Last year, this article which was written for the Portsmouth News. In which I set out a brief description of The Tube, but as Channel Four becomes thirty-one. What can we learn from this? First of all, the article as published.
On Guy Fawkes night
1982, Channel Four provided a rocket up the schedules with the
introduction of The Tube. Irrevocable, indolent and interesting, it
set out its pop manifesto right from the start, although the original
presenters were to be Boy George and a pre-Big Breakfast Paula Yates,
but when Boy George found chart success, a newly freed from Squeeze
Jools Holland filled the gap left.
With it being broadcast
live on early Friday evenings, the programme had a fresh edge over
any other music show at the time which lead to many one-liners being
made by both presenters which was all part of its appeal and leading
to new acts and even comedians coming up to its Newcastle studios to
play and get exposure to youth at home.
Part of the appeal of
the programme was to see what they could get away with that week, not
only pushing the boundaries but giving them a kick up the charts in
the process, later on they helped Frankie Goes to Hollywood with
early television exposure.
But as time went on and
the one-liners became more obvious, Jools Holland's throw-away line
too rude to print in a family paper led the show to be suspended for
three weeks as it was rather unwisely broadcast during Children's
ITV. Sometimes naughty, but always good it gave to television a
relevance of music and while it lasted 'The Tube' was one great ride!
Channel Four has set itself out as saying they were born risky, but in at least the past five years when can it has been? Is this channel which wanted to shock, wanted to give something to the youth of Britain, provide a home to programmes fit anywhere? The channel set out programmes for the disabled, not only adults but youngsters. Cecil Korer who came from the BBC was a key part of this, he may have been seen as some what of the old school having been a programme purchaser and a commissioning editor for the Light Entertainment group.
Seemingly for this he purchased Cheers and The Paul Hogan Show for the fledgling channel and even in commissioning Countdown that the first production team christened the number picking computer C.E.C.I.L (standing for Countdown Electronic Computer In Leeds). Where as Countdown had come from Yorkshire Television, another of his successes was Treasure Hunt from the independent producer Chatsworth Television, with the team of ex-newsreader Kenneth Kendall, TV-AM weather presenter Wincey Willis and Anneka Rice at that time who had previous worked in Hong Kong as a newsreader. But these successes set up the channel as an alternative to the BBC and ITV, if Channel Four was conceived as the IBA's second commercial channel then it had done its job.
In setting up his own production company Gambit Enterprises, Korer's company made Hand in Hand, which introduced children both hearing and deaf to each other's worlds but also revivals of 'Where In The World?' and 'The Heritage Game'.
Plus with the likes of Mike Bolland, bringing new approaches to youth and entertainment programming. They were bold times, stretching the channel to do what it could to be so different. But with Channel Four proclaiming they were born risky, it makes people think what they have become to offer like for like programming. Its true and maybe said to say that Channel Four has come into the 21st century, not as it should be but with a changed personality. It might have matured with age, but the rebellious spirit has gone and for British television it could be a significant move backwards.
In light entertainment, presenters can
come from anywhere nowadays but the classic entertainers come from
usually from a variety background, though with the advent of pop
music in the 1950’s created a whole generation of stars, some whose
longevity would mark them out and for others they fell as quickly as
they rose.
Many of these pop musicians would go
on and forge careers outside the world of Rock and Roll, such as Adam
Faith who became a pop music manager himself as well as a very
accomplished actor, Cliff Richard who became a favourite with
audiences with his variety show. Also Tom Jones and Englebert
Humperdinck, whose weekly shows attracted major stars from both side
of the Atlantic and drawing huge audience figures for Lew Grade’s
ATV.
However as the 1960’s was drawing to
a close and pop music was going off in new directions with albums
with greater and greater orchestrations, for some artists who were
not involved in such musical motions there was so many choices and
routes to take. They were at a crossroads at their careers with their
teenage fans now grown up and moving onto new interests, whether they
wanted to carry on a purely pop route, go into straight acting or the
third route of moving into light entertainment. These performers who
had come appeared on variety shows since the 1950’s performing
alongside comedians and also other variety artists whilst on tour
they had mixed with them on the early rock and roll tours with
comedians being the compares. They were already soaking themselves
into the world of light entertainment themselves.
Back in the early 1960's young
Priscilla White was working in an office at a manufacturing company
making insulated cable with dreams of moving into the world of
entertainment, so she took a part-time job working in Liverpool's
Cavern Club as a cloakroom attending but also doing performances of a
impromptu nature when the stage was free and they needed someone to
entertain the patrons. However it was these performances which
impressed The Beatles and others of the Merseybeat groups.
But it was Liverpool based promoter
Sam Leach which encouraged her to go into singing and he gave her
first chance to perform properly at a club called 'The Casanova Club'
appearing as “Swinging Cilla” in support many of the Merseybeat
bands of the time such as Kingsized Taylor and the Dominoes plus also
Rory Story and The Hurricanes. Though at this time she was also
working as a waitress in coffee lounge The Zodiac where she met her
future husband and manager Robert Willis more commonly know as Bobby.
Though in appearing the first edition of Mersey Beat, a local music
paper did its editor Bill Harry made a mistake by calling Priscilla
White, Cilla Black. However when Priscilla saw the name she decided
to adopt the mistaken name as her new stage name as it sounded more
better and more of a punchy name.
Her first contract was signed with a
long time friend of hers, Terry McCann. Though because she was still
underage when the contract was signed that the contract was null and
void, how this lead to he father deciding this was the best path for
young Cilla was to sign with Beatles manager Brian Epstein who at
first he didn't show an inkling to sign Cilla. It was John Lennon who
had encouraged Epstein to give her an audition, though this audition
did not go well owning to her nerves and The Beatles playing songs
which were suited to their voice ranges rather then hers as she wrote
in her autobiography What's It All About?
“I'd chosen to do Summertime, but at
the very last moment I wished I hadn't.
I adored this song, and had sung it
when I came to Birkenhead with The Big Three, but I hadn't rehearsed
it with The Beatles and it had just occurred to me that they would
play it in the wrong key.
It was too late for second thoughts,
though. With one last wicked wink at me, John set the group off
playing.
I'd been right to worry.
The music was not in my key and any
adjustments that the boys were trying to make were now too late to
save me. My voice sounded awful. Destroyed – and wanting to die –
I struggled on to the end.”
Cilla first concert was with The
Beatles at the Odeon in Southport on August 30th 1963 just
seven days before Epstein signed her up after seeing her perform at
The Blue Angel jazz club as his first female singer.
Though this was a whirlwind time for
Cilla, at the end of September she made her first television
appearance on TWW's Discs A Go Go presented by Kent Walton who was
one of the top DJ's on Radio Luxembourg at that time as well as being
ITV's wrestling commentator.
Her appearance on the show promoted
herself as an artist, meanwhile her first single 'Love of the Loved'
written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney premiered on ABC TV's
'Thank Your Lucky Stars' but only reached number 35 on the charts.
Though the single was seen as a failure relatively, however Cilla
rose her profile by appearing on Juke Box Jury and setting out on a
thirty-two date concert tour with Gerry and the Pacemakers. Later
appearing on a five date tour with Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas in
November and finally on The Beatles Christmas Show at the Astoria,
Finsbury Park, London on Christmas Eve.
