Shaw Taylor

Eric Stanley Taylor MBE (26 October 1924 – 17 March 2015), known professionally as Shaw Taylor, was a British actor and television presenter, best known for presenting the long-running five-minute crime programme Police 5.

Shaw Taylor
Born
Eric Stanley Taylor

(1924-10-26)26 October 1924
Hackney, London, England
Died17 March 2015(2015-03-17) (aged 90)
Totland, Isle of Wight, England
OccupationActor, television presenter
Years active1950s–2015
Partner(s)Shirley
ChildrenRichard

Early life and career

Taylor served in the RAF and trained at RADA. He then acted on stage in the West End and on tour. He was an announcer for Associated TeleVision (ATV) when the normal announcer was not available. He then had a variety of acting roles in film and television from the 1950s on, and presented various game shows including Password, Tell the Truth, Dotto, This Is Your Chance and The Law Game (BBC Radio 2). In the early '60s Taylor and Muriel Young co-hosted a music programme on Radio Luxembourg called The Friday Spectacular. Between 1960 and 1962, Taylor presented the quiz show Pencil and Paper.[1] In 1970 Taylor was the original presenter of the Clunk Click public information films. In 1972 he presented a pilot episode of Whodunnit? on ITV, before the show was taken over by Edward Woodward for the first series (1973). Taylor was also an occasional panellist on the popular talent show New Faces.

Taylor was best known for presenting Police 5, a long-running five-minute television programme first broadcast in the London area in 1962 that appealed to the public to help solve crimes.[2][3][4] He later presented a spin-off show for younger viewers called Junior Police 5, a.k.a. JP5. His catchphrase was "keep 'em peeled!" – asking viewers to be vigilant. This was originally used at the end of every JP5 programme but, according to Taylor himself, "...at the suggestion of a friend I tried it out on the adult Police 5. I thought it sounded a bit naff at first but then the studio crew seemed to get withdrawal symptoms if I didn't say it at the end of the programme and it became a catchphrase that complete strangers still shout at me in the street".

Taylor presented and produced several regional versions of Police 5, including editions for ATV and Central in the Midlands, LWT for the London area and TVS in the South and South East of England, where the series ended its thirty-year run in December 1992. He was also involved with televised appeals for Crimestoppers UK. In 2008, at the age of 83, Taylor featured as himself hosting Police 5 in the seventh episode of the BBC TV drama Ashes to Ashes, set in October 1981, in which he uses the aforedescribed "keep 'em peeled!" In 2014, at the age of 89, he returned to TV with a weekly segment on the new Channel 5 version of Police 5, and revived his 'keep 'em peeled!' catchphrase. He played bridge and presented a television series on the subject.

Later life

Taylor died at his home in Totland on the Isle of Wight on 17 March 2015, aged 90. He was survived by his partner Shirley[3] and his son Richard.[5]

References
  1. http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Pencil_and_Paper
  2. "Shaw Taylor: The face of 'Police 5' who told viewers to 'keep 'em peeled' as he spread the idea that TV could help catch criminals". The Independent. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  3. "Shaw Taylor obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  4. "Shaw Taylor, television presenter - obituary". Daily Telegraph. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  5. "Shaw Taylor, of TV's Police 5, dies at Isle of Wight home". BBC News. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
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