Monday 22 June 2015

167 Look - Mike Yarwood / Mike Yarwood In Persons



First  watched  : 1974

My  mum  loved  this  guy  and  always  sang  his  praises  but  it  was  1974  before  he  was  on  at  a  time  when  we  could  stay  up  and  watch  him.

I  half-enjoyed it  because  I  didn't  know  who  many  of   his  targets  were. I'd never  heard  of  Robin  Day  or  Alf  Garnett  and  only  became  aware  of  the  politicians   in  a  meaningful  way   after  we'd  done  some  work  on  newspapers  at  school  at  the  beginning  of  1976. Like  most  people  watching  I  was  also  exasperated  when  he  broke  the  spell  with  "And  this  is  me"  then  proceeded   to  do  some  variety  club  number  in  his bog  standard  voice, a  bad  guest  on  his  own  show ! Nevertheless  Yarwood  was  insanely  popular  ; his  Christmas  show  in  1977  had  half  the  UK  population  tuning  in  and  set  a   light  entertainment  record  that's  never  likely  to  be  beaten.

Mike  Yarwood's   subsequent  slide  into  obscurity  has  been  much  discussed . He's  still  only  74 yet  has  been  largely  off  screen  for  decades; only  Simon  Dee  stands  out  as  a  more  famous casualty. A  common  explanation  has  it  that  his  decline  started  with  the  rise  of  Margaret Thatcher. I  remember  him  early  on  trying  to  do  her  himself  then  wisely  turning  the  job  over  to  Janet  Brown.  I  don't  think  that  holds  much  water  actually.

Much  more  damaging  was  his  jump   to   ITV  in  1982  where  he  never  got  the  same  ratings   leaving  him  vulnerable  as  a  new  generation  of  satirists  started  to  take  over . They  didn't  want  to  lightly  tease  and  appear  with  the  politicians  like  Mike; they  wanted  to  be  sued by  them. When  Spitting  Image  got  going  in  1984  he  looked  hopelessly  out  of  touch  and it's  no coincidence  his  show  was  cancelled  the  same  year.

By  his  own  admission  Mike  didn't  take  the  decision  well. His  confidence  shredded,  he  took  to  the  bottle  to  control  his  stage  fright . In  1985 his  marriage  broke  up  and  in  1986  he  was  banned  from  driving  for  being  three  times  over  the  limit. In  1990  he  had  a  heart  attack  and  was  forced  to  become  teetotal. He  entertained  hopes  of  a  comeback  and  perfected  a John  Major  impersonation  but  now  he  was  up  against  Rory  Bremner  and  faced  the  same  problem  as  all  older  impressionists - young  guys  can  impersonate  their  elders  convincingly  but it  doesn't  work  the  other  way  round. He  was simply  too  old  to  do  Tony Blair.

In  the early  nineties  he  retired  from  stage  work  to  spend  more  time  with  his  family and  contented  himself  with  odd  guest appearances  on  TV  e.g  Have  I  Got  News  For  You  . Although  he  was  treated  at  The  Priory  for  depression  in  1999  he's  generally  been  able  to  discuss   his  rise  and  fall  in  a  good  humoured  way  on  nostalgia  shows  and  will  always  be  fondly  remembered  by  people my  age  and  beyond.  
   

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