Cilla had made a small mark on the pop
scene by the end of 1963, however it was see 1964 as her breakthrough
year as an artiste. On the last day of January, saw the release of
the single which was to change her life. 'Anyone Who Had a Heart'
written originally by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Dionne Warwick
was heard by Cilla's manager at the time Brian Epstein when was in
New York, believed the song would be right for her.
Though at the time when arriving back
in London and whilst in conversation about the matter with George
Martin, Martin when he had heard a copy of the song though it would
have been ideal for Shirley Bassey presumed it was for Shirley to
perform it. But Epstein was steadfast in his view that it would be
right for Black to perform as her latest single, though with an
orchestration by Johnny Pearson using a string section and powerful
rhythm. It was Cilla's powerful vocal performance which helped sell
the song, it was George Martin and Johnny Pearson who managed to get
the best vocal and make the song seem even bigger.
By late February the song had gone to
number one in the charts spending three weeks there and selling
800,000 records in the time it was there. With a 36 date concert tour
of England taking place at the same time lead to venues selling out
night after night, at the end of March, Cilla was presented with her
first silver disc for the single through the sheer number of sales
and to extend the single's success an EP of the song was brought out
in April. A sign of her success was a week's residency at
Manchester's Palace Theater and playing NME's Poll-Winners' show at
Wembley.
May was to prove a turning point for
Cilla Black's career, on May the 1st her third single
'You're My World' was released which was to prove her second number
one. Taken from a popular Italian song 'Il Mio Mondo' the single had
a life of its own becoming a hit in Australia, New Zealand, South
Africa, Canada and Europe as well. With 'Anyone Who Had a Heart'
being the first number one by a solo female artist since Helen
Shapiro with 'Walking Back to Happiness' in October 1961 and both
singles selling over a million records plus also being awarded gold
discs for both. The rise and rise of Cilla Black was seemingly
phenomenal having achieved all of this before the age of twenty-one
as well.
As success was coming thick and fast,
Cilla was being pushed more into the world of variety appearing at
the London Palladium in a show featuring Frankie Vaughan and Tommy
Cooper. Her first show took place on May 13th 1964 and
what was meant to be a short running show was extended into December.
Though her focus at this time was still being a singer, but with her
vocal style had been recognized in the United States and with the
promotion of her to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show and to launch her
career over the Atlantic, 'You're My World' was released reaching
number 26 on the Billboard Top 100, though Elvis Prestley though
enough of of the single that he had a copy of it on his personal
jukebox at Graceland.
However if Cilla wanted to make it
properly like The Beatles had broken America, she would have to spend
more time there and tour across the whole country. But homesickness
made her miss her Liverpool roots just as she was getting popular in
the US. But in 1966, a song once again written by Burt Bacharach and
Hal David was to come calling, 'Alfie' the title song used by the
film of the same was recorded by Cher. Brian Epstein made a conscious
decision to get Cilla to record a version of her own as her latest
single. Black's single was arranged and conducted by Burt Bacharach,
as he felt she could give the emotion in her voice that the song
truly demanded. For Cilla, she thought it was one of the hardest
recording sessions she had ever done. In the justification of
Bacharach's demands, the single reached No9 and had become more well
know than the version that Cher had sung in the film.
Where as being a vocal artiste seemed
more of a viable career path at this point, by the end of 1966 Cilla
had appeared on Not Only... But Also with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore
also in a Ray Galton and Alan Simpson written revue – 'Way Out in
Piccadilly' in the West End, on television with Frankie Howerd and on
the Eamonn Andrews Show on several occasions as well as her very own
television special 'Cilla at The Savoy' of which was the first to be
filmed in colour.
Though her short lived career as an
actress didn't not pick off like Brian Epstein had hope, with roles
in the beat film 'Ferry Across The Mersey' featuring many of the
Merseybeat groups in it. But she played a lead role in the 1968
comedy alongside David Warner in 'Work is a Four Letter Word'. But it
was later revealed that Cilla Black was offered the role as Michael
Caine's girlfriend in The Italian Job, but the negotiations fell
through over the fee which was going to be paid to Cilla for playing
the role.
As the acting door closed another one
opened, with Cilla becoming a more regular face of television apart
from music shows, Brian Epstein signed a contract with the BBC to
launch Cilla as a singer/entertainer with her very own show. But in
all this, the relationship between Cilla and Brian Epstein had broken
down over a number of factors including dwindling singles sales as
follow up singles had flopped. To try and placate her, Epstein tried
to do a deal with the BBC to represent the United Kingdom in the 1968
Eurovision Song Contest, but having seen Sandy Shaw winning the 1967
contest, she thought that a British female singer couldn't win again
in the next year.
This artist/performer relationship was
to have a tragic ending, with Epstein dieing of a drugs overdose in
August 1967. For Cilla this was a dark time, with her manager now
gone she looked to her future husband Bobby Willis who had written
songs for the B-side of her first two singles and had been a
confident to her over her career so far. Bobby took over as her
manager with such a busy period of her career and own life coming up.
Cilla herself though that doing her own television was not really a
risk for her as if it went wrong she could always go back to her
singing and acting careers.
In 1964, she appeared on the 'Around
The Beatles' television special, produced by former 'Oh Boy' producer
Jack Good, though as Cilla remembers one of first experiences of
appearing front of the television cameras.
“One of my earliest memories was
doing television dates back to 1963 in Southampton. It was only my
second time on TV and they told me to dance. I danced right past the
camera and there was a blank screen for about ten seconds.”
But significantly in starting her own
television programme, Cilla Black had asked for one man to be her
producer. Michael Hurll who had worked on Billy Cotton's Band Show
was to have a profound influence on Cilla. After turning up late for
an edition of the Band Show, Hurll gave her a verbal dressing down in
no uncertain terms. However, this did not upset her at all, as when
it came to appointing a producer for her fledgling show, it was the
way that Hurll dealt with her in that initial meeting that impressed
her.
Seemingly firm, but also fair but
Hurll own way of believing in each show he produced and its stars
within had a effect on her. So she wanted the only the best from
Hurll and his creativity in dreaming up new ideas for the programme
which had not had been seen on television before such as the way that
an outside broadcast was used to drop in on viewers as they watched
the show and also conducting interviews with members of the public as
they went about their daily business. But as Bill Cotton recalled
about Cilla Black and her natural way with the public in opposed to
other singers who had their own shows
“I had spent a long time telling
other performers that it was never always about singing a song, it
was talking to your audience, For example, Cilla Black . She cannot
sing, however she could talk to the audience and in that type of show
that is the most important thing.”
Cilla her herself had a hunger to try
new things and with Michael Hurll they had formed the perfect
partnership of performer and producer. In an edition of her show from
December 1968, her line up of guest can boast folk singer Donovan, a
regular chart topper at that time, Frankie Vaughan, one of variety's
bigger stars, a young Roy Hudd in which she links up live with the
pantomime that he is performing whilst the programme and a up and
coming comedian called Les Dawson making on of his first major
television appearances. This showed the breath of her own show,
combing all the best elements of singing with her musical guests,
performing in comedy sketches and interacting with the public. Such
was Hurll's professional relationship with Black, that he went over
to ITV to work on Surprise Surprise recreating some of the magic they
had done on the Cilla show nearly fifteen years earlier.
The song that launched a television career
With plaudits and awards coming
regularly Cilla's way for her show and also her performance by 1969,
everything seemed to be on the up for her with marriage to her
partner and manager Bobby Willis in January of that year, of which
they married twice, once in a private ceremony in March and a civil
service in London on Bobby's twenty-seventh birthday. By November,
appearing on that year's Royal Variety Performance and the broadcast
of the third series of her show were to be highlights. However in her
musical career, things were not going so well.
