Ideal World
In 2000, Steve Whatley joined Ideal World, a shopping channel owned by Ideal Direct Shopping Plc, with Debbie Flint and Paul Lavers, whom he had previously worked with at QVC. The channel launched on 17 April 2000, and has since been a major rival of QVC. Whatley's fanbase continued to grow and the programmes he presented such as "Whatters' Crazeee Christmas", "Consumer Choice" and "Amazing Ammolite (with Ken Oschipok)" were favourites amongst his fans. Whatley also presented "Disney Memorabilia" programmes and was a fan and collector of Mickey Mouse memorabilia himself.
Whatley owned three Weimaraner dogs and they were often seen on his shows 'consumer testing' various pet products. The youngest of the three dogs was named Delia after he had asked the Ideal World audience to send name suggestions into the channel. The name "Delia" is an anagram of the word "ideal". His eldest dog Harry mainly 'co-presented' on "Magnet Therapy" shows and his third dog Oscar was seen numerous times.
In the build-up to Christmas each year, Whatley's shows would be inundated with telephone callers shouting "Crazeee Christmas" down the phone and requesting to be on his 'Christmas card list', which meant receiving a personal Christmas card from him.
On 6 March 2001, the Ideal World premises, including the studios and warehouse, were completely devastated by an unexplained fire. Despite this, Whatley continued to work at Ideal World and helped to re-build the channel. Ideal World began broadcasting again in the autumn of 2001, after several months off the air. Until the new studios and warehouse were completed, Whatley and the team of presenters and production staff worked in temporary studios constructed out of prefabricated units that were erected on the Newark Road, Fengate site.
On Christmas Eve 2004, after 4 years at Ideal World, Whatley left the channel to pursue other projects. These included helping to launch Harrods TV and plans to return to his theatre work.
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Famous quotes containing the words ideal and/or world:
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