As the entertainment world mourns the death at 82 of Britain’s most popular television impressionist, Mike Yarwood, the future of satirical impersonations is in question. Yarwood, widely acknowledged as the groundbreaking master of the skill in the 1970s, inspired many later stars, such as Rory Bremner, Jon Culshaw and Alastair McGowan. But recently some, including McGowan, have suggested that impressions no longer communicate to younger audiences.
John Lloyd, producer of Spitting Image, hopes this is not true. He still believes that a clever impersonation is an important way to bring powerful national figures to life for the public.
“I always liked watching Yarwood and a parody from a performer like that, or in shows like Spitting Image, can be informative as well as funny. It educated young people about members of the cabinet. I am not sure many people could name many of them now,” Lloyd said this weekend. Among the talents to tackle politicians on Spitting Image was Steve Nallon, who gave a voice to the Margaret Thatcher puppet. Yarwood, said Nallon, was his boyhood inspiration: “He absolutely made people better informed, even giving people catchphrases.
“He made people not so well known into recognised personalities and whether they were politicians or sports commentators he seemed to have an affection for those he impersonated, turning them into fun characters. His version of Patrick Moore would have been seen by more viewers than ever tuned in to see the real man on BBC’s The Sky at Night.”
Nallon also worked with Yarwood, playing Thatcher to his Neil Kinnock on television. “He was very sweet and there was no sense that he was the big star. He wanted me to show the viewers what I could do and he wrote to me afterwards to thank me. He was very well liked,” said Nallon. “None of us would be here if it wasn’t for Mike Yarwood. I saw his stage act many times. He would perform for an hour without props. It was joyous.”
Yarwood was the first television entertainer to mimic the voices and mannerisms of government ministers and opposition politicians, including Harold Wilson, Denis Healy and Jim Callaghan, and establish the exaggerated, comic vocal tics of the current king, an acknowledged influence on Harry Enfield, who plays the monarch in the Channel 4 show The Windsors.
“It started with Mike Yarwood for me,” Enfield told the Observer. “His impression of Charles was one you did at school, because there was nothing too rude in it. So I did Mike Yarwood doing Charles, rather than Charles, along with his Harold Wilson. I probably did Charles with quite a lot of cuff action and some innuendo, but nothing too strong. It was all quite mild.”
As women took up more high profile roles in politics demand for female impressionists grew. Leading the field is Jan Ravens, whose impersonations of Theresa May and Liz Truss on BBC Radio 4’s Dead Ringers show made both prime ministers much more recognised, whether they liked it or not.
“It was not so much about making them more real, as letting people question the people making all the laws, by showing another perspective,” said Ravens. “A weird thing happens when an impressionist hits a sweet spot and reproduces something you might not have noticed before, but then cannot stop noticing.”
Last month McGowan said he suspected his impersonations can fail to connect now because people no longer share so much TV viewing.