Her single 'If I Thought You'd Ever
Change Your Mind' was released shortly after Cilla's appearance on
the Royal Variety show, earlier that year 'Surround Yourself with
Sorrow' had reached number three in the charts and the album of the
same name had been a success. However 'If I Though You'd Ever Change
Your Mind' had not one as well as everyone had expected as Cilla
recalled.
“I couldn't hide the fact that when
I had a flop record I really got depressed. When a single flopped, I
really felt bad. You see one of the things I always prided myself on
was the ability to pick hits. It just felt instinctively to me when a
song felt right. But then I just lost this touch for picking them for
myself. With other people's songs, it was OK but not with my own.”
As the sixties turned into the
seventies, a whole period in Cilla's life was launched with the birth
of her first son Robert John in July and more concert dates and
performances in front of the television cameras with an appearance
on a Royal Gala in front of The Queen one of the highlights. However
with the birth of hers and Bobby's first child the press speculated
that she had lost £100,000 in fees whilst she was pregnant from
concerts, appearances and television programmes. Such with the fame
that show business brought was also the speculation about the private
lives of performers and what they got up to in them.
The tried and tested formula of her
shows were working, come the seventh series in 1974, the producer
Colin Charman decided to make some changes to the format with a new
theme tune 'Something Tell Me' to replace 'Step Inside Love' which
had been used from the first series and as he said about the first
programme in a nine show run featuring Bernard Cribbins and Twiggy.
“We wanted to get away from the
regular run of variety guests, instead inviting actors and more
unusual people to come onto the show.' On that first show in the
series saw Cilla performing comedy sketches with Cribbins and seemed
that Cilla would be moving in a more comedic direction, in that
series the mixture of guests would range from the usual pop stars to
presenters like Frank Bough more better know for Grandstand than
performing in front of the camera. But having such a range gave the
show new life and depth to freshen it up. With special shows on that
year's August Bank Holiday and also a festive edition on Boxing Day
proved that Cilla Black was now one of the BBC's biggest stars
ranking up with Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies and also Mike
Yarwood.
However in July of that year, Cilla
had announced that she would be doing a situation comedy for ITV but
quickly reassured that this would not mean the end of her
relationship with the BBC as she said at the time.
“That would be like a child turning
on its mother. But I am keen to give acting another go, though I am
an ad-libber, making new lines up on the spot but I'll try to stick
to the script as more for their own sake and for mine as well!”
So in January 1975, Cilla's Comedy Six
was broadcast by ATV, seeing a sea change in direction for Black and
with her performance in the show she won the Writer's Guide of Great
Britain's Top Female Comedy Star award for the new show, the shows
written by Ronnie Taylor was as much a hit as her shows for the BBC
with them being constantly being in the top three most watched
programmes every week that Cilla's Comedy Six was on making Cilla
Black one of only a few performers to have hit shows both for BBC and
ITV in the same year but in two fields of entertainment. This was
followed by another series of six comedies for ATV in 1976, however
with the eighth series of her BBC programme, television critics
decided to go for her in a big way. As such Cilla's programmes were
seen as not to their taste, but the viewing figures showed she was
still as popular as ever. But as her television show was
seemingly being hammered, her stage show 'Cilla at the Palace' was
earning rave reviews. The style was akin to anything that British
audiences had seen as close to a Las Vegas style show, with over
£200,000 spent on the show's run including the additions of Alan Lee
who had cast Hollywood performers for Broadway shows, Jerry Jackson
who was one of the best choreographers around having worked with
Juliet Prowse and Goldie Hawn in his time. The plaudits came thick
and fast, after lasting for six months the intention to take the show
to Las Vegas failed to materialize owing to the fact that Black and
Tarbuck were not known names in America.
Though in 1977, things were about to
change again for Cilla. With concert tours of the Far East and
Australasia booked in for that year, an offer came to her which was
to set her on a new path. Where as ITV had been competing against her
shows, Thames Television decided to make an offer to her to work for
them and the ITV network. Key in all this was Light Entertainment
controller at Thames, Philip Jones who had worked on ABC's 'Thank
Your Lucky Stars' as its producer where Cilla Black had appeared on
in 1963. A deal was put together for her to do a one hour special,
but as in the BBC shows which had been live, the Thames hour
Spectacular took six weeks to make one show allowing more time to
spent to make the show just right.
Without the weekly turnaround of a
regular series, allowed Cilla to take for her self relaxing and
spending more time with her family plus with time for the occasional
television or radio appearance that she could pick and choose. But
she returned to concerts and summer season to keep performing through
1978, but with the press not knowing what they would expect with
Cilla having seen her comedy acting, presenting her weekly show and
also producing albums as well. It was clear even without a show, the
rapport she had built up with the public over the time her weekly
show was broadcast had not left her at all. Her special for Thames
TV was shown on May 24th with guests including Frankie
Howerd appearing in a sketch with her as a punk rocker and also
singing with Ricky May as well. This was meant to the first of a
couple of specials for Thames during the year, however industrial
action at their Teddington Studios cause them to be canceled. The
same was the case in 1979 where two specials and a Christmas
Spectacular was planned, but because of the ITV strike of that year
they did not go ahead.
Cilla booked a summer season in the
Winter Gardens in Bournemouth for sixteen weeks, this time of the
year became important for both performers and also venues as well as
they were certain money spinners for both, plus the chance for
holidaymakers to see people they had only seen on the television who
were performing on the stage in front of them. These summer season
shows were good but television was their bread and butter, Cilla had
spent time out of the television limelight between 1979 and 1981 to
concentrate on her family life. But however she was tempted to appear
on Thames' 'London Night Out' in December as she takes up the story
of that recording.
“Before my appearance on London
Night Out, I'd been away from show business as I wanted to spend more
time with the family. So I had made a point of watching the show,
which I rarely do. Why? I couldn't believe the the show was actually
was going on. At first the recording was canceled because of an
industrial dispute at the studios, on the second attempt there was a
bomb scare and the studio had to evacuated and at the third time of
trying the show was finally recorded. But however during that
recording my brother had phoned from Liverpool to say that our mum
had fallen and broke her hip, just as I was to go on to sing 'It's a
Miracle' – and I reckon it was a miracle the show even went out!”
Following this appearance on London
Night Out, things television wise were quite during 1982, but 1983
was to prove a very pivotal for Cilla Black's career. On January 17th
her album 'The Very Best of Cilla Black' was released with her going
onto Terry Wogan's chat show on the 22nd of January to
promote it. However during this appearance, it gave a reminder to
viewers the qualities she had extruded during her 'Cilla' programmes
more than seven years previous. Appearances in Holland on television
and also topping the bill on 'Live From Her Majesty's' with Jimmy
Tarbuck as its host, meant that both sides of Cilla was seen as the
presenter and the performer. Though the first show that she had tried
was for Channel Four and produced by Bryan Izzard called 'The Green
Tie on the Tail of the Little Yellow Dog', initially they wanted her
to impersonate Gracie Fields, but eventually she performed some of
Gracie's song but in her own voice. But May 17th was to
see Cilla record the show which would change her life once again.
