Christmas Day 1977 saw an extraordinary 21.4million people tuned in to One to watch the Mike Yarwood Christmas special, which featured performing as well as appearing in sketches.
It has made history for the biggest audience of a single light entertainment broadcast in British television history yet it is never repeated on mainstream TV so modern viewers can enjoy the hugely popular broadcast. It remains one of the most-watched television programmes, other than news and sport, in British history.
While Mike’s 1970s contemportaries Morcambe and Wise (whose 1977 festive special was broadcast directly after his) still see classic episodes of their shows aired Mike’s impressions led show seem to have fallen by the wayside.
While this may well be because many of the people he impersonated are deemed irrelevant to a modern audience, in the 70s and 80s his was the show to be seen on if you wanted to promote your work. Bob Voice, Mike’s PA and tour manager, recalled Paul McCartney specifically asking to go on the show, which would become a record breaker.
Speaking in the documentary Mike Yarwood: Thank you For The Laughs he recalled: “Paul McCartney had a new single he wanted to promote.
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Mike Yarwood’s skill as an impressionist saw him lampoon all the big names of the 70s and 80s (Image: Getty)
“He phoned Bill Cotton (then Head of Light Entertainment) and said, ‘What’s your biggest show on Christmas Day?’
“And he said, I’ve got Mike Yarwood on Christmas Day. So Paul wanted to come on the Mike Yarwood show to promote this new single, and he wanted Linda with him, his wife.
“So they hastily put together some sketches. And Mike’s producer, Jim Moyer, at that time, said to Paul, would you perform these sketches with Mike and Paul was an absolute gentleman.
Clips from the show feature Paul taking part in several skits including one cheeky one about the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Dennis Healey. He also performed his single Mull of Kintyre, which was that year’s Christmas number one.
To date it has sold 2.9million copies and remains the UK’s best-selling completely non-charity single and was the first single to sell over two million copies nationwide.
Paul McCartney appeared on Mike Yarwood’s show to promote his single Mull of Kintyre (Image: David Redfern/Getty)
The appearance on Mike’s show undoubtedly helped with the massive sales. Through the years other big names such as ABBA also queued up to promote their music on his show.
Just 10 years later, after a move to Thames TV, Mike’s show was cancelled at the end of 1987. Although he attempted to resurrect his television career he was unsuccessful and mainly concentrated on stage work. From then on he made very rare television appearances such as popping up on Have I Got News for You in November 1995.
Mike’s last performance took place in 2003 but wasn’t unearthed until 2016. He appeared at the Albany comedy club in London, at the invitation of Bob Monkhouse. It would also mark Bob’s last performance and was filmed for a proposed TV documentary, but ended up airing in December 2016 as a one-off special for Four.
In 2021, his Christmas shows were licensed from Fremantle/Thames by That’s TV to broadcast as part of its festive offering, alongside other programmes such as The Kenny Everett Video Show, The Benny Hill Show and Beadle’s About. It had had not been seen in full on a British television channel in more than 20 years and still has never been repeated on a mainsteam channel.
Mike died on 8 September 2023, at the age of 82.