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.
No comments:
Post a Comment