Alan Boyd, the producer behind 'Game
For a Laugh' and now by that time LWT's head of Light Entertainment,
decided to make a pilot for a new show called 'Surprise Surprise'. He
had been working to refine the format for a long while, but when
Cilla was attached to the project, he had molded the format to suit
her style of presenting, buy using audience participation and also
filmed items outside of the studio confines as well. Though the
programme gave Cilla the chance to sing at the end of the programme
as well, as LWT thought an hour slot was good for the show. Boyd
himself thought that a co-presenter was needed to help Cilla out, so
Christopher Biggins was brought in as her roving reporter fresh from
his success on TVS' On Safari series for children. Though not
everyone could be pleased at this time, as Nina Myskow put Ms Black
as her 'Wally of the Week' in her weekly column, stating that she was
good at Surprise Surprise but when it came to singing, that she had a
lot to be desired.
Even before Surprise Surprise was
filmed, ITV decided to make a Christmas Special for Cilla which had
guest stars Frankie Howerd, The Bee Gees and Julio Inglesias
appearing. Such was the success of the Christmas show, it put her in
good stead for the broadcast of the first series of Surprise Surprise
in May 1984. Originally the show was going to be broadcast on
Saturdays but the decision was taken to move it to Sundays instead to
help boost ITV's Sunday night schedule and introducing more light
entertainment to Sunday nights where there had been more dramas and
serious programming previously. Such was the importance of the show,
that whilst England were playing Brazil in a football friendly which
overlapped, the second half of the friendly was shown live at the
conclusion of the show with Cilla Black handing over to ITV Sport's
Jim Rosenthal who was presenting the football to show first half
highlights and the second half live. That Surprise Surprise took
priority over live football was strange to think now, but this
happened and show the power of Cilla's show that she could have an
effect on football matches and the showing of them, though this
wasn't the first time though as we'll see later.
As Surprise Surprise bedded in as one
of ITV's new Sunday night staples, the show built up a loyal audience
in 1984 and in 1985. However with Cilla Black's
success with Alan Boyd the controller
of Light Entertainment at LWT in 1985. he let the risk aspect to
letting the show grow as the series went on as he recalls.
“Some of the early shows went out
live, we knew there were certain aspects which needed to be changed
but with such a quick turnaround on the live shows, it could not be
physically done. Where as from it, words were exchanged as to what
the show should be and we did not as such have a safety net to
protect us from press criticism which was coming forthwith.
But by the start of the second series,
Cilla herself understood what the show should be about and the the
type of presenter we were look for, she had been the girl next door
during the 1970's on her BBC shows, now we were looking for her to be
the friendly auntie figure, sharing gifts and surprises with the
people participating in the show.”
It was this new auntie figure that LWT
was looking for when they needed a host for a format which had been
troubling the light entertainment department at LWT for a while. They
had different international version of what had been the Chuck Barris
format in the United States of America called 'The Dating Game' and
in Australia called 'Perfect Match'. For a fair while, they had been
trying to pull together all the various aspects of these formats into
one pilot programme. However the problem with all the formats from
other countries that it was more raunchy than the British viewing
audience was used to.
A pilot called at this time 'It's a
Hoot' with comedian Duncan Norvelle had been made to show an example
what the show would be like. However when the IBA saw it, they had
become worried that the sexual connotations would be too much for
some viewers to take on a Saturday night. So to try and change the
meaning of 'It's a Hoot' they decided to give Cilla and husband Bobby
a copy of the Duncan Norvelle pilot to view, though not with a view
to get Cilla to present it but just to watch as viewers and see what
they thought of it.
When they had both saw it, they had
enjoyed it but Cilla herself still was not convinced about the
format. However LWT wanted to press ahead with making the pilot into
a full series, so they had gone to the IBA with the idea of getting a
host who would been seen to tone down the innuendo and almost take it
completely away from the programme. So Alan Boyd decided to broach
the subject of present the show to Cilla as she called they had said
she was the most sexless person on television and she would be good
as an auntie figure acting as cupid for the contestants on the show.
So the title was changed from 'Its a
Hoot' to 'Blind Date' so that it was clearer what the show was about
and it seemed more tame and innocent to viewers, but ITV made the
move so that Blind Date was launched on November 30th and
the third series of Surprise Surprise started just before Christmas
of that year on December the 22nd allowing Blind Date to
have a good run of programmes and bed into the schedule before
Surprise Surprise came back. Blind Date was a ratings winner allowing
ITV to strengthen their Saturday night schedule into the 1990's with
viewing figures for the show regularly beating those of the major
soap operas, where as contained within Cilla's show was a mini soap
opera with viewers wanting to know what had happened on the date
itself of the chosen contestants. Plaudits galore came along for Cilla
as she was regularly named Britain's best Female television
personality during the late 1980's and into the early 90's as she
celebrated her 25th anniversary in show business with a
concert organized in association with BBC Radio 2, singing her hits
and favourite music as well as welcoming on stage and performing with
her some of the best performers as well her conductors who had worked
on both her television shows and special plus also on record as well.
As in October of that year she also appeared on Desert Island Discs
capping her career so far.
With the 90's Cilla's shows went from
strength to strength because one of ITV's highest paid stars at that
time. However what had been a bit of harmless flirting with Blind
Date had become more saucier as culture for both men and women was
starting to change, so to reflect that fact the show was slowly
changed over time to accommodate new features as letting the audience
decided if a contestant should date or dump the person they had
chosen. But with ITV's buying of Premier League highlights and
putting them at 7pm on a Saturday night at the turn of the new
millennium had seen Blind Date shifted by the football and Surprise
Surprise now having finished. It looked like Cilla's star was
starting to wain, however when the viewers said a resounding 'no' to
football taking the place of 'Our Cilla', Blind Date returned to its
Saturday spot in the schedules. Though viewing figures were going
down somewhat even with the new changes, so for one last attempt ITV
decided to do a live edition of Blind Date thinking this could revive
the format, but just before Cilla went to greet the audience both in
the studio and at home, she had made a decision which was to change
the course of the show altogether.
She announced that this was going to
her last series of Blind Date, some what taking back the ITV
executives that didn't know she was going to make this announcement
live on the air on that night. Which meant Blind Date had finished
but to keep her, ITV had imported an Japanese TV format which they
had reworked into 'Cilla's Moment of Truth' where a family played for
prizes for themselves and for their family as a whole in an end game.
But the magic had run out for Cilla and the programme itself changed,
so Cilla left it and it was reworked for another host to take over.
Apart from the occasional appearance
at the Royal Variety Performance and also on other people's
television shows, Cilla has not presented a major Saturday night show
for nearly a decade and comes back to only make the occasional appearance on television programmes. But with such a long and varied career as she has had plus with ITV looking back on her 50 years in show
business presented by her great friend Paul O'Grady who she performed with him and also Barbara Windsor at the Royal Variety Performance 2001. It is certain that she came from the pop scene into
television and made certain formats her own. But she has set the bar
high for light entertainment presenters pretty high, with no major
pop star transferring to light entertainment since Cilla's departure
from Saturday nights, some have tried and also rekindled the spirit
that Cilla Black had in her shows, but none have quite got close as
of yet.
For as long as there has been
television and radio, there has been a fascination of the world of
the spy and espionage plus also the the sometimes murky word which
goes behind it. Cinema-goers have followed the likes of James Bond
through Harry Palmer and onto Jason Bourne, to get their fix of
glamorous locations, beautiful but sassy women and physically
demanding action as well.
