christmas Eve 2004 Steve left Ideal World to pursue other projects including 'Harrods TV' and to pursue his passion for theatre work. Steve also founded the successful 'Zhuzh' brand of tanning products.
There were two sides to Steve. In private he had a passion for animals and was fond of dogs and horses. It was while horseback riding he met his wife Jae. They married in April 1993 and bought a place in the countryside where they could enjoy their passion for horse riding. An inquest into his death in early January 2006 ruled that Steve Whatley had committed suicide whilst ill with depression following the breakdown of his marriage.
