To Catch a Thief

"Hey, luv, look whose picture's on the telly. If that's not Charley from the butchers, I'll stand you a pint." If Charley it is, chances are he'll wish he'd stuck to grinding hamburger. That is, if the viewer rings up the number flashed on the screen. The Charleys who appear on this London television show, Police 5, are wanted by Scotland Yard. Sitting-room sleuths see replicas of stolen property and real-life crimes re-enacted on their screens, and they are invited to phone in ideas as to who did it.

When the sirens shriek from London TV sets each Friday evening, 3 million viewers are chafing to join the hunt. Viewers have called the Yard with tips that lead to an average 100 arrests a year; the Yard credits the five-minute show with 71 arrests for the first six months of 1975. One woman was surprised, then terrified when she recognized a police artist's sketch as that of her lover. Seems he had hacked his wife into pieces and spread the remains over a golf course.

More often than not, the crimes described by Police 5 host Shaw Taylor are less bizarre -assaults or auto thefts. The drama is kept to a minimum. "We are not in the business of competing with Kojak or The Streets of San Francisco," says a Yard spokesman. Still, for the past two years the show has consistently been one of the ten top-rated weekend shows on the telly.

Police 5's success has led to adaptations in West Germany and Hong Kong. New York City police are also feeding clues to two local TV news programs. Back in England, Shaw Taylor, a Peter Sellers lookalike, now hosts Junior Police 5 as well. He cautions tots to consult their parents before taking action, however. The Yard, it seems, does not want a raft of naive informers telling them that the stolen stereos on the show are stashed down in Mum and Dad's basement.

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