Those this cannot be said that
television has been left behind in this, to a certain extent the ITC
series of the sixties and the seventies dealt with lone action heroes
going about their duties as citizens to sort out any problems which
may occur, but away from the world of Simon Templar and The Saint to
Danger Man's John Drake was the grip of the Cold War where all sides
were trying to work out what what each other was doing.
In 1963 one of the earliest series,
Espionage was made by ATV both broadcast in Britain and in America on
NBC. As an anthology of stories allowed for a fluid cast with no
leading characters however the series did introduce many famous names
some of their earliest acting roles such as a pre-Easy Rider Dennis
Hopper, David Kossoff along with Patrick Troughton, Patricia Neal and
Billie Whitelaw plus also Anthony Quayle who had himself been a
member of the Special Operations Executive during World War Two.
The series differed from being based
in the Second World War to modern Cold War times with agents
operating for peaceful means or as resistance operatives, taking in
the tales of
the agents working on the front line
and showing the public what life was really like for these operatives
rather than fast cars and a fast lifestyle as well. Allowing for
reality to be shown in daily operations allowed series to go in one
of two directions, either down the fast paced action route or the
more in-depth dramatic route more real to situations that agents were
facing on a day to day basis.
With the American networks taking the
more glamorous action, the British broadcaster wanted to show the
real side of spying, leading to more grittier series which did not
flinch away from tough, bleak reality. But what happens when you ask
too much about about what you do when your job is in the dark and
murky world of espionage? The answer is simple, you become a special
agent. That is what happened to David Callan over four series and
feature length film. Callan played by Edward Woodward as the
reluctant professional killer for 'the Section' a shadowy branch of
the intelligence services first appeared in an edition of Armchair
Theatre on February 4th 1967 featuring in a story called
'A Magnum for Schneider' written by James Mitchell who had written
not only Callan, had been a prolific writer of spy thriller but also
crime fiction plus writing for shows such as The Troubleshooters for
the BBC, Justice for Yorkshire Television and ABC's own The Avengers
as well as creating When The Boat Comes In for the BBC.
With such a cast including the likes
of Edward Woodward and Peter Bowles, gave the story a almost chilling
edge underscored with the music of Robert Farnon at the beginning,
though the action takes place in the studio as opposed to the
glamorous ITC shows of the time, allowing the scenes to be more
realistic than fantasy of which the normal world of the agent was.
David Callan, himself had a steady
hand and a cool nerve, but Callan also had a conscious about what he
doing, much of the action was about those who were doing wrong, did
wrong or about to do wrong at some point in the future. Cold blooded,
he may seemed but it was for safety of the public he did it. Long
before Spooks hit out screens in the new millennium, Callan focused
on the darker side of spying and who to get results. But it was the
downtrodden nature of the character which grabbed the public's
attention, trading in being in an anti-hero.
With Edward Woodward's memorising
performance as Callan, it became a firm favourite with viewers
everywhere. But when the stories became more about his struggle then
the action which had made it popular. Where as Bond was going to
paradise, Callan was doing the dirty work, becoming an anti-hero for
the times. The right show had come at the right time, in 1967 where
other action series had become luxurious, Callan had paired it right
down to the basics. A gritty man for gritty times, where was Britain
had been a bright, colourful place by this time it seemed like the
party was over and a reality check that these
things had to be done by operatives to
keep its citizens safe for the good of the nation it seemed.
Where as Callan ruled the small screen
at the end of the sixties and into the early seventies, Harry Palmer
was doing much the same for cinema audiences. The anti-Bond in the
novels by Len Deighton was deliberately the complete opposite of
James Bond, his upbringing and style were said to be working class
and for all the glamour Bond encountered Palmer has his hands tied by
bureaucracy about what he can and can't do in his position. For the
big screen, the production values were almost as big as Bond's with
Michael Caine playing eponymous character for the films.
However where it had seen that the
movies and television were seeming miles apart apart from the bigger
serials made by ABC and ATV in Britain, but with both Callan and
Palmer cemented the style of the spy series. The unglamorous world
for operatives being shown, more listening than doing meant that one
of the greatest tales of espionage, cross and double cross could be
the most simple telling of a tale ever.
Though in 1969, when Thames Television
already had Callan, they decided to launch a new drama series looking
at the Special Branch of the Metropolitan Police, dealing in
anti-espionage and anti-terrorism as well bridging the gap between
the police force and MI5. The focus was on showing what was going on
in the capital, the black heart which was beating underneath. The
series first premièred on the 17th of September 1969 with
the first episode called 'Troika' looking at a spy ring based in
London with the link between a civil servant, an ice skating champion
and a KGB agent based posing as a travel agent, the view of this side
of society was a new one for viewers allowing them to see the police
which before had been more of the beat officer, though style the
production used in the first two series was quite jarring with the
scenes within their headquarters recorded on videotape and the
outside shots filmed on outside broadcast film cameras, much like the
same technique used by Thames' own Van der Valk and other shows.
However when Euston Films took on responsibility of making the show
in 1973 as one of its first of many productions, the whole of the
programme was filmed on 16mm film giving it a gritter appearance
later to be used by The Sweeney and Minder as well.
When the characters of Detective Chief
Inspector Tom Haggerty played by Patrick Mower and Strand, a shadowy
civil servant played by Paul Eddington that the series picked up in
1973, but the 1974 series also featured Dennis Waterman as a criminal
in the episode “Stand and Deliver”, with later Mower, Eddington,
George Sewell who played Chief Inspector Alan Craven in Special
Branch as characters in The Sweeney though Waterman was to play
George Carter memorably alongside John Thaw's Jack Regan. It is said
that Special Branch formed a template for The Sweeney to take on the
baton from there. But Patrick Mower was to get his own action role in
the BBC's own Target at the end of the 1970's, proving that Special
Branch was a good training ground for action stars.
At the same time as Target was on the
BBC, Yorkshire Television came up with a new series to look at the
men and women who served for the Special Intelligence Service, more
commonly know as MI6, though the acronym S.I.S was in the series
itself. The operatives working for the department were a special
breed usually charged with dealing with highly political sensitive or
diplomatically complex missions such as defections, assassinations
and rescue missions. But because of the seemingly underfunding of the
department led by Neil D. Burnside played by Roy Marsden, the S.I.S
has to share information with the C.I.A leading to both coming into
conflict at times but with Burnside's job of delicately trying to
please both the British and United States governments at the same
time.
But this does have an effect on
Burnside's well being and health in the end, with him looking out for
his operatives and their safety turning into an obsession for him.
Though the story of The Sandbaggers and what happened to him could
could have been in the plot in the series itself. Scottish writer
Iain Mackintosh, a former naval officer who had previously written
the BBC's Warship had written all of the first two series scripts,
but in 1979 when travelling with his girlfriend, a British Airways
stewardess they were lost at sea when the single engine aircraft had
disappeared over the Pacific Ocean after they had stopped off at a
disused U.S. Air force base and that the plane crashed in an area not
covered either U.S. Or Russian radar. Three of the scripts were
written by Mackintosh when him and girlfriend had disappeared leading
to the last four being written by other writers and the last
episode's conclusion to be inconclusive and unresolved because the
new writers and the producers though they could not write an ending
that would have been up to the standards that Mackintosh had set for
the series.
The style itself was to be an antidote
to the James Bond films which had been about girls, gadgets and cars.
