Mike Yarwood

Early life

Yarwood was born and brought up in Bredbury, Cheshire. After leaving school, he worked as a messenger and then salesman at a garment warehouse. In his youth he was also a talented footballer, and almost pursued a professional career. For a period he was a Director of his local club Stockport County.

London Palladium

Yarwood was one of the stars of British television in the 1960s and 1970s, with his own prominent shows, which changed between BBC and ITV (ATV and Thames Television) based on high-profile financial deals. Though he had made a short appearance with Tony Hancock in Hancock's Half Hour in 1961, Yarwood owed his initial success to the Sunday Night at the London Palladium variety 'spectacular', on which he first appeared in 1964. His appearance coincided with the senior political career of his most famous 'character', Labour Party leader and the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

Topping the TV ratings

At its height, Yarwood's BBC TV shows, which were based on a variety mix of comic sketches, guest musicians and a closing song sung by Yarwood (introduced by the line, "and this is me", which became the title of his first autobiography), regularly attracted 18 million viewers.

Among the prominent British personalities he portrayed were Eddie Waring, the famous charismatic rugby league commentator; Brian Clough, the controversial football manager; Robin Day, the then top political interviewer on the BBC; Magnus Pyke, the eccentric TV science presenter; Alf Garnett, the lead character from Till Death Us Do Part originally portrayed by Warren Mitchell; the fictional American detective Columbo; Frank Spencer, the comic creation of sitcom actor Michael Crawford; and Wilson's Conservative Party rival Ted Heath.

Using the new technology of chroma key, Yarwood frequently staged set-pieces in which he appeared as several characters at the same time using pre-recorded segments. An example of this might be a panel game or discussion featuring his versions of Robin Day, Harold Wilson and Brian Clough.

It was Yarwood's performance as Harold Wilson that ultimately became his instantly recognisable trademark. He briefly caused some controversy by including Prince Charles as one of his regular impressions.

It is a long-held popular myth that the 1977 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show, which attracted 21.3 million viewers (often erroneously quoted as 28 million) was a record for a single light entertainment broadcast in Britain. The Mike Yarwood Christmas Show, which immediately preceded Morecambe and Wise on Christmas Day 1977, actually received a slightly larger audience of 21.4 million. This means that Yarwood, not Morecambe and Wise, holds the unbroken record for a single light entertainment broadcast in the UK.

Yarwood was the subject of a This Is Your Life special, presented by Eamonn Andrews on 31 May 1978.

Characters' catchphrases

Yarwood's characterisations also created catchphrases which came to be identified with famous figures, even if they never actually used them. However, the two most famous were actually spoken by the persons he caricatured. "Silly Billy", spoken by his caricature of British Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey, was actually used by Healey to describe strikers. It was rumoured that "I mean that most sincerely, folks", spoken by his caricature of Opportunity Knocks presenter Hughie Green, was made up by Yarwood but, in reality, it was first spoken by Green himself.

Part of the Cotton Crew in the BBC

Yarwood's career peaked during the 1970s when he was one of a stable of stars under the BBC Light Entertainment impresario Bill Cotton, alongside Bruce Forsyth, Dick Emery, Morecambe and Wise, Val Doonican and the Two Ronnies, all these performers having started their careers on ITV during the preceding decade. By the late 1970s some of them left the BBC and returned to independent television. Both Yarwood and Morecambe and Wise signed up with Thames TV, with mixed results; Morecambe and Wise fared better than Yarwood and their ratings remained relatively high. Forsyth signed to LWT and suffered a terrible start when his Big Night series was cancelled. However, unlike Yarwood, Forsyth bounced back and enjoyed success with Play Your Cards Right.

Decline

Yarwood saw his career go into decline from the early 1980s. Most of his most famous subjects, such as Heath and Wilson, retired from public life or died and he was unable to master new prominent figures, most significantly, the country's first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (she was played on his show by Janet Brown). As late as 1985 he was still sending up Heath, Wilson and Callaghan, several years after all three had ceased being involved in front-line politics. Also with the emergence of alternative comedy in the '80s which took a far more mordant and satirical attitude towards politicians (Yarwood saw himself as an all round family entertainer rather than a satirist), his career never recovered and the loss of some of his most loved characters and its fragility was directly linked to the politicians he impersonated. In addition, his battle with alcoholism and stage fright further affected his career, making him unreliable and affecting the quality of his output. It also contributed to the break-up of his marriage in 1985.

In February 1986, Yarwood faced a driving ban of two years and was fined £200 following a conviction for driving with a blood alcohol concentration nearly triple the legal limit.

At the conclusion of 1987, Yarwood's Thames TV show was discontinued, leading him to focus on theater work. Although he made efforts to revive his career in television, these were largely unsuccessful. He did, however, make a notable appearance on the satirical program "Have I Got News for You" in November 1995.

In the mid-1990s, Yarwood had the chance to return to the stage as prime minister John Major, but failed to re-establish himself before Major's premiership ended. He claimed that one of the difficulties in impersonating John Major and Tony Blair was that they were "nice guys".

Personal life

On 3 July 1990, Yarwood suffered a heart attack at his home. The following year, 1991, he gave up alcohol. He has been teetotal ever since.

In October 1999, Yarwood underwent treatment for depression at the Priory Clinic in Roehampton, London.

As of 2007, Yarwood lives alone in Weybridge, Surrey.