With hardly no action sequences and more dialogue than most shows
allowed the series to go in a new direction focussing on the reality
of the operatives, their lives in such a risk business with regular
characters getting killed, double crossing complex plots and a
multi-layered story.
But why does the world of the spy and
espionage appeal to viewers when they had more glamorous series and
films out there? Does it come from a need to find out what exactly
these people do to protect our nation, perhaps it can be explained in
the same way as a good murder mystery. The actual suspense of what
will happen to characters next and the plots itself had to be
followed week to week, as the 1970's went into the eighties people's
minds were a world away from the glamour of vodka Martinis and
thinking towards the Cold War plus what it actually meant. In safety
knowing there was something to trust, though not all the time as it
seemed the opposition was internal and external as well.
Though if it wasn't for these earlier
series, then the likes of Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy could have not
been made allowing the public to understand the complex situations
that agents could be put into both in their work and their own lives,
but the unravelling of these cases shown in Tinker, Tailor, Solider,
Spy and its sequel Smiley's People meant the web which was weaved by
what seemed like a simple situation led to complications for its
protagonists. Later on in Spooks, let the action take centre stage
just as the Bond series of films were being rebooted from the heyday
of the 1970's and 80's with more dramatic licence, showed the working
of the inner sanctum of MI5 and its agents. The focus to the new
millennium and its challenges, led the series become pure in the
workings of the action by almost copying a movie style, with the
series becoming cinematic later on. Though as the stories got bigger
and bigger, thus the action itself had to be come bigger and bigger.
Much with The Sandbaggers in the 1970's the characters were seemingly
expendable and there was much risk to the job than had been seen
before.
Whether if its MI5, MI6, the KGB or
the CIA, the fascination with the secret service continues for
viewers and writers alike and as long as there as spies and cases to
solve there will be room for the spies we love.
In
the last part we looked at how Mike Yarwood had become a
impressionist and performer, through doing impressions for his family
and work colleagues and how television director Royston Mayoh had a
direct effect on his career by helping him hone his act both for
cabaret and also television.
By
the end of the 1960's Mike Yarwood had made his first tentative steps
into television having appeared on ABC TV's Comedy Bandbox and also
Sunday Night at the London Palladium, which at that point Mike
thought that it would give him his big break as had happened to Jimmy
Tarbuck before him. In 1968, he had done two series for BBC Two of
Three of a Kind with comedian Ray Fell and also Lulu. Though when a
third series was going to go ahead without Lulu who had moved onto
BBC One with her own series, Yarwood himself thought that he was good
enough to had his own solo series and in a fit pique turned down the
opportunity to appear in the third series.
At
that time in 1968, it seemed that Mike Yarwood had made totally the
wrong decision by ignoring his agent Dave Forrester's advice at
rejecting the chance to carry on working for the BBC at that time.
But it was around then that Yarwood had some luck, Lord Lew Grade was
planning a charity gala at the London Palladium to raise money for
the British Olympic team so that they go to the Mexico Olympics, the
first to be shown by ITV in almost full coverage. One of the main
acts who were going to appear on the show pulled out, it was around
the time when Eric Morecambe had a heart attack, so it was impossible
for Morecambe and Wise to appear at that time. This left gaps to
filled, so Mike was asked by Lew Grade to appear at the gala.
Because
of the importance of the gala, The Queen and Prime Minister Harold
Wilson were to be in attendance, though the climax to Yarwood's act
was to be an impersonation of Wilson himself. Though this was to
cause problems for Lew Grade as Mike Yarwood recalls in his 1986
autobiography Impressions of My Life.
“ 'What
are you going to do in the Harold Wilson part?' asked Lew Grade.
'Oh,
I've got a script,' I said vaguely. Lew shook his head 'Be careful.
We don't want anything political with The Queen here. Just come on
and say good evening or whatever and leave it at that.'
I
was in despair. Harold Wilson was the most popular part of my act. I
felt sure it would fall flat if I was to leave him out, but what was
the point of coming on with the pipe and mac and saying 'Good
Evening'? That would hardly leave them rolling in the aisles.
I
had a moan to Jimmy Tarbuck who was also in the show. 'Why don't you
come on and look down at Wilson and say “Snap”? said Jimmy.
I
thought about it. It might work. 'Thanks, Jimmy. I'll give it a try,'
I said.”
So
thanks to Jimmy Tarbuck it seemed that Mike's act on the night had
been saved. When he went on to do his spot, he felt that it as was
going well. Then he put on the mac and picked up the pipe to do the
climax of his act, so much that because of Wilson being in the
audience, there was an expectation of Yarwood was going to do. At
this time it is important to remember that politicians were still
held with high respect by most people and especially the Prime
Minister. The fact that That Was The Week That Was had punctured the
pomposity of politicians allowed for performers to get away with more
then they had ever done before against the political class. When
Yarwood walked to the front of the stage to do whatever dialogue he
had lined up and all he did was a double take of Harold Wilson and
his wife Mary that he had just spotted them in the audience. With a
look at Wilson and after a brief few seconds Mike uttered the words
which would bring the house down, he said “And as for you sir, I've
got only one thing to say to you... Snap!” then at that point
hurrying off stage as if he'd lost his nerve.
It
was this performance at the gala which got Yarwood great reviews from
critics and Lew Grade spotted that Mike was a performer that he could
work with, so he signed up Yarwood for three shows, but there was to
be more offered if they went well.
With
these new shows for ATV came an appearance at the London Palladium
appearing with Cliff Richard, going to rehearse for the ATV shows
during the daytime and performing at the Palladium during the
evening. With Mike's personal life taking an upturn at that time with
his future wife Sandra who was a dancer at that time. In taking the
Palladium shows with Cliff Richard, it boosted Yarwood's performing
skills even more by doing more larger nightly performances. But it
was one remark to Cliff that took Mr Richard aback, when introducing
Cliff to the audience, he had quipped to the screaming audience of
girls in Frankie Howerd's voice “All right, all right... Don't get
you knickers in a twist!” It got such a big laugh that Mike used
night after night in his act to introduce Cliff Richard. At that time
with Mike performing at the Palladium, in pantomimes and also summer
season. His was a talent that was getting noticed, though much like
Morecambe and Wise who nurtured their act on ITV and to move to the
BBC in the same year. Mike Yarwood's career was helped by ATV such as
a contemporary at that time Dave Allen.
By
the time of the Royal Variety Performance of 1968 and the ATV show
going well, meaning as with all royal shows that the comedians shared
the one dressing room, Mike was used to having small dressing room
but on this occasion he was sharing the star dressing room with
Frankie Howerd. But this was to lead to ructions between Mike and
Howerd over Yarwood's impression of him.
“The
only thing that slightly marred that evening was Frankie's
disapproval of my impression of him. Strangely enough in all these
year she's the only person who's ever admitted to my face that he
didn't care for being mimicked.”
Howerd
himself thought that Mike's impersonation was effeminate, though it
was the style of delivery which Frankie did himself which was more
gossipy than anything else, though this showed even in the most
talented and adept performers that self-doubts of themselves could be
there although they never showed it whilst performing. Something that
Yarwood was to know more about by the end of his career. The
fragility which can dog a performer, all through that time. Though in
performing during the Royal Variety Performance meant that Mike was
in demand, the new up and coming talent who was now starting to move
up the Showbiz Set. Just as his home life was settling down, 1969 was
to start with a bump with his ATV contract not being renewed after
three television shows for Lew Grade. The same reasons for Yarwood
not taking a third series of Three of a Kind with the BBC, had come
around again. It was seemed that the management thought that he was
too big-headed, thought it might have seemed Mike's showbiz career
had stalled at this time his agent kept him going and negotiated for
him to do summer season in Bournemouth with Frankie Vaughan.
Around
this time Mike had proposed to Sandra, but this was to have unwanted
effects when working with Frankie Vaughan. During one of the summer
season shows with Yarwood, he had a spotlight turn around and shine
on Sandra announcing that Mike and her were going to get married much
to Sandra's embarrassment though she was in the business herself, it
showed that even if people were in show business that a moment when
being caught off guard could be embarrassing even if the sentiment
was meant to be caring. But in looking at Vaughan's performance, Mike
learnt even more in how to work a crowd with the movements and the
style he used in his act. The most valuable lesson that he learnt
from Frankie was that if you wanted to be a star, you had to be a
star all of the time and not just on stage.
Though
the Summer of 1970 was to prove, a lucky period for Yarwood. After
one performance, Yarwood stepped off the stage and went back to his
dressing room to find the BBC's Bill Cotton Jnr. waiting there to
meet him. As Yarwood explains
“ 'We'd
like you to do a series, Mike' Cotton said after the polite
preliminaries. Then, seeing my face, he added, 'Yes, its going to be
your show, although you will have someone with you.'”
That
offer of a show was to become Look – Mike Yarwood, which gave him
full range to try out new material and new ways of performing it as
well.
Mike
was joining a family of entertainers at the BBC, who after many years
were looking to regain viewers away from ITV's dominance of light
entertainment programmes up to the late 60's. With Morecambe and Wise
coming from ATV, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett from LWT and Bruce
Forsyth being given the chance to present a new game show. It was
Bill Cotton Jnr's foresight to be able to find performers, put them
into the right shows with the best writers and also the best
production teams. Yarwood was to be another cog in this smoothly run
engine, as the television industry produced some of the most
memorable programmes of this time.
But
with the new series came other things, for the money Mike was making
by doing the shows for the BBC, it seemed like the money he was
earning was going out the door quicker then it was coming in. On
occasions, this seemed harmless enough with the odd purchase or an
item which he was determined to get whatever the cost. It was fine on
the luxury items, but when it came to smaller almost trivial items,
it seemed like it was almost like a compulsion to buy things, most
things could be quantified but some things were almost strange even
to Yarwood. In needing a dinner jacket for summer season, Mike
purchased six because if Tom Jones always ordered six at a time, then
it was good enough for him. In being a performer, it was important to
look the part so high-quality ties were bought four at a time. These
things may have been quantifiable in Yarwood's own mind, it did show
that with money, came the responsibility to go with it.
The
seventies were one of Yarwood's best periods as a performer meeting
the great and the good and also topping the television ratings
regularly with his shows, but off screen things were turning out
differently. The first incident was a indication of those who do not
have fame recent others with it, whilst appearing in summer season in
Scarborough and at a low ebb missing his family when going through
fan mail to pass the time away in-between performances. When being
met with a piece of writing paper and unfolding it came a chilling
message inside.
As
Yarwood takes up the story himself,
“
'We're going to get you, Yarwood' I
read, 'and by the time we've finished with you, you'll be
unrecognisable...' and so it went on, threatening to kill me and
injure my family. It was signed 'The Angry Brigade'.”
Having
read this, Yarwood thought this should be dealt as police matter as
having believed this was a genuine threat to himself and his family.
When Special Branch eventually looked at the letter, they dismissed
it as a hoax. To put this into context, with terrorism on the
mainland of Britain from both sides of divide to do with Northern
Ireland's Troubles and threats sent to venues and warnings as well by
various groups, it was a very high alert time for people. In his own
thinking when it was suggested that the letter maybe from someone who
was jealous of Mike's success with the undertone of the group
claiming responsibility would not issue a warning as to what they
were going to do. If it had the sole aim of scaring Yarwood, it had
done.
With
this Yarwood was ordered to take out of his schedule for rest and
recuperation, with the theatre management understanding of the
situation and giving him as much time as he needed to do so. But
although in taking the time off, the doctor who was treating him gave
him a remark when he had told him to rest. The thought was that Mike
had started to drink too much, almost pushing 'The Angry Brigade'
letter and this other remark to the back of his mind in quantifying
that he was doing as much as anyone else would have been around that
time. In the time earned, it was just that he should spend it
relaxing in the BBC Club or in the pub. But Yarwood's drinking was
to become a problem in his personal life though he did not let this
show in his performances, delivering show after show for ATV, BBC and
later on Thames Television. In doing this, the Dutch courage was used
to cover up stage fright and allow him to go on perform, relaxing
himself so he could do a good show as always. Though as the 1970's
went along, even with this Mike was trying quantify this as he
explained to Channel 4's 2001 documentary 'The Showbiz Set'.
“I
would at least drink half a dozen stiff vodkas, just enough to get a
buzz on, just enough to feel no pain. But the thing is you get to the
theatre sluggish and you need a pick-me-up and I would have a couple
of vodkas and tonics before a show.”
Just
as he was becoming one of light entertainment's biggest stars and his
home life was settled, the drinking was having an effect on him. The
pressure of delivering a good performance time after time was seeming
to take it toll, though this was to change on his personal life as he
continues.
“It
make me cringe just to think about it, the drinking became more
important then anything else and I spent less and less time with the
children because when I wasn't in the pub, I was at home sleeping it
off. I missed my first daughter's, first birthday because I was too
hungover, that's the saddest thing I can think of actually. It makes
me very sad to think about it actually.”
By
trying rationalise away the drinking, it seemed that it had its place
in Yarwood's performing and personal life. Though when filmed for a
Thames Television documentary in 1984 about himself and the making of
one of his television specials. A seemingly throw away line is used
between Yarwood and the late John Ammonds, his producer at both the
BBC and Thames might have let on more then the public had thought at
that time.
Mike
Yarwood impersonating John Ammonds : “Have you been drinking
lately?”
Ammonds
to Yarwood: “Not recently...”
Though
as John Ammonds explained in 2001 about working with Yarwood whilst
he was drinking.
“He
never got really plastered lying on the floor like that, but it did
interfere with the concentration. I think he would agree now, it did
interfere with his work and made him more worried then ever. In fact,
when of course he thought drinking would have the effect of taking
away the worries, but it never does.”
As
this was going on Yarwood was still able to make some of the finest
shows seen on British television with a rota of characters that
everyone could recognise. Thanks to the political landscape, apart
from a few changes that the party leaders of the Labour Party in the
shape of Harold Wilson and later Jim Callaghan and on the
Conservative benches Ted Heath, along with union leader Vic Feather
led to them becoming stock characters besides with the big
personalities who had big personalities them such as David Frost,
Patrick Moore and Brian Clough linking back to his love of football.
With
starting the 1970's with Look – Mike Yarwood and also a radio
series Hear – Mike Yarwood as well, made one of most popular
entertainers and one of the most highly paid ones as well. It seemed
like success was breeding success with a special show at the Talk of
the Town, London showcasing his live cabaret act for BBC2's 'Show of
the Week' strand. By the mid-70's not only the political landscape
was changing as well as his BBC show. At the start of 1976, he was
awarded the OBE in that year's New Year's honours list by Harold
Wilson showing that he even by doing an impression of him that even
politicians could have a laugh at their own expense.
His
political material was never hard hitting satire much like Rory
Bremner's in later years to come, but it made for the politicians and
union leaders who dominated the 70's, could have otherwise been
anonymous to the public at large. It gave them another platform on
which they were recognised on, even later on Rory Bremner and other
non satirical impressions would admit that Yarwood was their biggest
influence in starting to imitate people both famous and around them
leading more of a periphery of impressionists from the mid-70's
onwards and into the new decade.
In
1976 his show changed title to Mike Yarwood in Persons and became a
more variety based show welcoming other guests on to perform but
always with Yarwood showing his talent for signing at the end with
the inevitable phrase 'And this is me...' Starting with two specials,
one in May and other under the 'The Mike Yarwood Christmas Special'
title in December to start the Mike Yarwood in Persons period when
finally the first series of which was broadcast fortnightly between
January and March 1977. Though the series its self had a who's who
of big name light entertainment producers amongst them future BBC
head of light entertainment Jim Moir, John Ammonds who worked with
Morecambe and Wise during this period as well plus future big name
Alan Boyd, the man who brought Blankety Blank to the screen as well
when in the ITV system a number of shows for LWT including Game for a
Laugh and later to work for Television South.
But
coming into 1977 saw a new personality come to the fore which was to
even to test Yarwood's material, the rise of Margaret Thatcher as
Conservative Party leader taking over from Ted Heath in 1975. This
caused some problems for Yarwood, as most of his impressions were men
and very rarely he did dress up as female characters. But to be
relevant to his ask he had to keep Thatcher in there with references
to her, even trying to impersonate her. Though after a while it was
clear that this was not going to work as a on-going thing. So how
exactly to solve the problem? Well, Mike and the producers didn't
have to look too far, on ITV in this same period was 'Who Do You Do?'
and one of the pop female impressionists was Janet Brown who was a
part of that show.
The
producers of Mike's show decided they wanted Janet to come on board
the show to impersonate Mrs Thatcher, so it was possible to Jim
Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher or Robin Day and Thatcher doing a
double-headed sketch together thus expanded the range and also the
way that sketches could be performed without the need for lengthy
filming of Yarwood doing a whole range of impressions and have them
superimposed in a sketch using a technique called colour separation
overlay.
But
the use of C.S.O. was always important to Mike to be able to have
several of his impressions in the same place at the same time, as the
technology got slowly better it allowed him to play around more with
it. Though during filming these sketches, because for eye-line
levels, it meant there would have to be someone standing where
another character would be in the final piece and most times it would
be one of the crew but when John Ammonds was producing the show
himself, he would be the stand-in and helping to prompt Yarwood by
mouthing the lines to him so he knew what to say and when in the
sketch. These techniques may seem like a long drawn out process, but
it allowed Mike to be cutting edge in something that hardly no other
performers had done to that point.
Come
the end of 1977, with the BBC's biggest night of the year on
Christmas Day. The corporation had rolled out the red carpet for
their biggest shows on that evening with a schedule unmatched ever
since including Bruce Forsyth and the Generation Game plus Morecambe
and Wise with their Christmas Special. On that night Mike found
himself in between the two shows but never the less in a key position
of that night's schedule to keep the viewers with BBC One. With an
excellent viewing figure on that night, little did he know that he
was to become the BBC's big Christmas Night star next year.
With
Morecambe and Wise leaving the BBC at the end of 1977, this meant
that the prime position was up for grabs on Christmas Day night in
1978, with Bruce Forysth moved to LWT and placed on Christmas Eve,
Morecambe and Wise had gone to Thames Television and ITV had
scheduled them for their prime slot during the evening. But the BBC
had either The Generation Game with Larry Grayson, The Two Ronnies or
Mike Yarwood to go head to head against Eric and Ernie. So it came
down to Mike to take on what would be seen as ITV's scheduling
juggernaut. Added to this there had been industrial action by unions
at the BBC just before Christmas and had seemed that the BBC might
have had to offer only a limited Christmas Day service. Eventually
when the two shows played out Mike was at 8pm and Eric and Ernie at
9pm on ITV, the outcome was surprising though in the least. Morecambe
and Wise had grabbed a substantial audience themselves but when the
final ratings had come out, Mike had beaten them. Justifying the
BBC's faith in him that for 1979 and 1980 he was given a prime slot
on Christmas Day and his own stand-alone series had grown. By 1981
though he had been shifted off the big day for a slot on Boxing Day,
after what had happened with Morecambe and Wise in 1977 maybe the BBC
did not want a repeat. So, subtly the show was moved to the day after
Christmas already in the knowledge that he'd moved to Thames
Television.
Once
again in 1981, his act was changing to compensate that the fact Janet
Brown was impersonating Margaret Thatcher on her own show, Yarwood
moved into the mimicry of the Royal Family especially Prince Charles
and after his Royal Wedding in 1981 to Lady Diana Spencer, he used
the same trick as he had done with Janet Brown by getting Suzanne
Danielle to play Princess Diana in the sketches and later on
impersonating Prince Andrew to Kate Robbins' Sarah Ferguson. Though
it did seem a few small changes to allow new impressions, that some
of the impressions were getting dated in having Harold and Albert
Steptoe in his act after their series had finished a number of years
ago on the BBC. Plus also Harold Wilson who had been out of power for
five years by that point, but with the election of President Ronald
Regan in the United States allowed him to use the same gentle
political humour as he had done for Wilson but also use Regan's old
show business connections to have sketches including the like of Bob
Hope, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr., all of which Regan had worked
with during his Hollywood career.
Around
this point, though still popular with the viewers and also having
great material from such writers Barry Cryer, John Junkin, Eddie
Braben, Colin Edmonds and with script advisor former Morecambe and
Wise writer Dick Hills, the shows started to feel dated. Though this
could be said to be an effect of the rise of Alternative Comedy and
its style of more barbed political humour and faster paced-delivery
as well. By the end of 1983, Mike had completed the first series of
his Thames shows and was about to have a special broadcast over
Christmas of that year. 1984 however was to bring something which
totally changed the landscape of what he was doing when Spitting
Image brought a new edge to impressions and in particularly political
satire.
Though
as the worry about his shows and his increasing stage fright lead to
more drinking than ever, leading to him admitting he was an
alcoholic. But just like the BBC and Thames had done for Eric
Morecambe to reduce the worry and also strain of working by only
doing specials once or twice a year, it gave more worry by doing less
television shows. With the removal of the alcohol as his crutch in
performing, it seemed to have a major effect on his performance, the
worry and stage fright was seemingly getting too much for him. His
final special was shown by in December 1987, by that time he was
doing very little television apart from the odd appearance on other
shows and also gala performances for various causes. Later on Mike
appeared on Have I Got News for You as a guest, allowing him to
perform but also be himself following on from this there was a plan
to bring him back to television as a adviser to the public wanting to
do impressions in a planned BBC show called 'Taking Off with Yarwood'
but he politely refused to do it.
It
came as no surprise when he finally gave up performing in 1994 for
his own health and well being finally giving alcohol for good
allowing himself time to spend with his children who had by then had
their own children.
The
legacy of Yarwood lives on with most impressionists who worked during
the 80's and 90's stating that it was Mike's influence which got them
started in impressionism in the first place by having seen him
performing on the television and as he would at the end of every show
'And this is me....' and I hope these two articles have given you an
impression of the man himself.
